The shriek of a three year old toddler careening around the front room was the first noise to reach Harry's ears. "And you want one of those things?" he murmured in Hermione's ear with a good natured grin as he stepped out of the fireplace.
Hermione gave him a beatific smile that felt like a punch to the gut. "Yes and so do you," she murmured back without a hint of her normal bossiness.
"Wotcher Harry! Wotcher Hermione! I didn't hear you come in," Tonks greeted them holding a giggling black haired boy like a quaffle under her arm. "Remus has tea in the kitchen. Let me put this one down for a nap and I'll come join you."
"Oh can I help? I've read so much on various techniques to put toddlers to bed . . ." Hermione started following Tonks upstairs.
From the carrier Crookshanks mrowed unhappily to get Harry's attention. "Oh right. Sorry mate." He set the cage down and opened the door. Crookshanks poked a curious nose out, sniffed then trotted out heading for the kitchen.
Harry followed and sat at the table where Remus was serenely sipping his tea, a cup already poured for him. "Good morning Harry."
"Morning Remus," Harry sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. Upstairs he could hear Hermione and Tonks soft, indistinct murmurs and John's responding protests ("No! Not sleepy! NO!") which of course meant that he was over tired already. So close after the full moon, John needed as many naps as he could get and if Harry knew the boy at all, he'd already been up at the crack of dawn running around like a . . . an . . . umm . . . hmm . . . perhaps he should've paid more attention in Hagrid's class so he could've at least attempted to finish that analogy. "May I say once again that I love the name of your house?"
Remus rolled his eyes and took a sip of his tea. "I must have been well and truly drunk to let Nymphadora name our house the House of Ill Repute. I think she did it to embarrass visitors if they're flooing from the Leaky or somewhere else public."
"That was my first thought," Harry agreed with a grin.
As if to emphasize their point, there was a loud crumpling thump of Tonks tripping upstairs. "So where is your trip again?" Remus asked, glancing up at the ceiling as well with a good humored grin.
"Fiji," Harry replied before taking a sip of his tea. "Been planning it for months."
"Does Hermione know about the - ?"
"Clueless."
"Good. I overheard her talking about kids . . ." Remus trailed off. He watched Harry carefully. "Is she - ?"
"No! No, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure she's not," Harry replied shifting uncomfortably. He glanced up at the ceiling again. Now that he thought about it, Hermione's request to babysit Alaric for Ginny and Draco did seem out of the blue . . . . Then again, she could've probably been planning about it for months and only thought to mention it a couple days before hand in order to ensure his cooperation and he wouldn't have a chance to skive off. But that didn't explain why she was upstairs now, fascinated by John's nap or why -
"All right there Harry?" Remus cut into his increasingly panicked thoughts. Harry looked up from where he was crouched over, his head between his legs. How did he get there? And why was the world suddenly a bit unsteady?
Remus quirked his eyebrows up in that often infuriatingly calm manner and grinned again.
Harry cleared his throat and sat up, scooting back to the table feigning a nonchalance he didn't feel. He cast his mind around for some way to save face in front of Remus. He knocked back his still too hot tea and chocked on a grimace. "Fine, I'm fine," he said with a slight deepening of his voice. Did he just almost faint? Of course not. Guys don't faint. "How about those Canons eh?"
Remus nodded, his face carefully impassive. Despite that, Harry could still see that he was biting on the inside of his cheek to not smile. "I don't really follow Quidditch."
"Shame. Canons are crap anyway," Harry replied. Even though Ron lived on the other side of London, he could practically hear his indignant, "Hey! I heard that! And I'll have you know, they won their first game in almost a year!"
"So how did Hermione's cooking lessons go?"
Harry grimaced. "About the same as my driving lessons."
Remus mirrored Harry's expression. He still wasn't sure how, but even though he'd told Ron, Draco, Seamus, Dean, Fred, and George that he was ace at driving and they'd believed him, somehow Remus had weaseled the whole sordid affair out of him. Remus had always had that effect on him. "Let's just say that I wound up with egg on my face."
"Oh. So she was good," Remus replied with surprise. "Embarrassed that she passed you up?"
"No, literally. I wound up with egg on my face. I still remain master of my domain," Harry replied with a smug grin.
"Isn't that a euphemism - ?" Hermione asked walking into the kitchen with Tonks trailing behind her.
"Everything's a euphemism," Harry interrupted with a cheeky grin.
"Thank you for -" Hermione was interrupted as Tonks stumbled into the table. Hermione quickly grabbed the edge while Harry lunged for the tea pot and Remus held up his cup. Tonks recovered with a softly muttered curse and a sheepish grin. "For watching Crookshanks. He and Ron are still a bit bitter about third year."
"Our pleasure," Tonks replied seating herself next to Remus. "I'm sure John will appreciate the company."
Everyone looked over at Crookshanks who blinked back at them from his perch on the island and all of them silently wondered if the opposite would be true.
"Well, we don't mean to be rude for such a short visit, but we must be off. Our portkey to Fiji is soon and we still have some things to do around the house before we leave," Hermione said standing regretfully. "Thank you again."
"Any time," Remus replied standing as well. "Have fun."
They made their good byes at the fireplace then floo'd home. "We could've stayed a bit longer if you wanted," Harry said stepping out of the fireplace.
"I wanted to, but there's so much left to do. We have to close up the house, double check the cooling charms on the refrigerator -"
"Hermione. Love. We have an hour and a half until our portkey. The fridge is empty, the flat has been charmed to send the owls to Ron's, the wards have been renewed. There is nothing left to do other than shrink our luggage," Harry said, folding Hermione in his arms. "This is our holiday and we have yet to do anything remotely holiday-y. We got up, you burned the toast, I ran after Crookshanks, we visited Remus and Tonks, all non-holiday stuff. How about a quick kiss to calm you down?" he murmured suggestively, rubbing his hands slowly up and down her back..
"And since when is snogging considered `holiday stuff'?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's beside the point." He stepped closer to her, his eyes darkening sensing her slow capitulation. He leaned down and teased her lips with his. "This trip is about relaxation and you, Miss Granger, need to relax."
With the last of her reservations manhandled and tossed out the door like a bouncer tossing a drunk, she leaned into him and Harry deepened the kiss with a soft groan.
He loved it when she listened to him for once.
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