A/N: Hello everyone I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update but work has been crazy. I loved all the reviews and love to hear who you guys think the little girl is. So keep up those reviews I do love them and answer them. Ok this chapter has a lot on information that you might not get all at once. But later it will come in handy. I hope you guys like it. I am now writing the next chapter in this story but I don't know when it will be done. I hope to have it done before HBP comes out. I hope you all like this chapter and please review!
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Chapter 3
The Days that follow
Hermione was awake by the time Dobby came to tell her that breakfast was ready and waiting for her on the table. When she got to the kitchen Harry was already sitting at the table eating.
"Good morning." Hermione said as she sat down at her seat.
"Good morning. I figured we could finish up with the Library today and put your books in there."
"That's fine." Hermione place a hard boiled egg on her plate and began to peel it.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, and you?"
"Fine."
They fell back into a silence which lasted the rest of breakfast and into finishing the Library. It only ended when it was lunch.
"We should eat then get your books." Harry stated as he pulled Hermione from the floor.
"What type of books do you have?" Harry asked as they ate.
"Oh, all types really. Medical, Healer, Plays, Magic, History, Fiction, Poems, different Languages, and a few Romance books that my mother gave me. That's all I can think of now."
"Have you read them all?" Harry asked still in awe.
Hermione blushed slightly. "Almost all of them, I had gotten quite a few when my grandmother passed. She always encouraged my reading. That's why I do have so many books. She used to read to me everyday when I wasn't at school. She told me that no one has an excuse not to be knowledgeable. When I was at school she would send me a book once a month so I would read about things that had nothing to do with magic. She wanted me to be well versed in both worlds. She was afraid that if I only ended up learning about magic I would become a slave to it." Hermione sighed sadly. "She was right in a way; I would never be able to thank her for what she instilled in me." Hermione turned head to try and stop the tears from falling down her face.
She felt Harry's hand rest on top of hers on the table. "You loved her very much didn't you?"
Hermione nodded as she felt the tears slid out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Harry's hand left hers and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"I was at school when she died. My parents they…d-didn't even bring home for her funeral. They told me in a letter." Hermione let out a sob unable to go on.
She felt Harry move until he was standing over her. Hermione let him pull her up from her chair and wrap his arms around her trying to comfort her. This only made her sob harder as his hands rubbed her back.
"Let it out Hermione." He whispered. "I wish I could have been there for you then."
Hermione clung to Harry as her sobs started to slow. It was a short time later before Hermione was ready to leave Harry's arms. When she did Harry wiped the few remaining tears from her face before kissing her forehead.
She was shocked to say the least. The only other person to ever kiss her anywhere was her father, and on the rare occasions her mother. No boy had ever looked at her twice in school unlike the other girls, who always had boys falling at their feet. Hermione smiled slightly before she allowed Harry to lead her to her bedroom to get her trunk full of books.
The rest of the day was spent in the Library organizing the books to her liking. There were many moments of stolen looks and `accidental' touches. Hermione was eating it up. She loved it when she caught him looking at her, or when his hand would brush hers when passing her a book.
They were able to finish the Library shortly after dinner. Once they were done Harry opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate the completion of their first room together. After the bottle was completed Harry helped a slightly dizzy Hermione up the stairs and to her room. He left her just inside the door after she assured him that she would be okay on her own.
That night it was much easier for Hermione to go to sleep. She had changed quickly into her night clothes and only stumbled once on her way to the bed. But once under the covers her eyes fluttered shut and she dreamed of more private moments with Harry.
The next few days followed in much the same fashion as she and Harry moved on to clean the large Ballroom. It took them three days to get it clean. The dust combined with the fact that the whole room was wood and needed to be polished took much longer then either thought it would. But once it was clean and shined they took a test run to make sure the floor was `danceable'. It was. Hermione couldn't stop smiling as Harry twirled them around the dance floor.
It was the end of the first week in October when they finally got to working on the second Parlor. They had decided to cover the walls in the room with a dark red paint that seem to make the room comfortable and warm. The furniture had to be cleaned several times before it even began to be able to be used. They were in the middle of hanging curtains on the third day of working on the room, when a knock came from the front door.
"I wonder who that could be?" Harry said as he walked out of the room.
Hermione walked to the doorway of the Parlor, wiping her hand in the apron around her waist, and watched as Harry answered the door.
"Hello Harry." Said a friendly male voice from the other side of the front door.
Harry laughed out as reached over to hug the man, then another person the door was blocking Hermione from seeing..
"What are you all doing here?" Harry asked as Hermione watched him hug someone else.
"Well we thought we'd come see how you were handling married life. Speaking of which we have yet to meet your wife and the girls have been dying to get their hands on her."
"Ronald! You make it sound like we're going to maul her or something." Came the airy voice of a woman.
"Harry, are you going to make us stand out here all day?" Another female voice added.
"Oh, I'm sorry, come on in." Harry said as he moved out of the way.
Hermione watched as a redheaded man slightly taller then Harry walked in the door with a woman with golden blond hair that was sitting twisted on the top of her head. Then a brown haired man who was about the same height as Harry walked in with a woman who had red hair, just like the other man, sitting neatly tied to the back of her head.
"Hermione," She jumped slightly at Harry calling her name. "Come here I want you to meet some people.
Hermione nodded and walked over to the small group who were all looking her up and down.
"Hermione these are some friends of mine. This is Ron Weasley and his wife Luna Weasley." Harry said about the tall redhead and blond. "And this is Neville Longbottom and his wife Ginny. We all went to school together. Everyone this is my wife Hermione."
"It's lovely to meet you all." Hermione said slightly shyly. "Are you two related?" She asked Ron and Ginny.
They both laughed and nodded but it was Ginny who spoke up. "We're twins actually."
"Wow twins that's really rare."
"Rare huh? We're the second set in our family we have older brothers who are twins as well." Ron laughed out.
"That amazing." Hermione looked down at her hands when she noticed that she was in fact wearing her cleaning clothes that were spotted with dirt, dust and paint. "Oh I should go change. We have been cleaning. If you'll excuse me while I change." She turned and quickly made her way to her room.
Hermione was just about finished changing when a knock came to her door. She opened the door slightly to see Harry standing on the other side of it.
"Hermione may I come in and talk to you for a moment?"
"Yes." Hermione stepped out of the way and let Harry into her room.
She watched as he took a look around the room before turning his attention back to her.
"Well you see the reason I need to talk to you is because the Weasleys and the Longbottoms will be staying the night."
"It will be nice to get to know your friends and to have guests in the house."
"Yes it will be. I'm sure that they'll be quite taken with you. The problem is we haven't had time to clean any of the guest rooms. The only bedrooms we have done are this one"
"Yours and the one other guest room." Hermione finished for him.
"So you see the problem. I was wondering, if it's alright with you of course, if I could move in here with you." Harry ended somewhat hesitantly.
Hermione's heart did a bit of a flip flop in her chest as she thought of what this would really mean. It would mean that they would start to have a real marriage. They would start to sleep next to each other and then it would move on past just sleeping. A small, and somewhat frightening, thrill went through her body.
"Hermione?" Harry question making her jump slightly.
"I'm sorry I was just thinking."
"If you don't feel comfortable with me moving in here it's all right we can work something else out."
"No, it's fine I was just thinking that's all. I think you should move in here with me." Hermione said feeling the red blush creep up her face.
Harry smiled "I'll go tell Dobby to move my things into here."
Harry moved to go to the door but Hermione stopped him. "Harry, can you do me a favor?"
He turned to her. "Yes."
"It's just that I left my wand downstairs and I can't reach the last few buttons on the back of my dress. I was wondering if you could get those for me."
Harry nodded and Hermione turned so he could reach the buttons. Slowly she felt Harry's fingers fasten the back of her dress. She felt his hands rest slightly on her back when he was done before moving them away.
"All set." Harry said as he moved around her.
"Thank you."
"I'll go talk to Dobby now. Everyone's sitting in the Parlor when you're ready to head back downstairs."
"I shall be downstairs in a moment." Hermione said.
Harry smiled once more and went to the door. It was only when he was stepping out of the room did Hermione hurry over to him.
"Harry, you have a spot on your cheek."
Harry moved his hand to his cheek to remove the spot Hermione had pointed out.
"Did I get it?" He asked when he brought his hand away.
Hermione smiled "No, not quite. Here let me."
Hermione moved in front of Harry and slowly placed her hand on his cheek rubbing it to remove the unwanted spot. She was about to take her hand away when she felt Harry's cover hers.
She moved her gaze to his eyes that were dancing behind his spectacles looking over her face. But when his eyes finally stopped on her lips Hermione felt her breath hitch in her throat. Slowly Harry brought his eyes back up to hers before his head dipped closer to her own.
She knew he was going to kiss her. She knew that she could pull away. She knew that this would change things. She knew that she should pull back a part of her knew that they weren't ready for this.
But she didn't pull back. She felt her eyes close as Harry's face went out of focus. Hermione felt Harry's lips lightly brush hers before he pulled away. A sigh left her lips as Harry pulled himself upright again.
Hermione opened her eyes to see Harry looking her over to gage her reaction. She smiled lightly and Harry returned the gesture.
"I'll see you downstairs then."
"Yes."
Harry turned and left her, no she corrected herself, their bedroom. That brought another smile to her face as she closed the door.
At first when Harry had brought up the fact that they would have to start sharing a room Hermione was nervous at what that would mean. But know she knew that they were just taking the next step in becoming a real couple. They were going to have a real marriage.
"He kissed me!!!!!!!!!!" Hermione almost felt light headed when she thought of this. This was a very good thing Hermione finally decided as she walked back downstairs.
Upon entering the Parlor she saw that Harry was not with the group. After taking a deep breath Hermione fully entered the room and took a set on the small couch by the window.
"So Hermione, where did you grow up?" Ginny asked her.
"Outside of Paris on my Grandmothers estate, I was born not to far from here though."
"Why did your family move?" Ron asked.
"The war." Hermione said darkly. "My parents didn't think it was safe for me to be here."
She could see all their faces had darkened somewhat at the mention of the war. A small part of her wished she could have been here during it.
"Yes, I can see why they wouldn't have wanted you here though that." The man named Neville said. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't here for it."
"Oh Nev." Ginny cooed as she placed herself in her husbands lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry." Hermione said quickly. "I didn't mean to bring up bad thoughts."
"It's alright Hermione." Neville said. "The war was just hard on those who were here. Everyone lost someone."
"Did you go to a Wizarding school in France?" Luna's airy voice asked.
"Yes I did. Beauxbatons."
"Oh I've heard its lovely there." Ginny said as stood up and move to sit beside Hermione.
"Yes the country around the school was quite beautiful at times."
Hermione turned when she heard Harry clear his throat from the door way.
"I thought I'd let everyone know that Dobby has dinner ready for us in the dinning room."
"Ah Dobby, I love that little elf's cooking."
"Ron you love anybody's cooking." Harry laughed as Ron and the other passed him going out the doorway.
Hermione was the last to leave the room and when she passed Harry she felt his hand slid into place on her lower back.
She couldn't help but look up at him and smile. He smiled back and led her to the dinning room.
Hermione loved this side of Harry. He laughed, smiled and talked out fun times with his friends. Even though she did hate eating in the dining room and having to sit so far from Harry, this was one of the best meals she had had since she had moved in.
After dinner the men went to the Library for an after dinner drink and smoke. The women went back to the Parlor to talk.
"Hermione we brought you something. It was given to me by my cousin when I married Ronald. And then I gave it to Ginny when she married Neville. It seems only fitting that we give it to you."
Luna passed Hermione a black leather bound book that seem to be well worn.
"Thank you. I love books." Hermione said as she felt the books cover with her finger tips.
"Oh we are sure that Harry will love this book too." Ginny added.
Hermione gave her a questioning look before opening the book to an odd page somewhere in the middle. On the page that opened to was a picture of a man and women without clothing. The man had the women pressed against a wall and was…
Hermione snapped the book shut, face blushing, before looking up at the two women.
"I-I think you have mistaken this book for something else." Hermione stuttered.
"No we didn't. You see Hermione that is to help you and Harry in the bedroom. It will help bring the two of you closer." Ginny told her as she got up to sit next to Hermione.
"We know this must be hard for you Hermione. To come here and not know anyone, we were lucky we have known our husbands all our lives. We give this to you so that you and Harry can hopefully find what Luna and Ron, and myself and Neville have."
Hermione nodded and placed the book beside her on the couch. She let what they said settle into her mind. That is what she wanted. She wanted herself and Harry to be like them, like they had known each other all their lives not just a month. If that book could do that then she would read it cover to cover.
"May I ask you a question about the war?" Hermione asked after a while.
Ginny looked over at Luna who nodded her head. "Yes."
"Neville said that everyone lost someone in the war. Who did Harry loose?"
Both Luna and Ginny looked at each other before looking back at Hermione.
Luna was the first to speak up. "We probably shouldn't tell you this but Harry being, well Harry, there may be no other way for you to find out. I don't know if you remember that Harry had a younger sister."
"She had red hair like their Lily didn't she?" Hermione asked quickly.
"Yes," Ginny told her. "It was two years ago she was only 13. Nobody really knows what happened except Harry. All we know is that she and Harry ended up trapped in a room with Death Eaters and You-Know-Who." Ginny stopped and looked at Luna before looking back at Hermione. "Harry was the only one to come out of the room alive."
Hermione's heart stopped when she heard this. How was it a fifteen year old went into a room with a wizard feared by most of the country and come out alive. Let alone the only one alive.
"Harry was the one that ended the war?" Hermione asked the women.
"Yes."
"How?"
Luna's eye's softened. "He never told us what happened in that room. The only person he's told, we think, is his godfather."
Hermione nodded as she took in this information. The girl she had dreamed about was Harry's little sister. A part of her mind must have remembered her and knew that she should have been at the wedding. There was only one other question she had.
"What was her name?"
"Emily Louisa Potter."
They all turned back to more pleasant conversation about school and home life. They were in the middle of talking about their old dorm rooms when Harry, Neville and Ron came in.
"Are you ladies ready to turn in for the night?" Harry asked as he put his hands on Hermione's shoulders.
"Yes it does seem to be that time." Luna said as she stood and wrapped her arms around Ron.
The three couples made their way upstairs where Harry and Hermione showed the other two couples to their rooms.
It was only after they were in their room did Hermione become somewhat nervous at what was going to happen. She set the book that Luna and Ginny gave her on her bedside table.
Hermione changed quickly into her nightgown and washed her face in the washroom before going back out to the bedroom. She had just settled into bed when Harry came out of his washroom in just his under shorts.
Hermione couldn't help but stare at him. She had never seen a man this undressed before. His chest was much wider then her own and his chest and stomach were flat.
"I hope you don't mind but I haven't slept in a nightgown since I was a child. I could find a shirt to sleep in."
"No!" Hermione said quickly. "Its fine, I don't mind."
Harry climbed into bed beside her and blew out his candle before pulling the covers over himself.
"I saw you caring that book upstairs, where did you get it?"
"Oh," Hermione blushed as she blew out her candle and slid under the covers. "Luna and Ginny gave it to me as a wedding gift. It's a cookbook.
"That was nice of them."
"Yes it was."
"Goodnight Hermione." Harry said before he lend over and kissed Hermione's cheek.
"Goodnight Harry."
Hermione smiled as she turned on her side to sleep.
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