ONE WEEK LATER
Hermione's parents had softened after the first day at the Ski lodge. They began to think that Harry, as young as he was, was making an excellent father.
She woke him up at all hours of the night and he hadn't complained once. She would cry for no reason, other than she could sense he was not there, and he was more than happy to accommodate her. He played with her, but with such gentleness that they never feared for her safety in his arms. After the first couple of awkward diaper changes he had become comfortable with changing, washing, and clothing her.
Of course, the thing that concerned them the most was their own daughter seemed more than happy to play with the baby. The look their daughter had whenever Harry was taking care of Emily also concerned them. But seeing how happy she looked when her friend was around made all their fears subside. They had not seen her smile like that since she was five, and the joy of seeing that look of utter happiness on their only child's face made them melt.
Harry tried to keep his laughter down, "Well the twins only kept some semblance of control because Dumbledore was Headmaster, and they respected him-"
"Especially after our fourth year." Hermione began to laugh, "Those beards!"
"So when he left they decided to just go crazy. It was great, Umbridge..." Harry tried to continue through his laughter. "That giant toad of a woman.... running everywhere with that.... matchstick of a wand..."
Between her laughter Hermione made galloping noises which seemed to make Harry go into hysterics. Emily was giggling from her cradle as if she understood all of this, and the Grangers would laugh at the sight of the two teens failing miserably to tell the story.
"I swear, I never want to make your daughter angry, ever. Because of her, Umbridge can't go anywhere near horses, or any hoofed animal for that matter."
They both laughed at that, but after a few moments they stopped and looked at each other seriously.
"I should have listened to you," Harry hung his head.
"You weren't thinking clearly, I don't think anyone else wouldn't have done the same."
"You would have," Harry said.
Hermione looked to her dad for a moment and looked back at Harry, "I don't think I would."
"What do you two think about going out for lunch?" Mrs. Granger asked trying to break up the seriousness of the conversation.
The group agreed and went their separate ways.
They all got ready for their day out, and Harry began to bundle up Emily, a process that would take at least ten minutes. Before they even tried to get to the door a snowy owl tapped on the sliding glass door. Hermione took Hedwig and gave her some water as she took the note from her leg.
"It's from Ginny."
Everyone looked up and waited with bated breath for Hermione; even Emily seemed to stop trying to get her foot away from Harry.
"Ginny says even in the newest editions of wizarding laws no underage wizard can adopt a child, and the only way for them to keep custody of their biological child is to get married, thereby emancipating themselves." Hermione put the letter down on the table.
"You didn't expect that someone who was legally a child could adopt, did you?" Dr. Granger asked.
"No, but I hoped there was some kind of loophole," Hermione rubbed her forehead
Everyone turned their attention to Harry, who took Emily and went into his room.
* * *
That night Harry laid in bed, with Emily in her cradle at his side. He was beginning to think of her as his and now... it seemed hopeless. Any other teenager would be relieved by the news that, even though they tried to kept a promise, there was no physical way for them to, thereby getting rid of any guilt they might feel.
But Harry felt as if it was about more, it was more than that promise; it was about Emily and....
He heard someone open his door and watched as Hermione closed it quietly behind her.
"You shouldn't be in here," Harry whispered.
Hermione paid no attention to what he said. Instead she stood over Emily and gently ran her fingers through her tiny wisps of black waves.
"You can see the family resemblance," she said simply.
"Family resemblance?" Harry asked.
"She has my eyes. Of course, she has your dark hair...."
"Hermione, have you gone completely mad?"
Hermione finally looked at Harry, and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's the only way you can keep her, and I'm not letting them take her away from you." Tears began to form in Hermione's eyes, "You've been so happy... I can't let them steal that away. If we say she's ours then you can keep her."
"Hermione, you read Ginny's letter, it's not that simple, I can't let you sacrifice this...."
"But you'll sacrifice everything for us, won't you? This isn't a sacrifice..."
"We'd be the only two married people in Hogwarts," Harry said.
"I've never been one to be normal. Harry, I've said it before; she's not a puppy. There are certain things that have to be done in order to keep her... and I'm ready."
"I thought this was about me keeping her?"
"Don't try and start being selfish now," Hermione smiled.
Harry knew he was fighting a loosing battle. In fact, he didn't know why he was fighting it.
"Your parents won't approve," Harry said as a last half-hearted effort to change her mind.
"They'll know it's not a real marriage, I think they'll be hard to convince at first, but in the end they'll know what the right thing to do is."
* * *
Ginny was going to hyperventilate. Her second letter from Hermione asked her about gestation periods for female witches. She did not dare want to think about WHY it was so important for Hermione to know these things. But that also meant trying to get back to Grimmauld Place without her mother suspecting anything. She was not about to ask her mother about witch pregnancies, so it was back to that massive unorganized library.
She would give the excuse she just wanted to see if Harry would show again, and if he did she would strangle him.
Of course, no one found it weird that Hermione and her family decided to vacation the very day after Harry disappeared. Ron got a post card from Hermione saying 'skiing was great, wish you were here, and I'm lying out of my ass.' Of course, you'd have to read between the lines to read the real message.
Ginny went downstairs ready to face her mother, ready to lie to her face... she really hated Hermione.
* * *
FOUR DAYS LATER
Ginny was just about to fall asleep on her Potions essay, for the fifth time, when she heard her mother shriek downstairs. Ginny didn't even think about it, she was joining her other siblings downstairs as her father, and for a first, Fred were trying to calm her down.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked to no one in particular.
"He's fine!" her mother sobbed.
"Am I missing something?" Ginny asked.
A magazine was handed over to Ginny. She looked at the cover and watched as a picture of Harry holding a bundle as he ate with the Grangers was plastered over the cover. Of course, the line underneath the picture read:
AND BABY MAKES THREE: Harry Potter is off the market!
Ginny fanatically went to the page with the full article.
One of our reporters, who was out covering vacation hot spots for the witch or wizard who wants to act like a muggle for a week (article on page 38) found this in one of the ski resorts in Switzerland. Harry Potter, the boy who lived, was holding a baby while dining out. Further pictures proved, (which can be seen on left) that he and long time friend Hermione Granger were both wearing rings on their left hands, which is a muggle symbol for marriage! No word officially from the happy couple, but the new baby seems to confirm that Harry Potter, who is still attending Hogwarts school, has settled down. Congratulations Harry!
"I... I..." Ginny was absolutely flabbergasted.
"Did he think he couldn't have talked to us... about this? Why didn't she tell us he was okay? I've been up all day and night and they're on HOLIDAY!" Mrs. Weasley said.
Ron looked very pale, but didn't seem to be too surprised. Ginny grabbed him and practically threw him upstairs.
"What do you know?" she asked.
"What are you talking about?" he tried to look as innocent as possible, which was not working at all.
"I wasn't the only one that got a letter from them, what do you know?"
"I'm... I can't say! Harry said when they came back they'd explain the truth to us, but for now we just have to not know." His hands were up and he waited for her to calm down before he got up.
Ginny shook her head, they did it this time, they were in some major trouble.
* * *
Dumbledore was now talking to Hermione's parents as Harry and Hermione waited in the living room, and watched as Lupin paced in front of them. He would stop like he was going to talk to one of them but then he would look at Emily sleeping and would continue pacing.
Lupin finally asked, "How?"
But at Harry's raised eyebrow he waved it off.
"You know Dumbledore won't like this... He'll do something..." Lupin tried to look forceful but failed miserably.
He exhaled deeply, giving up, "What's her name?"
"Emily," Harry said.
"She's beautiful," he said as he sat down next to them.
"Thank you," Hermione smiled.
Dumbledore and Hermione's parents exited the room, and Dumbledore headed straight for Emily.
Harry, as if out of reflex, stood up over her.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Harry, you mustn't worry, I just wanted to see her. May I?"
Harry saw a picture of himself being dropped off by Dumbledore at the Dursleys, he tried to shake the thought from his mind, and nodded cautiously.
Dumbledore took the baby in his arms, which made her drool, but that was one of the only things she did. She then grabbed a few whiskers of his beard which made Dumbledore laugh.
"I think you must feel lucky that Hogwarts was made quite a while ago," Dumbledore bounced the baby in his arms a bit which caused her to gurgle/giggle.
"Sorry?" Harry asked.
"You mean Miss Gra- excuse me, force of habit you know, Mrs. Potter.... You don't mind if I call you Hermione, do you?" Hermione shook her head and Dumbledore continued, "Hermione hasn't told you the accommodations for married students? As you could imagine, in the eleven hundreds especially, marrying at quite a young age was popular. The founders had already foreseen this complication and built the castle accordingly."
"I thought that over the years they would have just converted them into dorm rooms," Hermione said.
"Quite a few of them were, except for a few. It certainly isn't as popular as it was, but as I think we all can see, there still is a need for them."
"Oh," was Harry's only response.
"You didn't think we would make you leave school, did you?"
Harry nodded.
"Of course not. You'll just have to find a house elf to baby sit while you're in class, do you think you can handle that?"
"Absolutely," Harry said quickly, then added, "Aren't you upset?"
Dumbledore handed Emily over to Harry and she latched onto his jumper.
"Harry, in the past I chose to treat you like a child and, well let's just say 'bad' things happened. You have faced the Darkest wizard in a hundred years, I should know, more times than anyone else... even me. I may not agree with your actions, but I too have made poor judgments. Who am I to say which is worse? I hope you drop by the Burrow before you go to school, I'm sure there are people there who are... eager to see the new addition."
Harry's heart dropped into his stomach, that was one thing he was not looking forward to doing.
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