Chapter 7-Preparations
The longer Harry slept the more Hermione paced. To a casual observer, they might see her behavior as more than odd. She would walk past Harry in an obvious attempt to wake him through pure movement in the room. She would crawl in bed put her head on his chest to make sure his heart was still beating. She wanted him rested but she wanted to share her excitement with him too. Nothing about her 23rd birthday went as planned except getting off the airplane in London.
By ten o'clock, she had finally reached her limit. She would call her mother and then find out what happened from Harry's view. She dialed her mother's number and waited.
"Good morning to you too, Mum. Did Dad and Harry work things out?" she asked.
"Well, not exactly, Mum. He acted as though things went well though. Ask me how I know that, please. Just ask me?" the glee in her voice was probably already a tip.
"He asked me to marry him, Mum. It was so romantic. There was no way it was a last minute decision. He said that Dad made him realize how lucky he was, but not much more. Well, I will not get into the details; I know how much you hate to try to follow the magical stuff. Nevertheless, he had it planned. There were a garden's worth of red roses at the door, a beautiful chocolate cake, and champagne. That was just the birthday part. Mum, he gave me a locket that stole my heart and then, well, the ring is a three-carat diamond solitaire Mum. It is gorgeous."
"No. We have not talked about dates yet. I passed out on him, Mum. I was so tired and I cried so hard I just did not have anything left in the tank. He tucked me in bed and I found him sleeping in the chair next to me this morning," she said. "He's still sleeping."
"Okay, Mum. You're kidding--Dad said that to Harry. That is so sweet. Well, you go do what you had planned Mum. I won't keep you. Love you both."
"Thanks so much, Mum. That means a lot to me," said Hermione as she hung up.
Maybe it was her voice or just time to get up, but just a few seconds later Harry was awake. Hermione could see his legs dangling off the bed from where she sat. "Harry, you're awake. I was going crazy wanting to talk to you."
He was sitting on the bed yawning when she bowled him over back onto the bed and kissed his forehead. "Ugh!" said Harry as she knocked the wind out of him. "Hermione, sweetheart, I have to go."
"What? Go where?" he pointed and they laughed. He ran to the loo as she sat on the bed.
He saw she was counting on her fingers. "Yep, you have four fingers and a thumb." He softly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down into the pillows. For a second his heart raced as he thought of the only reason why she would be counting like that. "You are not…I mean, you couldn't be….well, you could but…you are not, are you? Pregnant, I mean."
She laughed. "Do you think I would hide that from you? No, of course not. I was counting the number of weeks it took you to decide to make an honest woman of me," she giggled. "I am glad you asked though because you would have gone crazy thinking I was not going to tell you. There would have been nothing to tell."
He laughed and she was right. If he had not said anything, he would have wondered until it drove him crazy. "Are you happy now, future Mrs. Potter?" he beamed at her brilliant smile and beautiful brown eyes.
"Very happy, but what if I thought the future Mr. Granger sounded better?" asked Hermione.
Harry looked at her and made as straight a face as he could while she was trying to get his goat, "How about this, first one to smile loses?" He tickled her right at the spot where the ribs end and the lower back begins. She struggled against him and put her hands on his chest. Harry hated when she did that. Sometimes she could make him shiver in delight and wake up parts of him that needed further attention.
"I'm not giving in, but if I lose at least I'll lose in a good way," she said. "You lose."
He had lost. It was not the tickling. It was the thought that she would lose on purpose if it got her what she wanted. "I never thought of making love to you as losing," he took her softly in his arms.
"One day you will regret losing, Mr. Granger," she said. He ignored her.
"Well, we'll have plenty of time for two out of three on that count," he replied a moment later as he lifted her sweatshirt over her head.
Harry turned on the T.V. and found the channels on the satellite that played different types of music. He found a station that said, "Smooth Jazz" and left it there. He did not want singing or loud rock. "Have you thought about a date yet, Hermione?" he said scooting up in bed as Hermione did likewise pulling the covers up under her chin.
She was quiet for few minutes. Harry reached for his glasses on the nightstand and looked for something else on the T.V. He was not going to break her concentration. He could tell she was counting in her head.
"Harry, I only care if two people come to our wedding from the group I work with and I think there is time. Do you want to get married on New Year's Eve?" she said.
Harry had thought about how soon she might want to have the wedding. He thought she might pick a night like the Saturday before Christmas or even Christmas Eve. "It is up to you for the planning. It could be tonight at the Burrow if you wanted. That's how sure I am that I want to marry you." He kissed her.
Hermione's face changed from hopeful to surprised. "I do not doubt that you want to marry me, but are you sure that I won't pick tonight?"
Harry looked into the corner with a little sigh. "If you could get a preacher, I would marry you tonight. Yet, I am sure you know that's not what I meant literally. If you want to get married sooner so that we can have our honeymoon while you are not scheduled to travel that is what I meant." Secretly, he wanted to be done with it as soon as possible. He did not have any distant relatives to worry about making it to the wedding.
"Okay, what about Saturday, October 27th. I think that would be a great day. I think…" she went into her calendar. "I think that is the day of the first Quidditch match for Gryffindor at Hogwarts. I think it would be very nice to have our wedding there in the evening after the match."
Harry wondered what significance Quidditch had all of a sudden. "Why do you care if it is a Quidditch Saturday or not?"
"Harry, Hogwarts holds so many memories for me," she said as she put the address book away. "I have been a bundle of nerves and romantic memories this morning while you slept. Have you ever dreamed about something so simple and unremarkable that when you wake up you realize it was actually a very special day?"
"Yes, I suppose I have. I would say that about the day we actually saw each other for the first time," he said.
"Exactly, Harry. I remember a kid I was just getting to know. Well, I had helped him find out that his Dad was a very good seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He played his first match exactly ten years ago that Saturday. I was twelve and I cheered like a wild woman for him to get the Golden Snitch. He was so small compared to everyone else. Secretly, my crush began that day, Harry. You were magnificent."
Harry smiled at the thought of that day. He remembered Hermione standing in the stands shouting for him. "It is amazing, isn't it? I mean how the memory works. I mean you think of that and still your favorite memory of Hogwarts is of Viktor Krum."
"Did he ever stop me from being right by your side, Harry?" asked Hermione whose hand was searching for Harry's under the covers. He felt her had against his bare thigh. "No, because Viktor could have take a flying leap off the Astronomy Tower for all I cared if you needed me. He knew it too. It aggravated him to no end that if he tried to kiss me I looked to make sure you could not see us."
"So you were a heartbreaker even then, Hermione. You would kiss and run," teased Harry. "Ouch!" The insides of his thighs were very tender he realized.
"You do not want to pick on me in this state, Harry. There are lots of places to hurt you where I wouldn't have to be a good aim and you would." She smiled wickedly.
"Okay, okay. I got your point," he said as he rubbed where she had pinched him.
It must have been the look on his face, because she rolled on top of him and kissed him. "I'm sorry. That was cruel and uncalled for…so let me make it up to you. She kissed his neck and chest sending Harry into mini-shivers of excitement.
At six o'clock, they gathered all of their things and were ready to go to the Burrow.
"It's a good thing we have someplace to be or we'll be announcing our first child at our wedding," said Hermione. "Maybe I should move to Mum and Dad's for the next month." She smiled and patted Harry on the bum suggestively.
"I think that would be a good idea. It will make our wedding night something to really look forward to as well as allow us to get my apartment emptied. We need to go house hunting, Hermione," suggested Harry. "Somewhere…somewhere like the house you described to me from the magazine."
"You mean like an old country farmhouse with a fenced in yard and plenty of land," said Hermione. "Can we afford something like that?"
Harry turned to her with a puzzled look. "Between you and I there isn't much we can't afford, Sweetheart."
"Harry, we might as well talk about this now. My Dad rather made a mess of things by blurting out that I would be staying with him. By the way, I was not mad at you because you were wrong. I was mad that you made it into a fight. He is not really vindictive like you might think." She said.
"I understand, sweetie. We really did get things straightened out, he and I. Go on, I'm sorry to interrupt," said Harry.
"Okay, where was I. Right. I was going to talk to you about coming back here to work in England anyway. The money was nice, but I was not nearly as happy on the road since you and I have been together. I missed you and I didn't like being looked at by strange men as much anymore. I never really liked it to begin with, but now it just seems different," she paused. "Maybe it's because I've experienced intimacy now and I feel their eyes looking at me in ways that I only want you to see."
"Sweetheart, people will always see you as a beautiful woman and may not always have pure thoughts. I am not trying to talk you out of quitting. I just do not want you to be surprised if you get stares at the grocery or in line at the bank," said Harry putting his arms around her waist as he sat on the chair next to the door. She sat on his leg.
"The difference is that I am saying look at me, aren't I hot in these clothes. When I am modeling, I am giving my approval and I don't want to anymore." Hermione said.
"Okay, now I see the difference. That makes sense. So, why does that mean we can't buy an old-fashioned farmhouse? Will you be paying someone to break the contracts with magazines and agents?" Harry asked.
"I still have to look into that. You know I've never asked you how much money you have Harry. I didn't care even when I was making a lot of money too," she said. "If we can afford it, we can do it. I would love that."
"Bill knows how much I have and he is the one that gets my money converted to muggle money. How he does it is really rather cool. Just to give you an idea how much I have. The thousand galleons I won as the Tri-ward Cup champion fit in one large moneybag. Those bags are weigh two and a half stone or around thirty-six pounds. They are pure gold. The gold price is nearly three hundred-ten British pounds sterling for one ounce of gold. One pound is sixteen ounces. He says I have over seven hundred bags like that in my vault." Harry said. "You do the math."
Hermione's eyes were so wide she looked like a very beautiful version of an owl. "That's nearly one hundred twenty-five million British pounds Harry. That's insane."
"He says he has to be careful, because large conversions of too much gold will spark an investigation by the muggle government and the price of gold will go down," said Harry. "So even if we have to find a wizard willing to sell his home, I think we'll be okay," he winked.
"So why were you so cheap with my ring?" she teased. "You could have bought me a rock the size of the statues in the Ministry."
"Yeah, and you would have had to have the physique of Millicent Bulstrode to carry it," he replied.
"Very good point, Harry. Very good point," she smiled shaking her head. "Where do you get these quick and witty replies?"
"I'm not sure they're all that witty, but if you say so," he smiled as he signaled he was getting up. "We're acting more and more like muggles everyday, Hermione. Since when do we have to go outside to the car to Apparate to the Burrow? Ready?"
"Yes, let's go," she said.
It took less than a second for them to arrive. Harry didn't tell Hermione that he was focusing on the area just the other side of the big tree, so Hermione was slightly disoriented. "Where are we, Harry?"
"We're where we should be. Are you going to say anything at first?" asked Harry.
"No, I thought I'd let it come out naturally when someone saw the ring," she said.
"I was just wondering," said Harry. He had managed to get her this far without asking any questions.
They walked toward the house. Harry held the chocolate cake they still hadn't touched from last night. "Harry, are you sure they said six o'clock." A single light in the kitchen went on only long enough to distract Hermione. "There is Mrs. Weasley, but she's alone."
"Surprise!" Hermione almost jumped out of her skin as a few sparklers sizzled, regular fireworks boomed, and a sign unfolded from the house. "Happy B-Day Hermione". Harry could only smile.
"How can I be surprised when I know it's my birthday party? I must be losing it," said Hermione.
"Yeah, it's called old age," teased Ginny who gave her a big hug. "Happy Birthday. I saw that rock, but my Mum will want to make a big deal so I'll be quiet. Oh my God, Hermione," she whispered. "Go see my Mum soon or I'll burst."
Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were third in line after Ginny. Ron hugged her and then Mrs. Weasley. She didn't see it. She felt it when she held Hermione's hand. "What's this? It's beautiful Hermione." She had to announce it. "I've just found out that Hermione and Harry are engaged." Everyone mobbed Hermione to get a good look at the ring.
"Thanks mate, now you've made me life a living hell for the next few weeks. Shannon will be wanting me to propose," said Seamus with a straight face that he could not maintain. "Just kidding. We were married last month. Couldn't have the baby without being married, I started feeling guilty."
"Yeah, Harry, just listen to Luna now. You have really got me in mess," said Ron.
"That means Ron must be asking me soon, after all, catching the bouquet means something doesn't it? It worked for you," said Luna.
Harry said, "Hey that's up to you. That has nothing to do with me," said Harry backing away as Ron came at him smiling giving him an animated fake pounding in the chest and belly.
"You could have warned me, Harry. You could have at least done that," pleaded Ron. "If we're married, Luna and I, before you guys have your first kid at least let me know when you're trying. We can't be second in everything."
"You must be kidding mate. Yeah, I can hear that conversation. Yeah, Ron just to let you know, Hermione and I are going at eight times a day now until she's pregnant," joked Harry.
"Yeah, I suppose that would be a little too much to ask. Only go at it four times and give me a chance," he laughed.
"Ron, Hermione says I'm sick but you're a whacko," said Harry.
Harry was most people congregated over by the fire pit, Mr. Weasley made for the occasion. The fire would keep people warm and it was a beautiful sight in the late fall night. "Ron, how's the Quidditch career coming?" Ron was pulling the big tire swing back into place and retying it.
"Fantastic, it's going better than ever now with Luna on the road with me," said Ron.
"Is Ginny still traveling with you?" asked Harry.
"Sure, but only for the next couple of months. She is going to go to an apprentice program with the Ministry," he said.
"Really, I hadn't heard that. What will she be doing?" asked Harry.
"Auror training, Harry. Full-on Auror training. She was the first one selected to the new class," said Ron. "I think she's given up looking for a guy, Harry. I mean what guy wants to marry a female Auror who could blast you to smithereens if you said something wrong about her chicken and dumplings," laughed Ron. "Let's face it, Tonks is cute, but it took her until her late 20's to find someone. When she found someone he wasn't exactly everyone's idea of a catch."
Harry knew that Luna would probably take over for Ginny. Ginny is a dedicated sister, but she will want her own life, he thought. This just did not make sense. She is pretty and has so much going for her. He tried to imagine her with a peg leg, a scarred face and fake magical eye like Mad-Eye Moody. Even Tonks got out of the Auror business.
"Harry, I take it my Mum told you and Hermione about the reasons we were so easy to get rid of, Ginny and I?" probed Ron.
"She shouldn't have said anything, Harry. Ginny is okay. This is a phase. She's following in your footsteps. She knows she will find someone. It is just something to give her some excitement in life. She's nineteen Harry. They don't send you on really tough missions until you've completed four years or more training. You have nothing to do with her decision," he said as he finished lashing the rope to the pegs at the bottom of the tree. "Let's go join them."
The plans were flying. Harry smiled as he nothing more than an observer for the planning of his own wedding. He and the other guys mainly the Weasleys, Seamus, and Neville went into the house. It only took a few minutes for Molly to recognize that as a bad idea. The food was in there and so were the men. "Ladies," she said, "our hard work is about to be devoured without as much as a thank you or compliment." They turned and looked in spying Fred, George and Harry demolishing the pumpkin pie.
"So Harry, I hear you wanted to get married because there was a threat of her living with her parents for the entire three months that she's not working," teased Tonks. "Just how severely that would have cramped your style we'll never know now, will we?"
"Who told you that?" said Harry looking around only to see Hermione snickering on the side. "Did you tell them that?"
"They know it was a joke, but maybe the way you're reacting it's closer to the truth than you like," she said making a face. "Before you get upset, I don't believe that for a second sweetheart and neither do they. They heard the way you proposed."
"Yeah, we're looking for a redo from our men," said Shannon and Tonks with a laugh. Remus and Sean carefully maintained low profiles in a deep conversation on the other side of the room. Harry smiled at them both as they looked at him and winked.
Harry decided he would join them. It was not too long before all the guys were sitting in one corner talking Quidditch and the Ministry and the women were talking about the wedding. What made Ron join the guys was the incessant talk about what marriage was like after the honeymoon. "Dad, you should hear Mum talking about what marriage is like after the honeymoon. You might be a little upset." Ron said interrupting the conversation and cringing.
"Ron, your mother and I have known each other as long as we've been old enough to realize there was an opposite sex. I couldn't see myself with another woman if she threw herself at my feet," he confessed.
"That's fine for you, Mr. W. You're old. What if that happens to us while we're young?" asked Neville quietly.
The comment made everyone except Mr. Weasley laugh. "I'm old?" he asked rhetorically. "I don't know where I read, it but someone once said, `The problem with youth is it's wasted on the young.'"
Bill laughed and said, "Top that Neville."
"No disrespect was intended Mr. Weasley, but I was married at nineteen and I love Romilda, but it's not the same two years later," said Neville. "Now I'm going to be a Dad."
"Let me just say this. That's when it will get better and better. You will see the things that attracted you to her everyday as she gives her love to those children. You'll see her giving you the same thing if you look for it and don't believe the malarkey people tell you," said Arthur. "Enough of that rubbish. You will learn just as every man has before you. I can't tell you guys anything while you're still using your peckers as a divining rod to find love and a good woman."
Harry looked over at Hermione and realized that to some degree that's what had held him back with Hermione. He looked at Mr. Weasley and realized there was more to his best friend's eccentric father.
Arthur brought up some interesting things from the Ministry. "Harry, have you heard about the burglaries lately in Diagon Alley?"
"No, not really since I liaison mostly between our world and the muggle world," admitted Harry. "What is so interesting about them?"
"You remember the whole business about the missing artifacts that Lord Voldemort used as Horcruxes, right? Well of course you do. I'm sorry Harry. In any case, the Gryffindor Sword and the Hufflepuff Cup are missing again from a display case in Flourish & Blotts. Those two were ones we thought were not Horcruxes but actually were the holders for the Horcrux. In other words, they were closely related but found not to be the Horcruxes themselves." Harry listened intently.
"The big question is who would steal them and for what purpose? No one has come up with a good answer is what I hear," said Arthur.
"Arthur, are you telling the Ministry's secrets to everyone?" asked Tonks.
"No, you know I don't do that," he said. "They're all members of the Order anyway or at least part of Dumbledore's Army." He grinned sheepishly.
"It's okay, what you're talking about is public information anyway. I'm just starting my department for collecting evidence in these kinds of crimes and Harry will be joining us, right?" said Tonks wrapping her arms around Lupin's shoulders and leaning over his back.
"Yes, well, I'm hoping that I'm not just some face for the new department," said Harry. "I'm really tired of being used like that."
"Harry, have you ever thought of becoming like a private investigator?" asked Tonks.
"What? You mean someone who chases people who cheat on their spouse. No thanks. In the muggle world people get killed snooping like that." Harry said with an odd smile.
"Well, it really wouldn't be like that at all, Harry. I'm talking about something more like undercover, but since you're famous you aren't exactly going to sneak up on people. So, what I was thinking was using your current position to get places our normal Aurors and investigators can't." She said with a gleam in her eye. "We would hide our secret weapon in plain sight."
"Isn't saying this in front of all of us being a little bit lax in security?" said Seamus.
"Yeah, Seamus, we're worried about you robbing Gringott's," laughed Fred. "Of course, knowing what he does amongst us is different than having leads and working them," he said.
"Fred, since when did you get so knowledgeable about investigations?" asked Harry.
"When they started asking where we got one thousand galleons to start our business, Harry. We led them away from you," said Fred. "We're even now you know."
The news that someone took notice of Fred and George's sudden windfall caused Harry's eyes to widen in surprise. "Oops, I must have missed that."
"Everyone did because we couldn't tell Mum and Dad, either," he said.
"Is that your official plan?" asked Hermione. "Will Harry be in any danger?"
"We hope not, but anytime you get close to the answer in a big case there is some danger, but danger isn't always mortal danger. Things like blackmail and threats are more common. The great thing about Harry is the fact that he's above reproach." Tonks said.
Tonks added, "He wouldn't be alone either. Look at the resources he has in this room. Ginny will be working with the Auror's office, Seamus in the Department of Mysteries, Ron with the International Competition Committee, Hermione with contacts all over Britain, America, and Europe and Harry has direct contact with the Prime Minister of England. That's not even mentioning Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Percy."
At the mention of Percy, the excitement waned. He had long made his intentions clear citing that his family was not wholly on the side of the Ministry and hadn't reconciled completely. "Well, Harry still gets on well with Percy, right?" Tonks added.
Grudgingly, Harry nodded. As he did so, something crossed his mind. He whispered something to Hermione who was now sitting on his lap. "Ask her." Hermione said.
"You're using the position inside the Ministry to rebuild the Order of the Phoenix, aren't you?" he asked with smirk.
"Why Harry, me? Little old me? Would I use my position to further our belief in keeping the use of dark magic under control?" she asked rhetorically.
Lupin stood up and walked to the edge of the group. "There is a moment of peace right now within our community. The last time we had this kind of cooperation and lack of dark activity it only lasted twenty years before it was out of control. We were at war and had no defense. Albus Dumbledore believed the best of everyone and in the end, he was correct on all counts. We owe it to his legacy to remain vigilante and not let the politics of the day cloud our judgment. We all will have families soon. We want them to respect the differences between our world and the muggle world. We want them to live in peace and bear us grandchildren that never have to see their classmates die in the Tri-Wizard Tournament for any other reason than the competition."
Harry listened and liked what he was hearing. He wished that it had happened before now. "So what do we do?" said Harry. "I mean Hermione has decided not to continue to do what she was doing."
"Harry, you and Hermione give us the most legitimate chance of succeeding. We will continue your training. You will train together but in secret. We're not talking about war here. We're talking about being positive influences in our community. If we do not allow people with dark ambitions to become strong without a voice for our side, they will not be able to exist. That's all we expect from any of us. Yet, we must be able to do more if necessary." Lupin explained.
"Pardon me if I'm missing something," said Neville. "This seems like it is in response to something. Mr. Weasley is talking about missing items from Flourish & Blotts one minute and the next we're reorganizing a secret society. All of this is to fight against an unknown enemy because we're in a period of peace and want to keep it that way."
There was a long silence. Harry sat and thought about all he had heard tonight. It all made sense except he wasn't catching onto what Neville meant. Finally, Harry asked Neville to explain. "Neville, I'm not following you. Please explain."
"I'm working in the offices at the Ministry and I know a lot goes on that no one knows about on a daily basis. What has changed from the moment Lord Voldemort was vanquished? At that moment, we were free from his tyranny but other dark elements still existed. Why now, almost four years later, are we hearing about a new Order of the Phoenix if there are not threats?" asked Neville.
"He has a point Professor? Why are we reorganizing?" asked Harry.
"What happened just nine days ago, Harry?" asked Lupin. "You and Hermione know and probably no one else but Tonks and I know. Tell them."
Harry hung his head. He realized that the horrors in New York City defied the peace Lupin proclaimed. That was in the muggle world. Did evil now only exist in the muggle world? He knew it did not work that way. Was the Ministry capable of looking at things in shades of grey and not just black and white? Harry doubted that too. He explained what he knew to everyone there. The looks of sadness and pain on each of their faces said that there needed to be someone in the wizard world who would be vigilant to stop the next Lord Voldemort and not let him close in on society without warning.
Fleur rarely spoke outside of the family at these gatherings. She spoke now, "Please, if you please. May I say that I believe what Professor Lupin is saying is that we can't let the rooster in the hen house."
Bill smiled, "What she means is the fox in the hen house. We can't let evil in to destroy us from within again." He explained to her what the other analogy meant and she laughed with everyone.
Harry agreed. He had a new job in life. He thought for a moment and realized it was the same job. He saw now why it was important. Then a fresh and exciting idea flashed through his mind. Were he and Hermione about to become clandestine spies? He chuckled and Hermione asked, "What's that all about?"
"Imagine us holding parties for important people sponsored by the Ministry. If there were information we needed for something we'd actually be like spies trying to get it." He explained. Tonks looked at Hermione and smiled. Harry knew had described their role perfectly.
"Ooh, now that could be interesting. Hermione the spy," she said giggling. "I don't see it, but what do I know?"
Harry looked at her again. He knew she was being modest. Hermione would be one great spy.
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