Disclaimer: I'm not Jk Rowling. Although my first initial is J, the others aren't K and R.
What is Love?
James looked at his only son as he tip toed through the house and smiled to himself, it was past two o'clock in the morning now and by all regards Harry should be in a huge amount of trouble.
`Harry' James said loudly simultaneously waving his wand to bring the lights back on, Harry's reaction was priceless as he practically jumped out of his skin before relaxing.
`You scared me, dad, I though you were mum' Harry said making his way across the kitchen to join him at a table, throwing himself into a chair James couldn't help but notice the huge grin that seemed to be stuck onto his face.
`What time do you call this?' James said strictly `Sneaking out at all times of the night, I expected better from you!'
`Only because you expected me to not get caught!' Harry said cheekily causing James to suppress a small laugh `The Marauders gave up their right to punish a long time ago!' James laughed again, Harry did have a point.
`What if your mother caught you?' James asked mock strictly, really he wanted to know how well Harry had actually planned this.
`Then I would of apologized an awful lot and played the fact that I just had to see Hermione, make it sound romantic as hell' Harry said without thinking, not a great plan James decided as he could see a major problem.
`I never really thought of hell as romantic, but whatever floats your boat!' James teased his son `but Lily would have still punished you?' James asked curiously, playing on Lily's heartstrings could save you from getting into serious trouble but not from receiving a punishment.
`Ah, but you see this way she would still let me see Hermione! And as that's all I really want to do, I could cope without my broomstick or whatever' Harry said triumphantly, James thought for a moment and let out a laugh, he really had thought this through, he was very proud of his son.
`Well done, son. Well done indeed!' James said laughingly `you would have made a good Marauder!'
`From you I'll take that as a compliment' Harry teased `so what are you doing up tonight?' he asked.
`We had some plans to go over, then I realized you weren't in so I waited up' James explained, Harry's eyes had gone suspicious when he had said plans. Damn Harry's eyes, James thought, being identical to Lily's had given his son an unfair advantage over his dad that was both unnatural and damn inconveniencing to James. He remembered a hundred times when Harry was still a baby when he would have to leave the room because of how guilty Harry was making him feel.
`Hermione suspects you're up to something' Harry said suspiciously, this threw James completely.
`Hermione suspects what?' James asked confused, how could she suspect his and Sirius' plan?
`She knows you're planning something big…and I know it has to do with her' Harry said staring at his father, James quickly looked away, a practice he had developed after spending so many years keeping secrets from skilled Legillemens.
`Why would we planning something to do with her?' James asked honestly, well not strictly honest James admitted to himself, but he faked it well `She's our friend!'
`Because she's your new friend, that's why you're planning it…' Harry said, those damn green eyes boring into him once again `and because you know it'll be near impossible to get her. A challenge no self respecting Marauder could pass up' he finished. He had got it nearly perfect, Harry was getting much too clever nowadays.
`You got me!' James owned up, he knew when it was time to stop hiding `you going to tell her?'
`Of course not!' Harry said indignantly, James smiled again in pride at his son `I think it'll be hysterical watching you trying to pull it off, and I know it wouldn't be anything dangerous. Also I have a bet with Ron that you won't be able to do it!' he added as the two of them shared a laugh.
`That's my son! You're one lucky boy, you know that? Getting my good looks and my Marauders spirit!' James said proudly as he looked at his son, no words could describe how much he loved him.
`Lucky…unlucky' Harry said teasingly. James knew he could spend all night laughing with his son, but he really he had to find out some things.
`So…you and Hermione going well?' James asked in a conversational way, James noted a smile that crept over his face at the mention of her name.
`Brilliantly' Harry said truthfully, the two of them had never had trouble being honest with their feelings with each other as some fathers and sons did, a fact that James wouldn't swap for anything `She's brilliant, and smart and beautiful…I've never met anyone like her…' he trailed of in a grin.
`Sounds like the first fall of love' James said seriously, Harry however tensed up slightly.
`I'm not sure about love dad…' Harry said softly, obviously thinking hard about it `I mean, I'll know it when I'm actually in love, won't I?'
`That's what they say…' James said seriously, thinking about the first time he realized he was in love with Lily `Harry, here's a piece of advice for you. Don't rush these things, if you try you'll only mess it up. I believe that you fall in love without realizing it, and that the moment you realize it is waited until you need to know. It waits for the right moment to hit you, for the perfect moment that will change everything' The words came easily to him as he had made this belief a long time ago, and had seen nothing in the world since to ever convince him otherwise. Harry sat there thoughtfully looking at him for a few moments before a smile spread across his face.
`I guess it doesn't help to think of the future, does it?' Harry said simply `You've just got to let it happen. Look at Voldemort and the prophecy, knowing he could hear the future brought his downfall, and I don't want a downfall with me and Hermione' a paralyzing chill had swept through James' body, not at Voldemorts name like so many, but at the word Prophecy. He quickly threw it off and smiled back at Harry who hadn't seemed to realize what had happened with his father `I better be going to bed, I'm taking Hermione out in the morning and don't want to be dead on my feet. Goodnight dad' and he stood up and walked towards the door, as he reached him James called him.
`Harry…' he said, causing Harry to turn around `I think you and Hermione are both really lucky to have found each other already' he said simply but earnestly causing Harry to smile before leaving. James found himself temporarily alone, thinking of the words Harry had said about Voldemort, the chill just wouldn't go away. He heard a noise coming from the other door, a noise he had become attuned to so well in the years that he instantly recognizing it as Lily. He looked up at her and smiled.
`You make yourself hard to hate sometimes, you know that?' Lily said gently walking up to James.
`I know!' he said `It's all this Potter charm that I have'
`Shut it smart ass' Lily said giving him a kiss, James felt her lips against his and felt the familiar burn of a fire go through his body that he got with every kiss that he received from the women he loved `I was just about to have a go at you for not punishing him, but then you come out with something as nice as that! I've decide that I'll let the two of you of… this time' she said smiled cheekily, her arms around his waste. He wished that he could spend every moment of forever with Lily, he worshipped her. She peppered him with kissed along his neck in just the way she knew would get him going, they knew each other so well `gather all that Potter charm you speak of and take me to bed' she whispered in his ear. James had never agreed so much with anyone or anything in his life as he lifted her into his arms and carried her to their room.
****()____()****
Hermione dragged a comb through her hair, it had got slightly bushier in the last week but it was still looking good, Hermione thanked her mother every time she looked in the mirror. As she sat there looking in the mirror she examined herself, technically she still looked like herself, same face, and same color hair but now her smile painted her entirely different. For the first time in her life she was totally, blissfully, happy with herself and the world. As she looked at herself she could practically see a glow around her, and she knew where this glow came from, a certain raven haired man named Harry Potter who had captured her from her previous life and brought her to this new world, a world where feelings and fun was the essence of the day. She thought about the last month and knew that she had never been happier, they had spent every free moment together and she for one wanted more. The next morning after her `birthday' party she had woken up to find Harry already at her house having breakfast with her parents, she had found this so sweet as he explained to her, between private kisses, that he couldn't bear to not be near her. From that day on either he would be waiting for her when she awoke or she would be over at Godrics Hollow awaiting him. Visiting Godrics hollow was always a laugh, she could spend an hour or two waiting for Harry in which James and Sirius would keep her entertained with stories from their and Harry's past, or simply they would just have a bit of friendly banter. She was originally worried if things would change between them now that her and Harry had been getting close, but nothing did, they were the same old Sirius and James that she had learnt to quickly love. She had also grown very close with Lily over the time as well and had gone out shopping with her a few times, she quickly realized that as loving and caring as Lily was she also had a dry humor and was easily a match for them two. While James and Sirius had become like her favorite uncles, Lily had quickly become both her best friend and second mother. Hermione was constantly amazed at how quickly she had been adopted into this family, amazed but also glad beyond words.
Hermione walked around the room and changed for the day, the weather was getting too hot for her to wear jeans all the time so she put on a skirt her mother had picked out for her, nice and loose in a light pink color but it was a little short for her taste, she sighed and thought that at the least it'd keep her cool. After the first few days with Harry she had been taken to the Burrow to meet his `second family', the Weasleys. The Burrow itself was amazing, looking like someone had just attached rooms anywhere they felt like, Hermione instantly fell in love with it. Meeting all the Weasleys was a bit of a blur, Mrs. Weasley was like a caricature of the perfect mother and Hermione adored her, while Mr. Weasley was hysterical as he questioned her on the principals of `VD'. It took Hermione 10 minutes to understand he meant `DVD', 10 minutes to explain this to him and another 10 minutes to explain what a DVD was. It was one of the funniest half an hours she was ever likely to spend. She had met Ron again and knew that they were destined to be friends as he put at ease with his sense of humor. Ginny though was a little cold at first, but Hermione accepted this as Harry had warned her that they had a `history', luckily for her though Ginny quickly warmed up to her and they spent a while laughing and gossiping. Hermione was anxious when meeting the twins, they had been described as a younger version of James and Sirius but Hermione knew that her liking them even had been a one off, she was a school prefect and a stickler for rules. Luckily for her though the one off had been changed to a two off as the twins cracked her up endlessly, they were indeed like a younger version of James and Sirius, but they also were entirely dedicated to their business, which Hermione respected. Hearing of the things they had developed Hermione was amazed, some of the tricks and jokes were extremely advanced magic and thus their skills also helped her like them. All in all she loved the Weasleys, and also loved to see that Harry had two such great families behind him, she knew that he'd always be safe and happy and this brought a smile to her face every time she thought about it.
She thought about how well things were going with Harry and saw a huge grin appear on her face in the mirror. The two of them argued sometimes, sometimes in shouting rows, but whatever it was about was forgotten by the end of it as they found themselves unable to stay mad at each other, always ending in huge snogging sessions. She knew that he was as mad for her as she was for him, no one was that good an actor! She knew she wouldn't be able to play the `proper' lady for too much longer, she was now finding herself thinking inappropriate thoughts about him at totally random times. Yesterday at the restaurant with her parents they thought she was choking as her face turned red at a particular thought about being with Harry, she had tried to shake it off by blaming hot food, as it was a cold soup she had been eating at the time she knew that it hadn't been bought. But before she let her fantasies make there way into actually happening she wanted Harry to work for it, he was the one making her feel like this after all and she wanted a little playback, she thought wickedly to herself.
She had put on a simple white vest and a pair of white trainers, she looked in the mirror and thought she looked pretty cute today, as she had no idea what their plans was for the day she had deliberately dressed casual and now she was ready to go to him. She turned around to go downstairs to say a quick goodbye to her parents as she heard a crack in her room, spinning around she saw Harry standing there, in a pair of casual jeans and a blue t shirt, as always he looked gorgeous.
`You apparated straight into my room!' she said angrily `That's really rude!'
`I was hoping to catch you while you were still getting ready, you know I love to watch you…brush you're hair…' he said with a cheeky smile, that grin of his that could always melt her like butter. She didn't care if she was mad at him anymore and she threw her arms around him and pushed him down onto the bed, pushing her mouth roughly onto his, the addictive jolt of electricity she got every time they kissed shooting through her body. She pushed her tongue softly into his mouth, exploring his taste with her tongue while he ran his hands through her hair. She broke the kiss and started to kiss slowly along the base of his neck, letting the tip of her tongue trace lines along it, she could hear him moaning softly as she did this, she had already found out that this worked brilliantly on him. She licked up towards his ear and bit it softly, kissing it after wards in a loving factor.
`We better get going, Harry James Potter, we don't want to miss the sun…' she said teasingly, she smiled as the sound of his slight groan told her that missing the sun was the last thing he cared about at that moment.
`I swear you're trying to kill me' he said moaning as she started to kiss along the other side of his neck, running a hand up his shirt along his toned chest, running her nails softly along him as she heard him moan a little stronger.
She stopped for a moment to consider if he had worked hard enough yet, and decided against it, she could still just about stop herself still so she bounded of the bed and walked towards the door, after opening it she turned around.
`Up Harry, I want to do that tour along the Thames today' she said with a cheeky grin. He lay still for a moment, obviously trying to gain the will power to move again before he stood up and walked over to her with a smile on his face.
`Whatever my Queen orders is what I obey' he said teasingly and walked through the door with a grin on his face, a grin that was mirrored on Hermione's face. If there was ever any doubt about it before, she knew they were one hundred percent mad for each other.
****()____()****
Did he love her? He didn't know. What he did know that was every moment he was away from her he missed her with an aching and that every moment he was with her he wanted to have her in his arms, to feel her heart beat against his chest, to feel that burning of fire throughout his body when he felt his lips against hers. But did he love her? Did it even matter? Of course it mattered, it was the biggest question he had ever had asked, he wanted to love her, he needed to love her…did that mean he loved her? He knew he was going round in circles and that the question would eventually be answered , but that didn't stop his mind from posing it again and again. He had spent another blissful day with her, they hadn't actually gone on the Thames tour but had spent the day shopping and saw a muggle movie at the cinema which was playing old movies. Hermione had practically squealed when she saw that the movie was the red shoes, one of her favorites of all time as she explained to Harry. Although it was about ballet of all things Harry had enjoyed it, while Hermione had cried desperately at the end. He loved being there to put an arm around her as she was upset, he wanted to protect her from anything. He was now eager for the next day to start, he looked at his watch and realized it would be about another 8 hours till he could see her, the idea of 8 hours away from Hermione was enough to make him nearly break down. But he reasoned that he would have the chance to spend so many hours with her in his life that 8 hours now was a reasonable price to pay. Reasonable but still painful.
`Harry, are you listening?' he heard the voice as it broke him from his musings.
`Uh? Sorry, Sirius' he said to his godfather who he noticed the funny look he was receiving `What is it?' he asked, Sirius just shook his head with a smile on his face.
`Just remembering this happening the first time around is all' Sirius said fatherly.
`What happening when?' Harry asked confused, Harry often found himself confused by Sirius and he loved him for it.
`At school when James would go of daydreaming when we were talking. With his glazed over eyes I thought he had a memory charm put on him, he lost two weeks of memories when I tried to break it!' Sirius said laughing at his reminiscing, Harry laughed along as well, he could picture Sirius trying to break a memory charm that didn't exist, and he could see his father letting him try `Although I did find out that it was over Lily when I tried' he said with his bark like laugh.
`So what has this to do with me?' Harry asked nonchalantly, he would of course be the bane of Sirius' jokes if he knew he was daydreaming over Hermione and hoped that he could convince him it wasn't.
`If I'm not very much mistaken… and I'm not, you're thoughts are running over not so very innocent situations with a certain cutie named Hermione Grange?' Sirius said teasingly `I don't need to try and reverse a memory charm on you to see that much is clear!'
`Actually I was thinking about the Quidditch game we just watched, Victor Krum was amazing as ever…' Harry lied, he could see Sirius didn't buy this lame excuse, how could Harry daydream over Krum when he had Hermione in his life?
`Whatever you need to believe, Beloved Godson' Sirius laughed, that was Harry's new title and Hermione's was `beloved Goddaughter'. Sirius hadn't been joking at the party, instead he made jokes about starting a collection. Thinking of this Harry thought of a question that he had never considered.
`Sirius, have you ever been in love?' Harry asked thoughtfully, Sirius paused for a moment before trying to make a joke out of it with the expression `Why buy a book when you can join the library!' Harry however knew his godfather too well to buy this so he pressed for the truth `Honestly, Sirius, no bullshit…' Sirius paused for a moment before speaking again.
`Once' he said simply, pausing in thought before speaking again `I was about you're age, we started dating at Hogwarts. Sophie was her name… beautiful girl, really clever and fun. She was spectacular, and you know how high standards I have!' he said laughingly but his eyes told Harry he wasn't really finding it funny `She came round my parents home, Grimmauld Place, to meet my family. They took one look at her and destroyed our relationship. They insulted her and kicked her out. I never went back there again' Sirius finished.
`But why?' Harry asked curiously, he had never heard this story again, just had it as a given that Sirius hated his family and disowned them.
`Ah, you see Harry, she was Muggle born' Sirius said sadly, Harry though was disgusted as his mind thought of Hermione `It would have been better if I had started dating a hippogriff than a muggle born. After that I was disowned, and they practically forced Regulus into the Death Eaters to make up for my failure, bloody fools'.
`Did she break up with you over it?' Harry asked.
`Nah, I broke up with her' Sirius said simply causing Harry to ask `why?', `Because I was so ashamed of who I was, where I came from that I didn't think I deserved her' Sirius said sadly, Harry had never seen him like this.
`That was stupid Sirius. It wasn't you're fault you're family's scum!' Harry said to try and make him feel better. Sirius though paused in silence for a moment before a smile broke onto his face, Harry though knew it was a fake smile.
`Well I didn't realize that in time!' Sirius said laughing like it was a joke. Harry started to talk again but was interrupted by a flutter of wings in his face from Hedwig, his eleventh birthday present from the grounds keeper at Hogwarts, Hagrid, who was something of an uncle to him.
`Hey Hedwig, what are you doing here?' he asked confused before he spotted a letter tied to his leg. Taking it he patted Hedwig before reading it, instantly smiling as he recognized the neat handwriting belonging to Hermione, the smile however quickly faded as he read the letter.
Dear Harry,
I can't believe you kept this from me! I just got a visit from James and he told me you're secret! When were you planning on telling me that it was you're birthday next week! You're in big trouble when I see you tomorrow, Harry James Potter! You've only given me 5 days to plan your birthday…I'm so mad! I'll see you tomorrow…
Wishing you was here (so I could show you how mad I was!)
Love,
Hermione
xxx
Harry finished the letter and sighed, he didn't want her to go to too much trouble just for his birthday, plus he knew that she would have to get him a gift and wasn't sure how he felt about her spending her money on him. He looked up at Sirius who was smirking knowingly, obvious this had been a small Marauders plan.
`Seriously Sirius, you guys have way too much spare time!' Harry exclaimed with a sigh.
****()____()____()****
Hey, that's another chapter, hope you liked it. Sorry it was a little shorter, the next two are mammoth so they should make up for it…
Thank you to Julie3291, Alayneni, S.K, Azusena, bingbop 02, lissa05, Musique, immortal rose, yankeecpa, luckygal, harryhermione731 and the anonymous'. Thank you for taking the time to review (hint hint!)
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