Innocent Eyes

Innocent Eyes

Hermione walked into the orphanage holding the hand of a subtly disguised Harry Potter. The orphanage didn’t exactly seem like a horrid environment but Hermione could not believe that an orphanage could provide as much love as parents could. She looked at the floral printed wallpaper of the hallway that the lady from the orphanage was leading them down. She did not work at the orphanage, the lady had quickly explained, and was only involved in the adoptions. 

Hermione silently wondered about the orphanage? Where did the children sleep? Was it comfortable enough? Soon enough, she saw beds lined on both sides of the walls of one of the girl's dormitories. Each of the beds had the same white sheets. It eerily reminded her of the Hogwarts’ hospital wing. At the same time, though, it comforted her since Madame Pompfrey always kept the hospital wing spick-and-span.

"Are you interested in adopting a boy or girl, Mr. and Mrs. Granger?" The woman asked.

Harry and Hermione had decided to introduce themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Granger. It would not have been wise to call themselves Mr. and Mrs. Potter since the Daily Prophet could hear the name Potter from miles away.

"We don’t really have a preference. Actually, we are more focused on their personalities," Hermione answered, as Harry looked around. He was busy thinking about how lucky he was to have a family, even if it had been with the Dursleys.

"Beautiful sentiment Mrs. Granger! If you would come right this way,” she said leading them down a corridor to an office that opened up to a garden, “They are outside now. They've just had supper. You are interested in the range of eight to ten, correct?"

The woman obviously didn't spend a lot of time with the children by the way she referred to them as they, so blatantly. She had already explained that she dealt more with the legal part of adoption and that they had many people who spent quality time with the children.

"Yes," Hermione answered again.

"Hermione," Harry whispered as they neared the back door.

"What, dear?" Hermione answered as Mrs. Charles went outside.

"What qualities are we looking for in these children?" Harry asked nervously. He was beginning to get scared. He had a feeling that once he went out there; he would want to adopt all of them.

"Well, I thought about that while I was moving furniture earlier and I think that you should look for something that catches your eye. It's like when you're trying to find a spouse and you picture yourself with that person every day and you just know…it’s magic … it’s more than magic,” Hermione said somewhat dreamily, “It's really the same principle, just look take at all of them and see if you can imagine…”

“Imagine what?”

“Imagine sending them off to Hogwarts or playing Quidditch with them at the Weasley's. Does that help a little?" Hermione asked looking hopefully at him.

"Yes, and thanks, Hermione," Harry smiled.

"For what?" Hermione asked confused.

"Well, I hope you didn’t think that I'm going to let you raise our special someone on your own, do you? I hope I can be a good father," Harry said looking into her eyes. Hermione instantly melted. At that moment, she just wanted to hug him and kiss him forever but she refrained.

"You're welcome, and Harry you’ll be absolutely wonderful," Hermione answered.  Harry looked down at the floor to hide his blushing cheeks.

"Are you ready to meet the children?" the lady asked. She was wearing a cream-colored skirt and jacket. Her hair and make-up were just right. She seemed to have an aura of vanity about her and when Hermione looked out the door, she saw the children making faces at the lady behind her back. Hermione tried not to giggle. They all looked like great kids. Many of them were standing there, looking oh… so hopeful. Hermione almost started to cry when she realized that in some sad way it was like picking out a puppy in a litter. They all wanted you to take them home, but your mother only said you could have one.

"Come on all of you! Introduce yourselves," Ms. Charles said.

Harry and Hermione had been told that they were only aloud to hear the children's first names so that there wouldn't be any prejudice as to who and what their parents had been (or done) during the war. Harry was very thankful for that. He had many memories that would no doubt be resurrected if he knew he was thinking about adopting a Lestrange or Nott.

A girl with blonde pigtails came up to them first. Her eyes were a cold gray and she didn't have the hopeful look that the others had. She offered her name up with a smile that was noticeably forced, but not necessarily mean, "Gemma."

A boy with raven black hair and slightly tanned skin was next. He didn't seem excited or irritated. He acted like it was a normal event on any other day, "Jake."

A brunette with seemingly similar attitude came up behind him, "Danielle."

A boy and girl who were holding hands came up to them next. The woman whispered that they were fraternal twins. Both had ash blonde hair. However, the boy had blue eyes while his sister had brown ones. They looked like they depended on each other. "My name is Mitchell and this is my sister Mischa,” the boy said boldly.

There were some kids with attitude problems and a few like the raven-haired boy, who told Harry and Hermione their names, and without any expression.

"Sarah."
"Brandon."
"Lee."
"Krista."
"Marshall."
"Fiona."
"William."
"Rachel."
"Hannah."
"Nicholas."
"Charmain."

The little girl standing in front of Harry caught his eye. First of all, her name made him snap out of the daze he had been in. Slowly, he looked into a pair of green eyes and understood why Hermione constantly told him his were so eye-catching. Their color did make people take a second glance. The little girl was out of breath because she had been running around which showed that she was pretty athletic. Oddly enough, she reminded him of Fleur. Her hair was wavy and blonde and she was very fair. She lingered a while and then went running back to the Quaffle hoops in the garden. She didn't line up to take a shot at the hoops but ran behind a tree. When she had come back around the other side, she was holding a tiny, golden snitch in her hand. Hermione had to physically tug on Harry's shirt to bring him back.

"Harry," Hermione said after the last few children had told them their names.

"What, oh, I'm sorry," Harry said.

"See someone that has potential?" the woman asked coyly, and Harry frowned. He really didn't like impersonal people like her. It would have been better if they had let a sweet woman like Molly Weasley show them the children. The cold adoption agency Barbie-dolls should be sacked and returned to their shel…surgeon.

"Yes, who were you looking at dear?" Hermione asked. She enjoyed calling him dear.

"Do you think my wife and I could have some time alone with the children?"

‘I also like being referred to as “my wife”,’ Hermione thought giddily, and then mentally slapped herself.

"Well, it's sort of against regulation..." The woman began.

"I'm an Auror and I happen to know that there are about fifty surveillance charms around my very being this moment. I'm sure that you won't have trouble seeing what we're doing," Harry said curtly.

"Fine, I'll give you fifteen minutes," she said turning on her heel and going back inside. Harry was sure she only protested because she wanted to look professional.

"Why did you ask her to leave?" Hermione asked.

"I wanted the kids to get some quality time with us. Plus, she had a horrible attitude,” Harry said angrily.

"I agree," Hermione said smiling. She was happy that Harry hadn’t noticed how pretty that woman was.

"So, who should it be?" Harry asked seriously and Hermione smiled.

"I think that Jake was very promising, and he looked a little like you."

"Yes, but that could be a bad thing considering we don't want people to think I had an illegitimate son when I was fourteen," Harry said.

"True, did you like the girls better or the boys? Some of them seemed very charming. It was hard for me to pass on Mitchell and Mischa, but I think that they should go to a couple that can't conceive. It would be difficult if either of us had other children later. They would confide in each other more than they would either of us. Krista, William, Brandon, and then there was …"

"Charmain?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you noticed her too."

"She was the little girl with the gorgeous green eyes. It's a good thing she didn't have red hair, or I might've confused her with a few pictures of my mom that my Aunt Petunia gave me." Harry said thinking about the few photo albums his aunt had given him.

"I think you want to get to know her better," Hermione said.

"Yes, but she isn't the only one. Brandon and William seem promising."

"Why don't you go over to the Quaffle hoops and I'll see what the swings have to offer?"

Hermione laughed when the more friendly children came up to them to tell them more about themselves before they reached their destination. Harry noticed that Charmain hadn't though. She just kept on playing with the snitch.

"So what do you do Mr. Granger?" Lee asked.

"I'm an Auror," Harry answered.

"Wow, really? That's cool! My dad was an Auror too,” Brandon said excitedly and immediately that put him off of Harry's list. Harry didn’t want any children from an unpredictable background.

"How many bad guys have you caught?" Krista asked.

"A lot," Harry said taking the Quaffle, "Hey, mind if I take a shot?"

"No, but you've got to stand way over there. You're bigger so it wouldn't be fair if you shot from here," Hannah said and Harry laughed.

Harry was about to throw the Quaffle when someone ran into his side and nearly knocked him off balance, but he didn't fall. In fact, he kept her from falling. It was Charmain.

"Charmain! He was about to take a shot!" William said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but it just so happens I caught the snitch I was after in the process, which is much more difficult than throwing a Quaffle. I apologize Mr. Granger, but if you've ever tried to catch a snitch, I'm sure you know what an infuriating little monster they can turn into. Again, I'm sorry, and William go take a chill pill," Charmain said talking very quickly. Just the way Hermione used to, when she was flustered.

"Does she always use big words?" Harry asked, surprised that a nine-year-old had just used the word infuriating.

"Yes, she reads every book anyone donates to the orphanage and tells us, she'll get out of here, every day. She's been here since she was a baby. She thinks she deserves to be adopted, first, just because she’s been here the longest," Krista answered.

"How many years has she been here?" Harry asked.

"Nine, and nine too many. I think she's a bit loony, that one," William answered, and instantly Harry was reminded of the way Ron and Hermione used to bicker. He knew that Charmain was the perfect daughter.

“She also likes to tell us what to do,” Sarah added.

“And the scary thing is, you always do it,” William said somewhat bewildered.  Harry laughed as he remembered how Hermione used to tell all her their classmates what to do.

"Are you going to take your shot?" Jake asked. "’Cause, if you aren't, I'm next," he said.

"Um, here you go ahead, I've got to go talk to Herm...I mean Mrs. Granger," Harry said running over to the swings where Hermione was happily swinging with two little girls.

"Hermione, we need to talk ASAP!" Harry whispered.

"Okay, I think we can go inside now. It was nice meeting all of you," Hermione shouted to everyone. Harry waved to them as they went back inside.

"Oh, I was just coming out to get you,” the adoption woman said when they came in, “Have you chosen a child you'd like to look at more closely?"

"Could you give us a minute?" He asked and when she just stood there without moving, he added, "Alone?"

His green eyes were glowing and at that moment, Harry looked really handsome. Noticing this, the woman looked him over and Hermione glared at her. No one was allowed to think Harry was hot when he was commanding. Except her.

"Yes, of course." She said and swayed her hips more than usual as she walked back to her desk. Harry rolled his eyes.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Does anyone have your eye?" Harry asked.

"I think that Fiona's just adorable, but she has a crush on that little boy named Lee, and he seemed very lonely. Oh, I wouldn't be able to ask her to come away with me when she's his only friend. I just don't know Harry. This is harder than I thought it would be. How about you?" Hermione asked.

Harry smiled hopefully, "Charmain, Hermione, she’s great and guess what, she loves books!" Harry said excitedly.

"Harry, that's wonderful!  Should we ask Ms. Charles to ask her to come in?" Hermione asked.

"You mean that lady has a name?" Harry said smirking.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Well, go tell Ms. Charles I’m going out here to get Charmain. I don't think any of those kids truly like Ms. umm… what was it? Oh yeah, Charles,” Harry said teasing Hermione.

"You're right, and Harry, thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"For being such a great guy," Hermione said kissing his cheek. Harry ignored the rush of warmth that spread throughout him starting at this left cheek.

"Hey, if that's what I get for being a great guy you have my personal guarantee that I'll never stop," Harry said and Hermione blushed as she headed for Ms. Charles’ desk.

Walking into the yard, Harry looked around for Charmain and found her by the same tree, she had ran behind, after introducing herself.

"Charmain?" Harry asked and saw her sitting alone with her knees pulled up to her chin.

"Yes?" She asked timidly.

"Would you like to come inside with me?" Harry asked.

"Well, that all depends on if you think I'm selfish," she answered and inwardly Harry wondered if he was making a mistake. Charmain was very complicated…

"No, why would I think that?"

"I know what the other kids say about me. I want to be adopted, but not out of sympathy. I don't think I'm better than any of them just because I've been here longer. I only try to help them. I don’t understand their fowl attitudes. They should be glad they have happy memories of their parents. I really don't know much about mine at all. They lived in France and moved here to help the war effort and then they just…died.  I don't even know how they died," Charmain said, but she wasn't crying. Harry could make a connection with her that he never thought he'd make with anyone else...ever. She was just like him at that age, not sad, but confused.

"Well, if you'll let Hermione and me adopt you, I promise you we'll find out," Harry said.

"Don't make empty promises on my account. I'll still let you adopt me, if it's what you want," Charmain said looking up at Harry.

"Hey, you're the one who gets to decide whether you want us to adopt you. The promise isn't empty either. I can throw my name around and get a lot of things," Harry smiled.

"Are you rich Mr. Granger?" Charmain didn't ask hopefully, but wondered aloud.

"Something like that. Why don't you come in and talk to Hermione? By the way you can call me, Harry." Harry said and offered a hand to help her up.

"Well, Harry, I think I like you."

"Good, because I think you're a very special girl," Harry said putting his arm around her. Quickly, they went inside to join Hermione.

Charmain watched as Harry hugged Hermione tightly when they went to the office lobby. She wondered if her parents looked so right with one another. Suddenly, she noticed something. Neither of them wore a wedding band!

"Um, excuse me, but why don't you both wear your wedding rings?" Charmain asked and they both tensed. Hermione smiled. Charmain was very observant.

"Harry, we might as well tell her," Hermione said. Harry reluctantly agreed and pulled his wand from his pocket allowing him to metamorphosis back.

"I'm Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger is my best friend. Well, Hermione wanted to adopt someone but they wouldn’t let people who aren’t married adopt. So, we had to pretend we were a couple. Remember how I told you I could find out about your parents? Well it isn't because I’m rich. It's the same reason they'll let us adopt you if you want. The name gets me more attention than I deserve.  Occasionally however, for a good cause, I do use it to my advantage as well," Harry said to the wide-eyed Charmain

"Wow, William would've been starry-eyed at the sight of you. He has a poster of you above his bed," Charmain said laughing at her good luck.  Harry silently thanked Merlin he hadn’t chosen William.

"Are you mad at us?" Hermione asked.

"No, but I think it's funny that you try to hide your fame," Charmain giggled.

"See, didn't I tell you she was great?" Harry whispered to Hermione who was melting with every beautiful sound her laugh created.

"Harry, can we ask her questions on the way home? I think I want to sign the adoption papers right now," Hermione said.

"Well, Charmain, what do you think?" Harry asked.

"About what?" She asked back.

"About becoming our daughter?"

"Oh, well, do I get my own room?" Charmain asked.

"Yep," Harry answered.

"Can I have a library card?" Charmain asked again.

“Of course, you get your own library card. You’re Hermione Granger’s daughter after all!”

"I'll make it my personal mission," Harry said.

"Wow, an Auror on a personal mission for me," Charmain said shyly, and Harry took her hand and wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulder as they walked back to see Ms. Charles.  Charmain was a little taller than his and Hermione’s waist. Harry and Hermione were about the same height except that Hermione was one or two inches shorter.

"Ms. Charles, we would like to adopt Charmain," Hermione said to the woman who was gawking openly at Harry. She hadn't said anything about him changing appearances, but she was obviously noticing that he had.

"Oh, and I'd like to take the adoption papers to the ministry myself. I have a personal favor to ask the minister," Harry said, and Ms. Charles nodded handing him an envelope.

"Thank you. Have a nice day," Harry said laughing openly much to Ms. Charles’ amazement. Today, Harry felt he was the happiest man on earth as he walked out of the office with Hermione and Charmain.