Hermione's Box

Hermione’s Box

Authors Notes: Welcome to my companion piece to ‘Harry’s Album’, Hermione’s Box. The premise of this is pretty much the exact same as what ‘Harry’s Album’ was- Hermione has a box full of her own memories.

Reading of ‘Harry’s Album’ would be good- I’m not going right back to the start with this, it pretty much picks up where ‘Harry’s Album’ left off and continues from there. So some things might get a little confusing if you haven’t read ‘Harry’s Album’.

And that’s all I have to say- enjoy the first part, it’s nice and long and very romantic :D

The golden rays of sunlight flooded over Hermione, a soft breeze bringing in the warmth of the new day. She rolled over in her bed carefully and saw that the curtains on the large windows had been opened and the window itself had been pushed out. She realised that Harry wasn’t in bed with her, but he had left a note for her.

Darling, beautiful Hermione- I had to go into the office. I shall be home early. Do not leave that bed. Love you always and forever, Harry.

She rolled back onto her back and rested the note on her stomach.

‘Your father is a very romantic man sometimes,’ she said, stroking her stomach and laughing. ‘And I feel so stupid talking to my own body.’

She felt around on the bedside table and found her wand hidden behind the alarm clock and used it to turn the stereo across the other side of the room on. She also used it to open the closet and summon a shoebox she kept hidden amongst all her other shoeboxes.

Seeing Harry that morning with his album had made Hermione yearn to go through her box again. The look on Harry’s face when he realised Hermione had been watching him was priceless- she had felt him leave the bed and had followed not long after and sat on the stairs and watched him.

Harry had no idea that Hermione knew about his album. She had discovered it when she was packing his flat up and felt so touched that Harry would keep such mementos. And that was when she started to do the same, storing her things in an old shoebox, hoping one day to give it to Harry.

Sitting herself up in the bed she pulled the lid of the box and the scent of roses instantly hit her. The scent was coming from a small plastic sandwich bag filled with red rose petals and Hermione almost swooned at the sight…

As she entered the building the smell of cooking instantly hit Hermione- someone was having a feast.

‘Probably the Holmes’s,’ she muttered to herself, checking the mail box before turning up the small hallway that led towards the door of the flat she and Harry had moved into only a month before.

The curious thing was that the scent of the food grew stronger and stronger as she got closer to the door. When she arrived at the door, she found a note attached over the peephole.

My love, it read, in Harry’s handwriting. Tonight is about you. And us. When you get inside, follow the sign of the rose.

‘Follow the sign of the rose?’ she muttered to herself, pushing her key into the lock and opening the door. The scent of roses hit her instantly and she saw that there was a trail of red rose petals leading through the apartment.

Doing as the note instructed, she followed the rose and found they ended at the door to the bathroom. She entered and found a black dress she hardly ever wore hanging on the back of the door, another note on it.

I love you in this dress. Would you do me the honour of joining me for dinner, in this dress? After your bath, of course.

Turning around, Hermione saw that a bubble bath had been drawn and candles had been levitated into the air around the bath and soft music played. Harry had really pulled out all the stops.

She undressed quickly and slipped into the warm bath- it was the perfect temperature. She allowed herself to sink right down and as she did so, she sighed slightly. She had a feeling she knew why Harry was doing this for her and she was incredibly grateful.

Her publisher had been on her back since the moment her first book had hit the stands, wanting to know when to expect a second book from her. Hermione didn’t quite know how to tell the very nice lady that it was probably going to be never- she just didn’t have the patience to go through what she went through the first time- and she knew that Harry couldn’t cope with it either. But despite her reservations, she’d spent the last few days deep in research- but she knew that her chosen topic was a lot easier this time and it was so easy she had already picked a title- ‘Magical Creatures and their Sub-Standard Treatment’.

The bubbles in the bath slowly melted away and she reluctantly climbed out and eased herself into the dress, sliding the note that had been left on it into the pocket of her robes. Using her wand she managed to style her hair quite simply and she decided not to bother with any make up- she hated wearing it and knew Harry hated her in it.

When she opened the bathroom door, a new trail of rose petals had been laid and she followed them curiously back down the hallway, into the lounge room, where Harry was standing.

‘Good evening, my love,’ he said, holding out a bunch of roses. ‘For you.’

‘Harry-’ she started to say, but Harry cut her off with a kiss.

‘No, my love. You don’t need to say a word.’

‘But-’

‘No,’ Harry said, placing the roses on the back of the lounge. It was as he did this that Hermione realised he was wearing his ‘nice’ clothes- a nice pair of khaki’s that she had bought him, along with a white open necked shirt. ‘Come with me.’

He turned away from her and put both his hands out behind his back, and she took hold of both of them and allowed herself to be led into their kitchen. The small kitchen table had been pushed into the far corner and had been set for two, with the same floating candles from the bathroom casting a warm light.

‘Sit,’ he said, pulling the chair out for her and helping her in. With a wave of his wand two dishes of food came soaring over from the bench and landed perfectly on the table and Hermione started to drool. Harry had cooked her favourite- a hearty beef casserole with plenty of vegetables.

‘Am I allowed to talk?’ she asked playfully and Harry nodded. ‘This- this is all wonderful. Thank you, Harry.’

‘You’re most welcome,’ Harry replied, reaching across the table and taking her hand in his own. ‘I did, of course, have an ulterior motive…’

‘When don’t you?’ she joked.

‘It’s never a motive like this,’ he said seriously and Hermione looked up from her plate and looked directly into his bright green eyes- she had never seen them look more alive.

‘Well, what is this motive?’ she asked, watching as the hand that wasn’t holding onto hers fumbled around in his pocket. He pulled out a small scarlet box and put it on the table.

‘I- I’ve been carrying this around for about two weeks now, trying to figure out how to do it best. I- I know that every woman dreams of this moment and- and I wanted to make it perfect.’

‘Everything’s perfect, Harry,’ she whispered. ‘You’re perfect.’

‘I’m glad… because, Hermione, I love you. You are half of me. And I don’t know how I would live without you. I don’t know what the future is going to hold, or what tomorrow will bring, I just know it will be eternally better if you were beside me, doing what you do best.’

‘And what do I do best?’

‘Save my arse,’ Harry said and they both laughed. Harry climbed awkwardly off his chair and sat on one knee on the floor of the kitchen. ‘Hermione Granger, will you marry me?’

‘Did you even have to ask?’ she said hoarsely, tears streaming freely down her cheeks.

‘I just wanted to- wanted to check,’ Harry said, tears streaming down his own cheeks as he stood up and kissed her as hard as he could, whilst pushing the ring onto her finger.

‘I love you so much.’

‘I love you even more.’

Dinner was soon forgotten as, joined at the lips, they made their way slowly into the bedroom.

Authors Notes: I am SO sorry it’s been so long since I updated- I’ve had an absolutely hectic few weeks and it still is hectic, so I do apologise for this update, I don’t think it’s terribly good or imaginative or anything- but it’s an update and it’s kinda sweet :p

She sighed happily as she placed the bag of rose petals to one side, the sun catching slightly on her engagement ring. She never took the ring off if she could avoid it- Harry had once joked that the ring was part of her body.

Underneath where she had grabbed the roses from was a serviette from the Leaky Cauldron that caused her to laugh- scrawled across the serviette underneath the logo of the Leaky Cauldron were the words ‘I love you’.

The night they had told everyone about their engagement.

There had been no reason for the group to gather in the pub at the end of the day- it had been casually arranged over the course of a few days and it wasn’t until after she had arrived that Hermione realised she had been looking forward to it. She was last to arrive, as the others had all come together- she was the only one who hadn’t been in Diagon Alley or the ministry that day, having spent all day cooped up, trying to write.

She hugged Ginny and Luna in greeting, kissed the cheeks of Ron and Dean and gave Harry a special private greeting, earning cat calls and whistles from the group.

‘My shout!’ Ron said, pulling out his money bag. ‘What’ll everyone have?’

‘Firewhiskey,’ Dean said and Harry nodded.

‘Same.’

‘I’ll grab a glass of Frinkleberry wine,’ Ginny said.

‘Same for me,’ chipped in Luna.

‘Butterbeer,’ Hermione said and Ron rolled his eyes.

‘You never drink!’ He said and she rolled her eyes back at him.

‘Unlike some people, I don’t enjoy waking up with a headache and a piece of sand paper for a tongue,’ she snapped.

‘Down girl,’ Ron said, hurrying away from the table before Hermione could reply. She just sighed.

‘You’re not mad at me?’ Harry whispered to her and she leant into him and smiled.

‘No- I know you’re sensible,’ she said, kissing him quickly. ‘So, Luna, how’s The Quibbler coming along?’

‘Daddy’s just got back from Tanzania- he’s found a new breed of Dementor that the ministry is trying to buy.’

‘Oh, that’s, um, nice,’ Hermione managed. Harry suddenly became very interested in the menu that had been left on the table and Ginny and Dean became very interested in finding out what the other had for lunch.

Ron returned with the drinks and Hermione sat back and watched her friends, slowly sipping on her Butterbeer. It was amazing how much they had changed, yet hadn’t changed at the same time.

Ron was telling a story that required lots of large hand movements and was making everyone laugh. Every now and then he would shoot a slight smile at Luna, who would smile dreamily back at him.

Of the people she was most surprised in, Luna had to be top of the list. She was still ‘Looney Luna’ at times, yet at others she surprised them all. She was the best thing to happen to Ron, and Hermione was happy for them both.

Ginny was occasionally joining in enthusiastically into Ron’s story and was laughing incredibly hard. Ever since she had met Ginny, Hermione had been flawed by how naturally beautiful she was, and she still thought so even now. She had cut her hair recently, into a shorter ‘grown up’ style and it had made her look so much older. And watching Dean, she found that whilst he appeared to be watching and listening to Ron, the more she looked at him the more she realised that every inch of his being was watching Ginny, every move she made. He seemed to hang on her every word and was almost looking as if he was in shock, disbelieving that she would be with him.

And then there was Harry. Her Harry. For so long she had never been able to remove her first impression of Harry- the clueless eleven year old she met on the train. Even in the early days of their relationship, she couldn’t see past the person he had been. But then he had bought down that wall, bit by bit, and each time he replaced a brick, she fell even more in love with him. He was always full of surprises.

They ordered dinner to their table and were still chatting away when most wizards started to leave the bar. Hermione pulled her chair over closer to Harry and curled her fingers in with his, leaning her head on his shoulder.

‘Tired?’ he whispered.

‘A little,’ she said, stifling a yawn. ‘If you want to stay…’

‘We’ll leave soon,’ he told her. His fingers stroked the ring which she had proudly been wearing for two weeks. ‘It’s a nice ring, isn’t it?’

‘Ring?’ Ginny said sharply, causing both of them to jump. ‘Who’s wearing a ring?’

‘Um, I am,’ Hermione said, almost shyly, pulling her hand away from Harry’s and placing it on the table.

‘Harry, you old dog!’ Ron cheered, banging the table. ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’

‘Um, well, Hermione wanted to tell her parents, and-’

‘Can we get a bottle of your finest over here!’ Ron bellowed to the bartender, cutting over Harry. ‘We’ve got a celebration!’

Harry tried to plead with Ron to stop, but his words were drowned out by Ginny’s shrieks of delight as the realisation fully set in.

‘Oh my, you’re getting married!’ she exclaimed, taking hold of Hermione’s hand and looking closely at her ring. ‘Oh wow- this is huge- the news and the rock!’

‘Nothing but the best for my girl,’ Harry said, wrapping his arms around Hermione’s neck and kissing the top of her head. ‘Now, I hate to bust up the party, but we’re going to head off.’

‘But- but-’ Ron spluttered.

‘You celebrate for us- only don’t tell anyone yet. Just let us tell Hermione’s parents first,’ Harry said and Ron folded his arms.

‘Fine. Hey- this means I get to plan a bucks night!’

‘And we’re going,’ Hermione said, standing up and pulling her jacket on. They made it out onto the muggle street outside the pub and started to laugh.

‘Wasn’t expecting that,’ Harry said, kissing her. ‘Ready to go?’

‘Sure thing.’

They caught a muggle taxi home and Hermione was in the bathroom before she found it. Harry had tucked it into the pocket of the jeans she had worn and she had no idea when he had done it. A single serviette with ‘I love you’ written on it.

Always full of surprises.

Authors Notes: Again, I’m sorry this update took so long! It was actually quite a hard one to write and I’ve had a lot of stuff going on in my life that hasn’t left me with much time to be writing fan fics- not that it’s calming down any, but I finally got a chance to sit down and write this chapter out fully.

Plus I had some new musical inspiration :p

Oh, and the chocolates are those little things that people give the guests at weddings- I cannot for the life of me remember what they are called but! I just know at my sisters wedding the guests got to keep their champagne glasses.

One more note- halfway through the memory it does jump a bit because I couldn’t write out a full scene.

She placed the napkin to the side and closed her eyes as she reached back into the box. And what she pulled out was a very small box, tied with a strand of white ribbon. She untied the ribbon and opened the box, to find a handful of dinner mints.

The wrappers on the mints were black and had tiny little pink hearts covering the surface. On the main side, in gold calligraphy, was written ‘Harry 4 Hermione’.

Reaching back into the box, she found yet another small box- she knew what it contained.

The jewellery she wore on their wedding…

There was a gentle breeze blowing as Hermione stood inside the doors of the manor house, trembling slightly. She had her father on her right, her mother on her left. Her one and only bridesmaid Ginny had already started her walk down the aisle and the nerves built inside Hermione as each second passed.

The violins struck up with the wedding march and she felt a lump rise in her throat. This was it… she was about to walk down the aisle…

Her father clenched onto her arm even tighter and Hermione placed her hand over his and looked at him from under her veil, trying to tell him without words that there was no reason to be scared or worried or nervous. She knew how much this wedding meant to her parents, as she was their only child. They wanted it to be perfect.

As did Hermione. She steadied her breathing as she made her way up the aisle, looking at the people gathered. She didn’t realise she and Harry knew so many people. Finally, for the first time, she looked up towards the altar.

Harry was standing there with Ron, both looking resplendent in their tuxedos. Harry’s hair was even laying flat- she made a note to herself to ask him how long it had taken and whether he had resorted to magic.

‘You’ll always be my little girl,’ her father whispered to her, as they reached the end of the aisle. She wrapped his arms around his neck and hugged him tight, before he gave her arm to Harry.

‘We’re really doing this?’ Harry asked as they walked the few steps to the altar.

‘We’re really doing this,’ she whispered back, squeezing his hand.

The minister began the service and Hermione went through the motions that they’d rehearsed the day before, only with a lot more nerves. Harry was nervous too, he stumbled over her middle name and accidentally called her Hermione Jan instead of Hermione Jane.

‘To seal their vows, Hermione and Harry will now read the vows they have prepared for today,’ the minister said and Ginny hurried over to Hermione with a small sheet of paper.

‘Doing great,’ she whispered, retreating back to her position.

‘Harry,’ she started, finding that the nerves she’d had had vanished. This was just her and Harry. ‘I found it hard to write these vows for today. How do you say ‘yes, I love you enough to spend my life with you’? But then I realised that I say this to you every day of my life. I have shared so much with you and this new journey is a frightening one, but I know that as long as I have you, my one true love, by my side I can survive anything. From the first day I met you I knew you would end up being someone special- I had no idea that you would become the most special person in the world to me. And that is why I today say yes, I love you enough to spend my life with you. And I can’t wait for that life to begin.’

She didn’t know for sure, but she thought she saw a tear shine in the corner of Harry’s eye. She did know for sure, however, that Harry’s words sent tears streaming down her cheeks as if she was a waterfall.

‘Hermione, many years ago now, we had a ball at school. I remember struggling to find a date, wondering who would want to go with me. One day you pointed out that you were in fact a girl- something I had noticed, yes, but not in that way. Every day since then I have noticed in some way that yes, you are a girl- a woman. When I saw you dressed up for the ball, my heart skipped a beat and I was speechless. To this day, when you are around, my heart skips and my mind stops. You are an incredibly strong woman and if it was not for your strength I would not be here with you today, on this day, declaring to the entire world that I love you and that I always will. You’ve had my heart for so long and now you will have it forever.’

A loud sob from behind alerted Hermione to the fact that her mother was crying like a baby and as she turned, she saw that Ginny was also sobbing, along with most of the females.

‘Well, by the powers vested in me, I know pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.’

Harry lifted her veil and smiled at her.

‘Hello, Mrs Potter,’ he whispered, leaning in and kissing her softly. The guests began to cat call and cheer, causing Hermione to blush beetroot red.

She had never felt so happy as she walked back up the aisle with her arm around Harry’s waist, nuzzled into his shoulder. People were reaching out from their seats and clapping them on the shoulders, calling out things like ‘good luck’ and ‘don’t let her put you in the doghouse!’.

The reception lunch was loud and cheerful- Hermione found she could hardly eat anything, instead all she could do was look around in wonder and down at the ring Harry had slipped onto her finger. It was a simple gold band to most people who looked at it, but to only Harry and Hermione, they saw the scarlet that ran blended into the gold. Gryffindor colours.

As the dessert plates were cleared away, Ron tapped his spoon onto his glass and got to his feet slowly.

‘As best man, it’s my duty I believe to give a speech involving embarrassing stories about Harry and Hermione,’ he paused to allow a chuckle. ‘The problem is, I only have stories about Harry- I knew Hermione being the way she is would cause problems somewhere along the line,’ everyone, including Hermione had a chuckle. ‘In all seriousness, I can’t imagine a better pairing than that of my two best friends. I can still remember the day Harry finally confessed to me that he was lusting after our best friend- after I had finished laughing at him, I remember telling him to go for it. Of course, what made the situation so funny to me was that for a period of about six months all the people in our house had been making a bet as to when they would finally get it together. They finally did- but left it until after the summer to tell everyone. Which was bad for the betting pool- no one had put a date later than Harry’s seventeenth birthday, so we all lucked out.

‘I cannot imagine a better marriage than what Harry and Hermione will have. For as long as I can remember they have been functioning as one whole of a person, always able to tell what the other is thinking or feeling. Watching from an outsiders perspective their relationship has always been as strong as anything and I know that it will continue to be as strong in the future. So I beg all of you to raise your glasses and give a toast to the newlyweds.’

‘To the newlyweds!’ rang around the room and everyone took a sip of their champagne.

‘Now, I just have one more thing to say- underneath your place card, you will find a small chocolate. These are for you to either eat now, or keep as a souvenir of this day. Thank you and goodnight.’

Hermione place her hand on Ron’s arm when he sat down and smiled at him.

‘Thank you, Ron,’ she said. ‘You’ve been a great friend.’

‘Well if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be here,’ he said, winking. Hermione looked at him curiously and he laughed. ‘Never mind.’

They cut the cake just after Ron’s toast and as the cake was being served, the band got into position and began playing a slow waltz. They both beamed as they circled around the dance floor, holding onto each other as tight as they possibly could. Hermione never wanted the dance to end.

And it didn’t- they didn’t sit down again all night, they just kept on dancing, wrapped in each others arms, wrapped in their own world.

Alright- I apologise now for not having updated in ages. And I’m apologising even more for this non-update.

I’m putting Hermione’s Box on hold for a few weeks. I’ve recently just started a new job where I’m on night shift- 3 days a week I finish at midnight and 2 days a week I finish at 4am- so, for obvious reasons, I’m not getting the time I used to have to write and update fan fiction. And on top of the late hours, I have to commute to a town half an hour away, so I need to add an hour on each day for travel. Needless to say, I’m very tired because I’m not used to the new routine.

This doesn’t mean that I’m abandoning this forever- I’ve got half of the next chapter written, it’s just a matter of finding the time to finish it fully- I’m writing this now as I prepare to run out the door for my shift.

I want to thank all the lovely and wonderful people who have read and reviewed both this and Harry’s Album. Reviews are what spur me on to write- if no-one is reading what I write, why should I bother?

Rest assured that one I get my routine sorted and I know how much free time I’ve got, I will get back on course with this and I’ll start writing the new story I’ve had floating around in my mind whilst I work- I’ve got bits of it written on bits of paper, I just need the time to write it fully and properly.

So don’t forget about this- I will be back one day :D

**Updated update information**

Hello everyone:

Thought I would give you an update as to where I am up to in regards to updating...

As I posted in my last post, I've started a new job. When I posted that I was on permanent night shifts, however now my roster changes every week and I can't even plan ahead one or two days at the moment. It seems at the moment I'm mainly on day shift, which is from 11am or 12pm to 7 or 8pm, which is a bad shift for me to do because I'm buggered when I get home and I basically get up and go straight to work. Add on top of this the fact that they throw in a few night shifts every couple of days and then put me on weird days off and you have my working schedule. I'm also trying to sort out a few things re moving in the new year, which is taking up a bit of time (especially considering I've no idea where I'm moving too or whether or not the company I work for will even let me transfer to somewhere else- I need to transfer to get a promotion basically, but it's whether or not I'll get the transfer to somewhere I want- it's all very confusing).

I've also just had a major computer breakdown- my computer was refusing to load Windows and in the end we had to basically wipe everything off the system and start again. Which means I lost all my files- including the file to Hermione's Box. I do have a back-up disk, however I cannot remember a) where said disk is and b) how long ago I made it. I had actually made progress on the next chapter- it was pretty much complete, I just needed to re-read and edit- and I hadn't had a chance to do said re-reading and editing before the computer went nuts. So I'm back to square one and desperately searching the study for said backup disk (if any one has seen this disk, please let me know where it is lol).

So that's where you stand currently on getting new updates. My search for the back up disk has been hindered slightly by the fact that I'm not terribly mobile at the moment- I've hurt my hip pretty badly and can hardly walk, so getting down on hands and knees to find piles of disks isn't really the most appealing task at the moment. So please be patient with me and I promise you will have the next update by Christmas at least!!!

Hey, well, I’m back… sorta… oh so much has happened to me since I started writing this story. I eventually found the back-up disk, but it was very out of date. And I’ve been on a real writing thing the last couple of days and so I decided to update this!!! Enjoy!

~*~

Not a day had gone by in the past eighteen months were Hermione hadn’t though about her wedding day. When the photos had been developed she had spent weeks framing the best and positioning them around the house.

Still smiling, she reached into the box and pulled out a plastic stick. She smiled and remembered that day not to long ago now…

Standing in the muggle supermarket, Hermione looked around her shoulder nervously at the other people nearby. She didn’t recognize a single one of them, which was good. She didn’t want anyone to see what she was buying. Carefully and as quick as she could without knocking everything off the shelf she grabbed a box and threw it in her trolley, burying it under a whole pile of other stuff that she wasn’t quite sure if she needed.

She felt like she was running to the checkout and she made sure that the box was buried under stuff on the checkout bench. She felt so embaressed as the checkout operator scanned the box and put it in the bag.

‘I should’ve bought Ginny,’ she muttered to herself. Ginny never got embaressed about stuff like this and Hermione can remember the memorable day they both went to buy condoms.

She paid for the groceries and ran out the doors like a flash and almost ran back home. She had to do this before Harry got home from work.

Taking the box into the bathroom, she shut and locked the door and just stared at it.

‘Directions- allow urine stream to soak the strip for at least 15 seconds. Remember this is a mid-stream test so allow a few drops to go first. Results should appear after two minutes. A line should appear in the second window to confirm the test has worked. A line in the first window indicates a positive result and you should see your doctor immediately,’ she read outloud to herself. ‘This is so humiliating.’

She carefully unpackaged the test and sat down on the toilet and completed it. She snapped the lid over the strip and then placed it on the sink and waited.

And waited.

She was almost too nervous to look at it. She had only realized that morning that her period was three weeks late and that had never happened. They weren’t exactly trying for a baby, but if one happened, it happened.

‘Hermione?’ she heard Harry call out and she jumped a mile into the air. She hadn’t told him.

‘I’m on the loo!’ she called back.

He didn’t come any closer to the bathroom and she breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing she had to look, she picked the test up and looked at the windows.

Two lines.

She placed the test back on the sink and was surprised to see herself smiling. She reached over and unlocked the door.

‘Harry… can you come in here?’ she called. A few seconds later Harry appeared, cautiously looking around the corner of the door. ‘Come in… I have to show you something.’

But Harry’s eyes had already spotted the box and without saying a word, he reached over and picked up the test.

‘Two line,’ he whispered and looked at Hermione. ‘Is that good?’

‘Depends… on whether or not you want to be a daddy.’

Harry let out a massive whoop and threw his arms around Hermione, still clutching both the test and the box.

‘Do… do you mean it?’ he asked, looking her in the eyes and she nodded.

‘We’re going to be parents.’

Harry had adjusted to the news of the baby better than Hermione had thought he would. He had spent the last four months telling anyone who would listen. She didn’t think he’d be able to wait until the baby was born. They had already started picking out names and Harry had started painting the nursery as soon as they had moved in. He had chosen a lovely pale lemon colour and it just looked superb.

Placing the test back into the box, she pulled out a plastic key tag with their address written on it. The original key tag from the day they moved into the house.

Harry placed the last box into the backseat of the car and smiled as Hermione came out the front of the building. She had been showing almost since the day they had found out and she was glowing with happiness.

He kissed her when she reached the car and grinned broadly at her.

‘Well, that’s it,’ she said almost sadly. ‘I’m going to miss that flat.’

‘You won’t for long. You’ve got a whole house to think about now. Think of all the decorating and renovating we can do.’

‘I know. It’s all terribly exciting, isn’t it?’

‘It’s all terribly grown up,’ Harry remarked. He was still amazed that he was married, now he added the amazement of owning his own house and having a child on the way.

The house was a half hour drive from the flat they had shared. They had found it quite innocently after attending Hermione’s doctors appointment. Her doctor was only just up the road and driving back home they had spotted the for sale sign. And they knew it had to be fate that they were meant to have that house, as the realtor turned up as they were staring at the exterior and let them in for a tour.

Harry had made an offer that day and they got the phone call that afternoon that it had been accepted.

And now finally, three months later, they were moving in. Hermione’s parents had hired a small truck that morning and had gone ahead of them and unloaded the furniture. Much to Hermione’s disdain, Harry refused to let her have anything to do with the move and she had felt utterly useless why her parents and Harry packed the truck.

‘We’re here,’ Harry said, pulling the car into the driveway. He jumped out quickly and ran around to Hermione’s side of the car and opened the door for her.

‘Honestly Harry, I can get out of the car on my own!’

They stood on the front lawn and stared at the house.

‘We own this,’ she whispered to herself, searching through her handbag for the keys.

Harry put his arm around her shoulder as they walked up the front path and Hermione admired the roses lining the path. She couldn’t wait to get stuck in and do some gardening- she could have this place looking so nice.

Once they reached the front doors Harry took the keys and unlocked the door and swung it wide open. And the without warning he scooped Hermione up in his arms and carried her into the house. She laughed hysterically, she wasn’t expecting Harry to do such a thing.

‘Welcome home, my love,’ he whispered, putting her down again. ‘Welcome to the rest of your life.’

A big massive thank you to everyone who was read and reviewed this story! Nothing spurs me on more than lots of positive feedback!

Now this chapter is actually *sob* the last chapter. There wasn’t many more memories that I could think of that hadn’t been covered already and I couldn’t write much more fluff cause I would’ve had to have done to the dentist lol. So this is what I came up with and I hope you enjoy it :D

Hermione opened her eyes and stared at the blank, empty space next to her where her husband slept. It jolted her for a moment as she tried to remember the last time that she woke up alone. It had been a while, that was for sure. As her pregnancy progressed Harry became more fretful than what she was and had insisted on being present almost 24 hours a day.

It had taken a lot of convincing, but Hermione had managed to get him to go to the big Auror meeting that morning. He wasn’t going to go, as her due date was only 2 days away, but she convinced him she’d be fine.

Getting out of bed was a bit of a stuggle these days- she swore it was twins and the second baby was hiding so it wouldn’t be visible on an ultrasound. She had insisted on an entirely muggle pregnancy- she didn’t really trust wizard’s when it came to childbirth, especially after Mrs Weasley’s horror stories. She had even restrained from doing too much magic as it might harm the baby (it wasn’t exactly something she could ask her GP about either).

She managed to struggle out of bed and up the hallway to the bathroom where she pulled off her tent size nightgown and climbed into the shower. She loved standing in the shower, marveling at her massive belly, knowing that at any moment her son or daughter would tell her they wanted to come out.

Turning the shower off, she stepped out carefully and as she twisted her body to get her towel, a twinge of pain ran up her side.

‘Shouldn’t have twisted like that,’ she said to herself as she dried as best as she could.

Dressing herself in her nightgown again (she couldn’t be bothered going to clothes when she wasn’t going anywhere) she headed downstairs in the loungeroom and sat at her desk and scribbled a quick note.

Mum- feeling lonely, Harry at work, want to come over?

She attached the note to Hedwig’s leg and opened up the window. She watched the owl fly away. It would take her mother about forty minutes to get to her, so she setteled herself onto the lounge with a book.

And that was when she felt the second twinge.

‘Stop kicking mummy,’ she cooed to her stomach, rubbing her hand over it. She could feel different body parts and it just excited her. It was so close.

By the time the doorbell rang to alert her to her mother’s arrival, the twinge of pain had come back four separate times. It came again as she opened the door.

‘Hi,’ she panted to her mother, clutching her side.

‘Are you alright?’ Mrs Granger asked. She had been so worried about her daughter through the pregnancy- at least she was having an easy time of it.

‘Fine. Just getting these weird twinges,’ Hermione told her. Mrs Granger laughed and hugged her daughter.

‘Sweetheart, I think you’re in labour.’

‘What- no! I can’t be- I’m not due for two days! And Harry- Harry’s at work- he’ll never forgive me!’

‘Hermione, if this baby is anything like you were, you’ll be in labour for twelve hours before anything happens. We have time.’

But in Hermione’s experience whenever you think you have time, you never did. And she was right again. Whilst her mother was making lunch, her waters broke.

‘What number do I call Harry on?’ she asked as she quickly mopped up whilst Hermione grabbed her bags.

‘You… can’t…’ she gasped as a contraction ripped through. ‘Just… leave… a note…’

~*~

Harry arrived home just as the sun was setting and was quiet as he walked in. The house was dark which meant Hermione was asleep, as she was most of the time.

But when he entered the bedroom it was empty and he began to worry. He ran back downstairs and flipped the lounge room light on. And spotted the note on the coffee table.

Harry- Hermione’s in labour. I’ve taken her to the clinic. Please hurry!

He recognized the writing as his mother-in-laws and almost passed out on the spot. The baby…. The baby was coming!

He knew he was too emotional to Apparate so he grabbed the car keys from the hook inside the door and raced outside. He speed through the streets like nothing else, not caring if he got booked. For all he knew, Hermione could have had the baby by now.

The parking job he did in the carpark was hopeless (he took up three spots) but he didn’t care. He ran up to the entrance, burst through the doors and up to the reception desk.

‘My wife… having baby… Potter…’ he gasped, clutching chest. The receptionist just smiled at him- she saw a lot of husbands like him.

‘Potter… room 815.’

‘Am I… too late?’

‘I think you’re just in time,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘It’s on the second floor, elevators are just behind you.’

‘C’mon,’ Harry muttered, jabbing the summon button for the elevator. It seemed to take forever for the doors to open, but thankfully once he was inside they shut quickly and then before he had time to think, had opened on the second floor. He raced up the corridor, dodging other people and waiting chairs.

He stopped for a moment outside the door to room 815, realizing what was about to happen. When he came out that door, he was going to be a father.

~*~

Harry and Hermione take great pride in announcing that their healthy, baby girl was delivered last night at 11:17pm. Mother and daughter are doing great. No name has been decided yet.

You are all welcome to come and visit the baby at home, this coming Saturday.

Harry duplicated the note seven times and addressed them to his and Hermione’s closest friends. He had a separate note written out to send the the Daily Prophet for a small announcement.

Sitting back in his chair he let his mind wander back over the miracle that had happened the night before. Hermione had been screaming her head off, but Harry just watched in amazement as the baby crowned and then made her appearance.

He had a daughter. A beautiful, healthy, daughter.

He had felt different as he arrived home at 3am. The clinic had kicked him out so that Hermione could get some rest, but it was only two hours until he could go back. He hadn’t slept a wink- he’d been developing photos first and the had pulled his memory album out and put the photo of himself, Hermione and their daughter in and then wrote the date. He certainly would never need a reminder for this day- he would remember it for the rest of his life.

He dozed off on the lounge for a short period and when he awoke he ran around and grabbed the stuff Hermione had asked him to grab, including a specific shoebox which he was under strict orders not to open. He wondered what she was hiding in there. Not that he wasn’t hiding things- he had placed an owl-order last night for two bracelets that would be engraved with his daughters name (once they decided on one) and date of birth. One for Harry, one for Hermione.

~*~

They decided on the name shortly after Harry had arrived for the day. Hermione hadn’t slept, she’d stayed up thinking about names. Their daughter needed a name.

‘Emma Lillian Potter,’ she whispered to the baby as she kissed the swirl of chocolate brown hair on the tiny head. She still couldn’t believe this little baby was hers.

Harry had gone to the cafeteria to get something for himself for lunch, and Hermione was meant to be having her rest period. But she couldn’t rest. She placed Emma in her crib and crept across the room to where Harry had dumped all the stuff he had bought from home that morning.

Picking up the shoebox, she placed the small tag that they had given her that morning inside. It listed all Emma’s details from her birth, as well as her first photograph.

The first memento of a whole new life.