Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize from the books in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling belong to the aforementioned J. K. Rowling. I am simply playing with them for my amusement, and to see what kind of reaction I can get.
Not Another Author's Note: Many thanks to the_scribbler for his kind assistance with this chapter.
Due to a posting error a couple of weeks ago this chapter probably won't show up in the 'New/Updated' listing.
Chapter 48 - "Happy Birthday, Hermione"
On their way to Transfiguration, Hermione almost mindlessly followed Harry into a broom closet; where Harry instigated a snogging session that left them both senseless.
As Hermione zipped up her skirt; straightened her blouse, and made sure she was 'tucked in' all the way around, Harry met her gaze and she felt his love - though the touch of his magic - sweep around and through her.
"What is it, Harry?"
Moving closer again, Harry cupped her face with his hands. "I love you, Hermione, but I feel like I just took advantage of you…"
Her eyes blazed and her voice sharpened a bit. "Don't even start that, Harry. I love you more than I can describe and you've got to know that I came in here with just as much desire as you had. I wanted this and you're not to feel guilty about it, ok?"
As if to reinforce the point, she launched herself at him; grabbing him by the front of his shirt and mashing her lips hard against his. It was not very long before she was grinding her sex against him and practically begging him to go farther with her. For several long minutes, their bodies intertwined, with no way to separate one from the other.
How much time had passed before they broke apart was uncertain, but eventually, they were both sufficiently recovered to move without looking like they had just been shagging. As she rearranged her clothes for the second time, she realized that she was much closer to being back to her normal self, at least to the point that she was even concerned about her lack of books. Harry had his books and they could share so he convinced her that it didn't really matter. They arrived at class and took their usual seats just in time for McGonagall to begin the lesson.
After Transfiguration they had free time until lunch, McGonagall had delayed their departure from her classroom to mention to them both that there used to be a nice little village within easy walking distance of their house in Godric's Hollow. In Godric's time it used to be all magical and as large as Hogsmeade is today. The last she heard from James was that it was a mixture of magical, squibs and Muggles, mostly older, retired folks. Hermione had come down to earth during the morning class however, she was still happier than Harry thought was normal, even for her birthday. On their way back to their rooms to pack for the weekend, Hermione was thinking about what happened in the small hours of the morning and what was soon to be:
*************************
Flashback to just past midnight
Hermione was so ecstatic when Harry had told her about his plans for her birthday supper and the weekend in Godric's Hollow with him and her parents that she was becoming disgusted with herself for being so out of character. She had never had a boyfriend that did anything like this for her before. In reality, she never really had a boyfriend before. Sure, it was true that Harry and Ron had given her small gifts and hugs and a kiss on her last three or four birthdays and Christmas's, but not as boyfriends. For the last six years she had missed having her parents around and she really wanted to return to Godric's Hollow. It was such a lovely house and Harry had seemed to be okay with it once he had gone through it the first ... and only time they had spent a few hours there. Guinevere had guided them around and Harry had been reacquainted with his parents. She had spoken to and then fallen in love with his parents too, well at least the way they were in their portrait. Lilly was a wonderful caring soul and his father James...was like a combination of Harry and what she imagined Sirius to have been like in his school days. Being the spitting image of Harry, she couldn't help but to love James at first sight, not that she would have traded one for the other in a million years. Harry was hers and Merlin! How she loved him ... God help anyone that tried to get between them.
The extent and power of their relationship; as well as the level of love and respect that Harry had for Hermione showed itself when Harry, laying on his side, felt Hermione pushing her bottom against him; engulf the tip of his erection and start to slide home. She was hot, wet, tight….everything he had ever wanted to experience…but he managed to pull her off and finally had to morph Prongs junior down to the size of a thimble to thwart her nocturnal intentions. Harry wanted more than anything to make proper love to Hermione, but he had made a promise to her and her parents and this didn't feel to him like right time. Prongs junior however, complained all night ... having had the smallest taste of glory; wanted more.
Hermione was relieved now, knowing that Harry had had the more sensible mind in the wee hours of this morning ... he had only just kept her from impaling 'Miss Jane' on 'Prongs junior', and, at the time Hermione had been quite determined to prove to Harry just how much she wanted him.
End flashback
Harry had suggested to Hermione that she need only lay out the clothes and other items she wanted to take, on her bed, as he was going to do and he would ask Dobby to bring them. This was the first she knew that Dobby had anything to do with the weekend and questioned Harry about it. He explained to her that Dobby and Guinevere were going to help with the arrangements of opening the house and making supper for tonight. He would ask Fawkes to bring her parents at the agreed time.
They arrived at lunch a few minutes early and took their usual seats. Their friends soon filled in the seats around them and lunch progressed fairly normally until he quietly announced that he and Hermione would be going away for the weekend. There were a few winks and thumbs up from the guys until he added that her parents would be with them and everyone settled down. As they departed for afternoon classes Hermione was wished a Happy Birthday and a fun weekend by all their friends.
The Practical Defence class was exhausting. It left all the students hot, tired, sweaty, and hating every moment between classes' end and the actual end of the day. They were now starting out with exercises to build stamina and flexibility, followed with practice dodging spells and now the second half of the double class was taken up with shielding themselves from spells. By the end of the day even their wands were warm from all the magic. Moody was certainly going to make them work for their grades this year, but if it kept more of them alive, then in the end, it was worth every drop of golden sweat.
On their way back to the Head's Suite, Harry was musing to himself: He had left Dumbledore's Army in the hands of the other four this weekend - Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna. It wasn't a matter of whether they were up for it. Harry was fairly certain that they could handle it easily. Neville had turned out to have a slight edge over Ron when they demonstrated spells. There was always more focused power in Nevilles' spells and he had more determination to make new spells work the way Harry or the professors demonstrated them. Luna, though appearing saner than she had in earlier years, usually came in last in the group of six as far as practical abilities were concerned. However, she excelled in the unexpected and had a wicked way of putting spells together that created wholly new results. Ginny was the anomaly. She was stronger and much more cunning than either her brother or Neville in Harry's opinion even though Neville always seemed to get the better of her. Harry had mentioned it to Hermione once and she just smiled at him. He started to wonder if Hermione was also holding back and letting him trump her most of the time. Harry knew from Care of magical Creatures that the female of most species were usually the most dangerous when their young or mates were at risk. He was already sure that he would not want to be on the receiving end of Hermiones' furry and the way Ginny fairly bled excess power made him extremely leery of ever annoying her.
By the time they got back to their rooms they both realized they were running late, it was already four o'clock and they both needed a shower and a change of clothes. Hermione quickly stripped down and headed for the shower with a pair of glossed over green eyes absorbed in the movement of her bum as she walked. When Harry recovered his sanity he realized he was going to have to beat Prongs junior down with a stick or put a blindfold on him. The time was quickly approaching quarter after four when Harry called Fawkes. After conversing with the red and gold bird, Fawkes left for the Granger's home in Oxford. Harry then stripped down leaving a trail of sweaty clothes between his bedroom and the shower.
Hermione snickered to herself when Prongs junior entered the shower with Harry following. "Is your little friend giving you a hard time?" She asked with a giggle. Harry knew he shouldn't be embarrassed, like his unruly hair, Harry really couldn't do anything about it. Seeing Hermione naked; smelling her hair, and feeling the caress of her silky skin was always more than enough to excite every bit of him. "May I?, she asked quietly, looking lovingly into his eyes. Before he realized it, she had his 'problem' in her soft, gentle hands ... and they were soon rinsing off together, a smile on both of their faces.
*************************
Dan and Emma had been delayed in Friday afternoon traffic and were only just arriving in their drive when Fawkes flashed into their home. Fawkes knew exactly where they were, and had they been further away from home, he may have attempted to expedite their progress, however patience was something he had learned in the last thousand and some odd years.
As it turned out Dan and Emma arrived in Godric's Hollow first, Fawkes had deposited them in the Library, trilled a short greeting ... or something, and flashed away. While Dan and Emma were gaping around at the collection of books and antiques, two elvish creatures appeared with a loud snap! Dobby they almost recognized, Guinevere had forced on him a uniform similar to her own with a Gryffindor coat of arms on the left breast and a Potter coat of arms on the right. Both House Elves were very smartly appointed. Dobby knew the Grangers from the day they spent in Hogwarts and made the introductions between them and Guinevere, then moved off to the side.
Fawkes had returned to Hogwarts, to Harry's room, a minute before the pair would have left. Hermione was about to transform into Caledfwlch when Fawkes trilled for her to wait. Hermione was shocked when she realized that she could understand Fawkes' song. Hermione seemed to concentrate for a moment, then trilled back at Fawkes telling him that she would be very proud if he would take them home to Godric's Hollow. Harry looked at them both in confusion.
"Come on love, Fawkes is going to take us home; he's only just delivered my parents there." Hermione said as she moved into his side. Harry checked the time, it was well after half of four and apparently they weren't going to be terribly late after all. In a flash of red fire the teens found themselves in the same Library, a few steps away from Dan and Emma. Dan had barely had a chance to blink when he found himself being hugged by his daughter. Emma joined in and made it a threesome while beckoning Harry to come in also.
Harry begged off saying that he had his hug a few minutes ago and would like to check on the arrangements. He told them that they should make themselves at home and should feel free to wander and explore anywhere they liked.
The three Grangers sat in the Library for at least an hour catching up on the last few weeks; Harry had come back after about ten minutes and looked in on them. They were busy talking about something so he went exploring the grounds by himself. None of them had been outside yet. Harry exited through the front door to find that the house was set back quite a way from the road. Harry looked from side to side; the porch on the front of the house was quite wide and stretched to the corners of the building. It was of course covered but not enclosed, so there was a cool breeze that smelled like sea salt and fish. On the left side was a long padded bench seat hanging from chains and slowly moving in the breeze. It was more than long enough for Ron or Bill Weasley to lie down on and snooze away a summer day. On the other side was an oval table and eight comfortable looking chairs. Under the front windows on both sides were planter boxes with flowers in them that could not possibly be blooming as they were, this time of year. There were a few steps down to a half circle of cobbles with paths leading off in three directions.
The middle one was anything but a straight line to the gate that was actually in the middle of a chest high hedgerow that separated the property from the road beyond. The hedge from the front of the property turned at each end and disappeared behind the house on both sides. The other two paths disappeared out of sight around each side of the house. The lawn was a cool shade of forest green, perfectly flat, trimmed and edged, it couldn't have more perfectly met Uncle Vernon's specifications. For lack of an organized plan, after stepping off the porch, Harry followed the southern path around to his right. He found more planter boxes under every window on the south side on the house. Once around to the back it was obvious that the paths met up at a cobbled patio. There was an umbrella covered table with six chairs near what he assumed was a stone and brick barbeque. Two new paths meandered to the tree bordered rear edge of the property. One was covered almost all the way from the back door and ended up at a barn like building in the southwest corner as he faced back from the house. It looked like it had housed several horses and there would have been room for a carriage or two. Today it could easily fit two cars and a few horses as well. Harry could hear the sound of running water beyond the trees which made him curious and he followed the other path that seemed to end at the tree line. By the time he neared the trees he could make out an old, somewhat overgrown, foot path into the forest. He stopped at the edge of the trees and looked back at the house thinking to himself, 'Yea, I could live here ... we'll have to move the nursery to another room and maybe use that room for storage or something. Other than that it's roomy, quiet and out of the way, if I survive this war that's just what I want ... peace and quiet ... for a few years anyway.'
Harry could feel Hermione's unusual bubbly self in the back of his mind; she was probably telling her parents everything that happened in the last eighteen days. They didn't have any secrets from her parents anymore, except the stuff that they didn't tell anyone else, like the horcruxes. Harry turned around, pulled his wand out and carefully made his way along the path. As with all the other paths he had travelled since arriving here there was to be no straight line from point 'A' to point 'B', wherever point 'B' was. The path seemed to turn back on itself, as if he was returning to the house, he kept going. He felt it must end up somewhere and he was getting more determined to find out where. Past another sapling and around an enormous tree trunk a grassy clearing appeared as if by magic. The grass was trimmed and edged to perfection just like the lawns at the house. There was a stone bench in the middle; Harry noticed that it didn't seem to have a shadow and thought that to be odd. The trees on the southwest side of the clearing were casting shadows in the late afternoon sun, but not the bench. The path seemed to continue on the west side of the clearing near a small deer that was feeding in the shade and hadn't noticed him yet. The light breeze was blowing in his face from across the clearing so the deer wouldn't pick up his scent; he remained perfectly still and watched. Nearly fifteen minutes later Harry moved his feet a little and heard a snapping sound from beneath his left foot, the deer obviously heard it too. It looked up, turned, and was gone before Harry could blink. Disappointed, Harry's concentration wandered, the sound of running water was much closer. Harry started to cross the grassy space, he wanted to check out the bench and as he got neared he thought he saw an outline shimmer momentarily in the air. Harry stopped, senses peaking, wand drawn, a reductor curse perched on his lips, he explored the surrounding trees with his eyes and stretched out his magic to search for traps.
A loud CRACK made Harry spin around, the curse almost formed in his mind, he pulled the curse back in time, but Hermione felt the sudden surge of fear very distinctly. Dobby and Guinevere were both standing there, waiting patiently as Harry recovered his senses.
Hermione, charged by Harry's anxiety and not knowing exactly where to go, abruptly terminated the conversation with her parents with an 'I'll be right back' leaving out the 'I hope' part as she transformed into Caledfwlch. A bright flash of white light later and she was flying in the sky over the trees away from the back of the house. She spotted the clearing easily enough, then the bench, she was trying to home in on Harry's mind and her senses were telling her she was getting near. She dove down speeding closer to the bench and once she was over it her vision locked onto Harry, kneeling down on the grass with two shorter people in front of him. She spiralled down to where Harry was kneeling on the grass. Harry looked up at the familiar sound of Phoenix wings screaming through the air and then watched the mighty bird hover for a moment, directly in front of him, Caledfwlch then transformed back into Hermione as her feet gracefully touched the ground. He had to admire the way she could transform as she landed, it had to require perfect control and timing not to crash face first into the ground.
"Behind me, there's a structure around the bench ..." Stated Harry. Hermione was about to cast one of several revealing charms when Guinevere snapped her fingers. The vision of both teens snapped to Guinevere and then to the stone Mausoleum as it became visible. The bench was now out of sight within the stone walls of the Potter Mausoleum.
Guinevere made a noise and when she had their attention she suggested that they not enter the Mausoleum until tomorrow and then told them that supper would be ready by the time they walked back to the house. The two House Elves disappeared with another CRACK leaving Harry and Hermione looking at the Mausoleum. It was like giving candy to a child and telling him not to eat it, then walking away ... that ain't gonna happen.
Harry turned and headed for what seemed to be the entry point. Hermione knew it was useless to try to keep him out of there so she followed him. Inside was a long hallway with cubicles in the walls that seemed to be organized like a Family Tree. The first two on the right, just inside the door appeared to be the beginning, An Isabella B. (Gryffindor) Potter and a Harold J. Potter. Inside the cubicles were urns for the ashes, They had been cremated, a common custom in the Wizarding World. Cremation reduceded the possibility that someone, like Voldemort, could use your body, blood, bones, hair or other bits for any nefarious purpose.
Most of the cubicles were in pairs with a bronze plaque below, a brief record of their lives, parentage and descendants. There were also plaques with no cubicles, Harry stopped to look at the first of those and found that a Susan A. Potter married a George P. Kinghtly and was probably interred elsewhere with him. As Harry walked down the hallway he noticed that the pairs were primarily male Potter descendants that remained and lived in Godric's Hollow or in the Castle of Camelot. Hermione noted that for the most part the first born males first names alternated between Harold, Harry and James just as Ragnok had told them.
On the second leg of his tour through family history, near the entranceway, the second to last pair of cubicles, the last pair to have urns were James H. Potter and Lilly T. (Evans) Potter. Harry was for a few minutes mesmerized by the final resting place of his parents. Hermione's curiosity took her to the final pair of cubicles. There was a line in the stone wall connecting James and Lilly's plaque to the next cubicle. They held no urns only a bronze plaque underneath denoting the following details:
Harry James Potter, 31 July 1980 to 12 December 3132
Bonded 31 July 1997 to:
Hermione Jane (Granger) Potter 19 September 1979 to 12 December 3132
Children:
The first thing Hermione noticed was that they had the same death day and they had to be a misprint. She would have believed a hundred and fifty-two years if it said 2132, but 3132 must be wrong, no one lives that long ... then Hermione saw the list of children and her vision went foggy, there were too many names listed ... far too many names listed ... a Quidditch team was half that size ... it was never going to happen ... if necessary she would cut off Prongs junior long before they had that many children. She was going to have a serious talk with him about that very soon.
Hermione's vision cleared somewhat after the initial shock and she started reading the names to herself. They were almost all girls names until the very last two, James Harold and Sirius Albus were born on the same day, on Harry's own birthday actually, almost ten years from now. Talk about Divination, was she prepared to believe ... or not.
Hermione blocked Harry's view of the plaque and guided him out of there. His mind was focussed on his parents so it wasn't difficult. She apparated him back to the house and they made their way to supper. She needed to have a talk with her Mother, maybe show her parents the Mausoleum and the last plaque.
Supper started out quietly until Emma asked where Harry had gone and what had happened. Harry told them about his walk around the house and into the woods then Hermione told them about the Mausoleum and some of the things they found in it. She didn't mention anything about the last pair of cubicles and the plaque. She wouldn't until she had a chance to talk to her Mother and maybe show it to her.
Supper was fabulous, The four of them at the table speculated that the two elves must have been competing in the kitchen or they were simply much better cooks than Harry or Hermione had ever suspected. Then came the cake ... a real cake this time, not the one Harry morphed out of his chest at midnight. There would probably have been less calories in Harry's version of the cake. This one was a chocolate cake that, although only forty centimetres long, was sculpted and baked in Hermione's shape. The skin colouring and clothes she was currently wearing were added in various colours of frosting. There was but one already lighted candle perched on her tummy in the shape of the number '18'. Hermione blew it out quickly while wishing that she didn't have to give birth to all those children. Naturally she never really expected the wish to be granted ... it was more an act of desperation.
After the cake there were presents, she opened her Father's present first. After getting past the wrapping paper and box she found a red T-shirt with gold lettering across the back that was wrapped around a book. She held the T-shirt up and read the back, there was a large number seven and in the same size printing below the number, the name "Harry Potter" was arced across the back. It was just like his Quidditch Jersey except the words "Property of" were in much smaller print below the number and above Harry's name. Hermione laughed ... not that she considered herself anyone's property, but beyond that it was true enough, she was his as much as he was hers. The book was an album of childhood photos and as she scanned the first few pages she realized that some of them were the most embarrassing she could possibly imagine. She was an only child and they took photos of her doing everything imaginable including several as she came out of Emma's womb, and they were right at the front of the album. Talk about first pictures and a birthday suit ... eeeeeew. Hermione slammed the album shut before Harry could peek inside, then she sat on it. Harry saw her smile back at her Father, but it wasn't really a happy smile ... it was more like an 'I'll have great pleasure ripping out all your finger and toe nails smile. She hoped it wasn't going to be an 'embarrass Hermione night' even if Harry was ... whatever he was ... hers. Sure he had seen her in all her glory, they had essentially examined each other in detail, but naked baby pictures in front of her parents was going too far.
Hermione picked up her mother's present, another box about the same size as her Fathers except that it weighed almost nothing. Of course if Harry had anything to do with it the weight could be totally meaningless, the size too. One evening in the latter part of the summer Emma had brought out a La Perla catalogue and another more exotic one too. Using the story that she wanted to spice up her own nights and since her daughter was now sharing a bed she felt she could ask for a second opinion on some selections. They browsed through both books laughing, giggling and smirking at what they expected their men's reactions might be. It had never dawned on Hermione that she might be the victim of that evening's entertainment until she opened her Mother's present.
In front of Harry and her Father the box sprang open and a variety of colourful items came loose and fell out. Her Father caught a pair of red knickers before they hit the floor. Harry caught several things that came his way. He watched as Dan held up the knickers. Hermione was turning beet red as they all noticed the gusset ... they were peek-a-boo knickers. Harry would be able to find his way in without removing them ... Mother how could you do this to me and she remembered that evening about a month ago and realized what it was really all about. In those few seconds of time Harry had sorted through a couple of peek-a-boo baby-dolls, a few more of the same knickers in different colours, and was now holding up a see through black lacy bra. When Hermione saw that she gave a sigh and closed her eyes. Harry reached out and levitated her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her as she landed. Her face found his chest, landing just below his chin, her arms wrapping around his neck and one shoulder. Emma picked up the loose clothing, folding and piling it neatly on a side table, then she reached over and picked up Harry's gift, handing it to him to present to Hermione.
He nudged Hermione to look at him and when she complied she saw the third present, a much smaller box wrapped in gold coloured paper. She looked back at Harry, her eyes seemed to be pleading with him, hoping that this wasn't going to embarrass her too.
He could sense her trepidation, she couldn't handle any more embarrassing presents today. Harry spoke, "As long as your parents did what I asked this is a very normal type of present that I think will make you happy."
Harry had loosened his grip on Hermione to take the present from Emma. She then unwrapped her arms from him and accepted the gift. Once the wrapping paper was removed and the outer cardboard box opened, a brown fuzzy box of the type that typically contained jewellery could be seen. She looked at Harry's smiling face, then back at the box, it was somewhat larger than what she would expect an engagement ring to come in. That was a good thing, while she wanted an engagement ring ... one day, that day wasn't today.
Hermione concentrated on the jewellery box and it popped open revealing a pair of sapphire earrings and a bird shaped pendant with sapphire eyes on a fine gold chain with flat links in a twisted pattern. She looked up at Harry, her eyes and smile telling him he did very well indeed.