The Music of Love

A/N: This was a plot idea that popped into my head while I was writing “All I Want for Christmas.” Hopefully this one won't take as long beyond the holiday it's written for to finish. Needless to say, this is a Valentine's fan fic. For the record, this is NOT the sequel to “All I Want for Christmas” (I'm just saying that now to diffuse any questions on that front). I'm grateful to all those who read and reviewed my first attempt as writing fan fiction. This is my second attempt. Hopefully it will turn out as well as the first one did.

I'm so sorry for the lengthy delay in getting this chapter out. School has kept me extremely busy the last couple of months, so I haven't had time to write. Fortunately, I just finished for the summer, so I might be able to update more regularly. I'm a bit disappointed at the lack of reviews for the last chapter. I know there have been a fair number of people that read it. I would like to see more people review this chapter.

Lots of side-ships in this one. Let's see if I can remember all of them that will come up…we've got: Ron/Luna, Neville/Ginny, Lupin/Tonks, Bill/Fleur, and references to Lily/James. This story is slightly AU, but only in the sense that I've added some characteristics to some characters.

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies. All I own is the plotline and a song that will appear later on in the story.

The Music of Love

Chapter 2: The Voice of Experience

Harry was shifting nervously in his seat.

Ron smiled knowingly at Harry and headed out to the kitchen to look for more food.

Hermione looked at Harry curiously. “What's the matter, Hun? You seem a bit tense.”

“Nothing, Sweetheart,” Harry answered quickly.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, while Lupin quietly stood up and slipped into the kitchen.

“How's work been lately, Harry?” Molly asked.

“Fine,” Harry said. “The first years are obviously still a bit overly cautious after meeting The-Boy-Who-Triumphed, but they're getting used to the idea of having me as a teacher. The older students are really attentive and enjoy having the supposed expert in defending against the Dark Arts as their teacher for that subject.”

“Are the students treating you the same way, Hermione?” Arthur inquired.

“Not to the same extent as they treat Harry, but they do to some extent. Both for being The-Girl-He-Loves and The-Girl-Who-Helped-Him, but they're still great to work with.”

“Eat up. Both of you,” Molly commanded. “Neither of you look like you're eating enough.”

“Do you ever get out of the library when you're not teaching, Hermione?” Ron asked teasingly.

“Oh yes, Ron,” Hermione said. “Harry makes sure of that,” she added with a wink.

It was Ron's turn to raise an eyebrow. “I thought you wanted to stay a virgin until you're married.”

Hermione smirked at him. “There's a whole lot more to do with the one you love than just have sex,” she pointed out.

Ron turned as red as his hair. “I hope you already knew that, Ron,” Tonks added, cradling her two-month-old baby girl in her arms.

“I don't know ow you manage to teach and raise an infant at ze same time,” Fleur said while running a hand across her five-month pregnant belly and keeping an eye on her one-year-old son.

“I work really hard, and it helps that Remus got some time off from his job at the Ministry,” Tonks said.

“I've had the privilege of seeing it first-hand, and I admire what she's done. I hope to be like her someday,” Ginny said admiringly, then looked affectionately at Neville, her boyfriend of the last six months, and waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Now don't you two go and do something that Headmistress McGonagall will have to lecture to you two about too,” Tonks said to Ginny and Neville, while looking at Harry and Hermione, “or McGonagall may have you teach a refresher course in Sex Ed to the fourth years and above.”

Everybody but Harry and Hermione had a good belly laugh.

“Honestly,” Hermione started indignantly, “you'd think people would have enough empathy not to rub a complete accident in somebody else's face.”

Having said that, she stormed outside as everybody watched.

“You better go after her, Harry,” Ginny said. “Tell her we're sorry for teasing you two.” Everybody nodded in agreement.

“The only reason it's so funny is that it's you two that it happened to,” Neville added, drawing another round of nods.

Harry smiled grimly, nodded in acknowledgement, and headed outside to take on the unenviable task of dealing with a mad Hermione.

He found her in the farthest corner of the garden, sitting on the bench. Harry slowly approached her, placed a loving arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close to him.

Hermione placed her head on Harry's shoulder. “I don't know why I let it bother me so much,” she said softly. “I know that I'm overreacting but I couldn't but I can't help myself.”

“Because you don't like being seen as a rule breaker,” Harry said just as softly, “and that incident made you look more obviously like a rule breaker than you had since seventh year when we left to destroy Slytherin's locket.”

Hermione smiled at him. “You know me as well as I know myself,” she said.

“Maybe even better,” corrected Harry.

“I'm glad that you know me well enough to come out here yourself instead of having one of them do it. I probably would have taken anybody else's head off,” Hermione said.

Harry kicked at some loose snow at his feet. “I was going to come anyway, but everybody inside asked me to come too…They asked me to apologize to you for them. They really are sorry, Sweetheart. There's so few things they can tease you about that they insist on running with any thing you give them. I'm sure they'll apologize to you themselves when you get back inside.”

“I suppose I should go back in before they get too worried about me still being mad at them,” Hermione said, getting up and starting to walk towards the house. “You coming?” she added when Harry didn't follow her immediately.

“I'll just be a minute,” Harry promised her. “I just want to think about something.”

“Okay,” she said. “Don't take too long.”

Harry watched as Hermione walked back towards the house before turning around and walking off a little ways further. He was most certainly in love. If only he could figure out how to propose without her realizing that he was trying.

Harry hummed to himself as he admired the peaceful wilderness surrounding him.

After about 15 minutes, Harry turned and started to slowly walk back towards the house. He took his time, wanting as much time as he could get to think about how to propose to Hermione.

Harry slipped in to the kitchen quietly, to try to avoid drawing attention to his return and questions as to why he was gone for so long.

He paused just outside the door to the living room to compose himself before walking in, so he didn't blurt out a proposal that he hadn't fully thought through.

Just as he was going to walk in, Harry heard a voice behind him say, “What kept you, Harry?”

Harry turned around quickly to see Lupin standing in the shadows where he hadn't seen him. “Don't scare me like that,” Harry said breathing a little heavier than usual.

“Sorry, Harry,” Lupin said, “but I wanted to catch you before you went back in to the living room. We need to talk.”

Harry gulped nervously. He hadn't heard Lupin use a tone so serious since the War. “What about?” he inquired.

“Let's go upstairs,” was all Lupin said.

Harry followed Lupin up the stairs, pondering what Lupin might want to talk to him about. He didn't think that he and Hermione actually were having sex…Did he?

Harry was so lost in thought he didn't even realize immediately that Lupin had led him all the way up to Ron's old room. Once Lupin closed the door behind Harry, he gestured towards the bed. “Sit!” he told Harry, gesturing towards the bed Harry used when he had stayed at the Weasleys' during the summer during his Hogwarts days.

“Why bring me all the way up here?” Harry asked.

“I figured that you'd feel more comfortable talking about this up here instead of down where it was more likely that somebody would eavesdrop on us,” Lupin explained, casting silencing and locking charms before sitting down next to Harry.

Harry looked at Lupin, still stumped as to what Lupin wanted to talk about. “Why would you want to avoid eavesdroppers?” Harry asked in confusion.

“I know how much you despise people snooping for information on your private life, even though I'm going to do a bit of prying myself. I have the best of intentions, though. I'm not prying to try to find something to tease you about like Fred and George.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked.

“Hermione certainly is rubbing off on you,” Lupin observed. “A couple of years ago, you would have continued to let me beat around the bush out of nervousness.”

Harry smiled fondly. “She's an amazing woman,” he said affectionately.

Lupin smiled. “I don't even have to ask if you love her,” he stated. “James talked about Lily the same way you talk about Hermione.”

“Did he really?” Harry asked in pleasant surprise.

“He did, but that's not what I asked to talk to you about,” Lupin said.

“What do you want to talk to me about?” Harry asked.

“You're clearly stressed about something. I want to know what has you so stressed out,” Lupin told him.

“Oh,” said Harry, shifting uneasily. “It's nothing.”

“I can tell it's not nothing, Harry. You don't get this worked up over nothing.”

“Do you want me to go ask Ron in front of everybody?” Lupin demanded. “He told me he knows what it is and that he'd tell me if you didn't.”

“You guys don't fight fair,” Harry grumbled. “Ron threatened to ask Luna to get me to tell him.”

“Hermione's been such a big help to you over the years,” Lupin pointed out. Why haven't you asked her for help with whatever's stressing you out?”

“You know,” Harry mused, “Ron asked me the same thing just before he forced me to tell him what's been on my mind lately.”

“Really, maybe I should tell more people to threaten to talk to somebody who knows about what's bothering you,” Lupin suggested.

“Don't you dare!” exclaimed Harry. “I'm trying to keep it a secret for a very good reason.”

“What's that?” Lupin demanded.

“I have my reasons,” Harry said firmly.

“Like what?” Lupin asked.

“That I don't want people to know because they can't keep their mouths shut,” Harry said.

“That still doesn't explain why you can't turn to Hermione for help,” Lupin said. “I'm sure she could keep it a secret.”

Harry sighed in frustration.

“Did you consider that maybe there's a reason that I don't want her help?” Harry demanded.

“Why wouldn't you?” Lupin asked in bewilderment.

“Why do you think I wouldn't?”

“I don't know,” Lupin said. “It's highly unlikely that you'd be able to pull a prank on her or something.”

Lupin paused for a minute to think.

“There's really only one possible reason that I can think of that you'd want to keep Hermione from knowing what you're up to, but that's not a possibility right now considering what she said when we talked a week ago.”

“And what is that?” Harry inquired curiously.

“That you were planning on proposing to Hermione,” Lupin responded.

“Why is that impossible?” Harry asked.

“Hermione told me herself that the two of you have talked about the idea of marriage and agreed that you want to marry some day, but you aren't ready to do so now,” Lupin answered.

Harry chuckled. “What she told you was based on a conversation we had about a month and a half ago,” he said. “I realized about a month ago that we're more ready than we thought.”

“So, you're trying to find the right time to propose to Hermione?” Lupin asked.

“Well…” Harry said, “first I have to figure out how to propose.”

Lupin gave Harry a puzzled look. “What do you mean, Harry? It shouldn't be that hard to figure out how to propose to Hermione. After all, you've only known each other for what…nine years? What could be so hard about figuring out how to propose?”

Harry raised an eyebrow at Lupin. “I want to make my proposal something that neither of us will ever forget. I don't want to do something that everybody else does. I don't want to do something like a post-shag proposal, like Ron was considering doing, even if Hermione was willing to have sex before marriage. How did you propose to Tonks, anyway?”

Lupin's face turned as red as the Weasleys' hair. “Um…there's a reason that we haven't told people that story. I popped the question after the first time we slept together.”

Harry buried his face in his hands. “Please tell me you're joking!” he pleaded with Lupin.

Lupin didn't respond.

“Do me a favor, Professor,” Harry said. “Never tell Ron how you proposed.”

Lupin laughed. “Sure thing, Harry.”

“I wish I knew how to propose to Hermione. I've been thinking about it for a few weeks, but I'm still stumped,” Harry said.

“You know, Harry,” Lupin said, “James had all sorts of problems figuring out how to propose to Lily too.”

“Really?” Harry said. “What did he end up doing?”

“He certainly didn't propose after sleeping with Lily. She, like Hermione, insisted on getting married before they had sex. Eventually, he ended up taking her on a moonlit flight to some location he never told us about just before graduation. He struggled to come up with a way to propose for weeks before he finally figured it out.”

“Wow!” Harry said in surprise.

“You and Hermione are more like your folks than you know,” Lupin told him.

“How's married life treating you?” Harry inquired.

Lupin smiled broadly as he stared off into space. “It's incredible. I keep falling loving her more and more every day,” he said affectionately.

Harry smiled. “You've got it bad, Professor,” he said.

Lupin placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. “Please, call me Remus, Harry. And from what I've been told and what I've seen, you do too,” he said, smiling at Harry.

Harry smiled fondly. “You'd better believe it,” he said as affectionately as Lupin had moments before.

“Harry, I'm not going to lie to you and say that proposing isn't something to be nervous about, because it is. However, you don't need to stress out about it as much as you are. Relax, Harry. Things will turn out just fine. I have faith that Hermione will accept. I hope you do too.”

“I do,” Harry said. “It's just that I'm so used to things being difficult that it's hard to imagine something going easily.”

“I understand, Harry,” Lupin reassured him. “You've lived a life far harder in your 19 years than most witches and wizards experience in their lifetime. Nothing has come easy for you. You don't need to make this difficult though, Harry. Don't stress out about it. You'll think of a way to propose eventually.”

“Thanks, Remus.”

“You're welcome, Harry.”

“Promise me something, though.”

“Sure, Harry.”

“Don't tell anybody what we talked about,” Harry requested. “I want to try to propose without Hermione finding out what I'm up to.”

Lupin smiled. “Sure thing, Harry,” he said. “It'll be hard to pull one over on her. She is the brightest witch of your age, after all.”

“I know,” Harry said. “I at least want to try.”

Lupin smiled and stood up. “Good luck, Harry.”

“Thanks.”

Lupin removed the silencing charm and unlocked the door.

“You ready to come down?” he asked.

“No, I want to sit here and think for a bit. I'll be back down before too long,” Harry said.

Lupin nodded and quietly left the room, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

Harry stood up and walked over to the window, looking down at the soft layer of snow that covered the ground. As he stood there, he let his thoughts carry him away.

Suddenly, a soft hand gently touched Harry's shoulder.

“Hey, there,” a soft, feminine voice said.

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