Quote:
"Hermione lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Dan who was a farmer, and Aunt Emma, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small ..."
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:
1) Many thanks to the_scribbler for his kind assistance with this chapter.
2) The Nimbus lumens Amor is with permission of the author, originally from "Harry Potter and the Circles' End" by madscientist.
http://fanfiction.portkey.org/profile/8719
I am not necessarily following all the original properties of the inventor.
3) Since 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum, is in the public domain it shouldn't be a problem and it could be a lot of fun to redo it using HP characters. I have made a start at it, but would like to finish this story first, if it ever ends.
4) Halloween 1997 in the UK is not a full moon, however, for my purposes it needs to be.
52 - A New Life
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In Greater Hangleton
Readers: please keep in mind that Snape, The Order and H/Hr are not aware of the
goings on in Voldemort's lair except what Snape told Minerva back in chapter 45.
Voldemort collapsed again, a few short hours after having risen from the day's rest that was imposed on him because he had again collapsed the evening before. Bellatrix was at her wits end. She knew that the minds of Potter and The Dark Lord were connected somehow and she needed a way to break that connection. Potter had to go ... 'Kill Potter!' had to be their next motto, their next step in world domination. Potter has to die!
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In Hogwarts
When Remus returned to the school he went straight to the Headmistresses office where he was fortunate to find both Moody and Minerva. Unfortunately they were arguing about how to proceed with Draco and his Mother.
Tonks had persuaded her Mother, Andromeda, to talk to her sister, Narcissa, about Draco and their disappearance. Nothing specific had been explained to either Draco or his Mother about how they were to vanish except that if it turned out to be a trick of Voldemort's to have the Order hide them, the Malfoy family line would vanish forever. Narcissa would be visited by Fawkes at eight o'clock this evening and be transported to a rendezvous with Draco and some others from the Order. She was to bring what she could carry and hide the rest securely
Now that Remus was here he could take one side or the other. He didn't, Remus had his own agenda for discussion. He reported on the state of things with Hermione's parents and was brought up to date on the findings in Oxford. Not much had changed except they did locate the DE's hideout and they didn't want to scare him away, so they hadn't made any move on him. Remus told them that Harry and Hermione wanted to accompany Tonks on Monday Morning so that it would look like the entire Granger family returning home. That confused Moody until he was let in on the secret that Harry was as much of a Metamorphmagus as Tonks except that Harry had no problem turning into animals too. That was when they were told that Harry did a magnificent imitation of Nagini and captured Peter Pettigrew this morning at the house. Both Mad-Eye and Minerva were in shock.
"For a simple birthday weekend away from this castle, they certainly attract a lot of trouble." Stated Minerva.
"They also accomplished their first fidelius charm," said Remus, "and only just in time to keep Peter from reporting their whereabouts." Minerva and Moody looked at each other ... only just realizing that neither knew where the Potters were ... except that they weren't here.
Remus laughed and handed Minerva a slip of parchment informing her of the secret. Mad-eye was also informed similarly with the same piece of parchment. The next thing Remus felt duty bound to inform them of was that Godric's shield could be another Horcrux and it might be in the trunk that Albus gave to Harry.
Mad-eye immediately suggested a search of the trunk. Remus knew that Harry would never permit that to happen. Minerva interrupted and spoke up, "Harry would NOT appreciate anyone going through James and Lilly's personal effects."
Remus then added, "He and Hermione said they would go through the trunk when they returned, besides the other ones were cursed in Parseltongue so there's not a lot you could do with it if you found it."
"I think Remus is right," said Minerva, "If it's amongst his parents personal items he could take exception to your search. I know you're not stupid, Alastor, you would never poke a sleeping dragon."
Remus started to snicker at the imagery and soon the three of them were laughing.
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In Camelot (the night before)
Emma and Dan had seen a pulsating golden glow emanating through the connecting wall between the two bedchambers. In their concern they had rushed to the door of the adjacent room only to see the same pulsating aura flickering through that wall and door. Emma stepped back in fright while Dan flung the door open and stood there dumbfounded. Emma crept up beside her husband and watched in awe. The pulsating glow came from the teenage pair hovering above the stone floor near the far end of the room and could have been timed to the young couples' heartbeats for all they knew. Standing at the doorway they were often engulfed in the pulsating golden aura and in those moments both Dan and Emma could feel the Love and happiness their children were radiating. Their children ... yes ... they had come to think of Harry as one of theirs ... and a very special son he was too. He and he alone had been ultimately responsible for releasing their daughter from the exile she imposed on herself into the world of books.
The Grangers watched as their children seemed to float over to the bed. Something unseen threw back the covers and the teens floated horizontally mere inches over the bed. The covers floated back over them as they lay there in blissful peace.
The Grangers' were oblivious to the running footsteps that could be heard nearing the two bedchambers. Shortly Anna and Howard slowed to a cautious approach. Anna pulled Howard to a stop long before they reached the yellow aura and whispered to him, "I dare not approach and you must bring Emma to me ... here, quickly!"
Howard rushed forward and, breaking Emma from her self induced trance, indicated that she should follow him. Emma followed him back to Anna. Dan, slowly realizing that his wife was no longer beside him, looked around to find her conversing with Anna in whisper quiet tones.
Anna was a true history buff, she knew everything there was to know about the Potters, the Gryffindors and even Merlin's history. Every fact, every fiction and every speculation. Never having seen it, she recognized the pulsating yellow radiance for what it was. It was marvellously described and depicted in the tomes of history. Several early Gryffindors and Merlin himself had been noted as creating this aura known as the Nimbus lumens Amor. Prolific families sprang up from and around the people that glowed. There had been others throughout time, typically one or two couples every few hundred years. Many had been Muggles and couldn't see it for what it was.
Anna explained that it wouldn't always occur and only came up when the couple was particularly aware of the true depth of their partner's Love and affection. The most important point that Anna wanted to make and the reason that she stayed out of range of the glow itself is that ... any female bathed in the golden glow for long enough becomes extremely fertile. Anna wasn't aware of the reasons that Emma had only one child and simply wanted to warn her to be extra careful after having stood in the glow for an unknown time. Emma's eyes bugged out at the news and an expression of shock and incredulity was plainly apparent on her face and in her demeanour.
Dan and Emma had married in their early twenties and after they were married Emma never used any birth control precautions. No, it was not a Religious issue. They were trying to have children. Three or four years later with some medical, or as they thought at the time, magical, intervention, Hermione was finally conceived and born. Though they never went to the extreme lengths again that they used to conceive Hermione, they also never used any method to prevent a birth. Since, except for Hermione, Emma never became pregnant with all their attempts, she assumed she never would again. Emma also realized that this was the opportune time in her cycle … if anything was going to happen it would happen now or in the next few days. Emma realized that idea might well be dashed to hell now, as if an egg, dropped off a high cliff onto a rocky beach. How to tell Dan? How to find out for sure? If she got pregnant right away she would know for sure ... did she want to get pregnant this late in life? What about the child?
Emma started to regain her composure and continued to ask Anna pertinent questions about what she might expect if she were to have another child. The responses Emma received excited her, the baby would almost certainly be magical and as such would not be subject to the Muggle problems associated with older birth Mothers. The only fear would be from a faulty potion or some accident during pregnancy. If the birth mother remained healthy during pregnancy there should be no problem.
The golden aura had begun to weaken as the teens drifted off to sleep and wasn't penetrating through the walls any more. Emma's frame of mind was excited concern, she needed to talk to Dan and not get his hopes up to much in case she hadn't been in the glow long enough to make a difference. Anna believed that Emma had been there more than long enough, a minute was probably plenty, a hand full of seconds is all it would take to make a noticeable difference. In any case Dan had to know, he had to be told, she had to know what he wanted.
Once the show was more or less over, Howard closed the doors to Lord and Lady Gryffindors bedchamber and he and Anna left for their own rooms. Emma dragged Dan off to their room and sat him down in a chair opposite herself. Emma remembered every nuance and detail of her conversation with Anna and explained it all slowly and carefully to her husband making sure that he understood every incredible detail. Though it seemed to take only a few minutes for her and Anna's conversation, Emma spent over two hours making sure that Dan had a firm grasp of the predicament they were in. They had to make a calm and rational decision on a topic that was not really rational for either of them. Both had always hoped that Hermione would have a brother or sister, preferably closer to her own age, but none the less, they had both hoped for more children. Once they cut through the angst of trying to predict each other's objections and determined that their predicament was a blessing, Emma quickly donned her 'Naughty Schoolgirl' outfit and Dan put his Professor's smock on over his birthday suit.
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Sunday Morning Sept 21 1997
Well, it was late morning, well past what the Hobbit's would term 'second Breakfast'. Hungry, the Grangers finally crawled out of bed and hobbled their way down to the Great Hall to find Anna and Hermione in a fast paced discussion. Harry was standing slightly back and away from the wild hand movements of the two ladies.
Anna had much earlier elaborated on the happenings of last night to the young couple and made them aware of what they were capable of causing. Hermione was incredibly upset that her parents had unwittingly been caught in the aura and was desperately trying to ascertain if there was a way to reverse the effects. The three of them had been to the Camelot Library as well as the one in Godric's Hollow and found only confirmation of Anna's story and no helpful information to negate the effects. They had returned to the Great Hall minutes before and were now speculating very animatedly on various unlikely possibilities.
Harry was first to notice Dan helping Emma walk in and he was happy to see the bright and cheery smiles on their faces. He cleared his throat, making as much noise as possible in hopes to gain the attention of Anna and Hermione. He succeeded and the room was deathly quiet for a few moments until the Grangers were upon them. Hermione started to apologize to her Mother and was only cut off when Emma swallowed her up in a loving hug. Dan and Emma's smiles were contagious to those who could see them. Harry and Anna responded with smiles of their own. Emma released her daughter and held her at arm's length. Hermione attempted to speak again but Emma's finger against her lips was faster.
"Tell me I'm pregnant!" said Emma in an excited voice. She and Dan had made love thrice last night and once more this morning. Emma was as giddy as a schoolgirl on Prom night and twice as nervous. What was her daughter going to think of her trying to get pregnant ... at her age.
Hermione blinked and stood there in complete shock reminding Harry of Missus Weasley when Hermione stated she was pregnant. Harry had been too out of it at that time, but Hermione had later shown him her memory of the event in the Pensieve. While they had agreed that the incident, over the summer was funny, at least in hindsight, this was anything but funny.
"You know how to do the spell, you've told me so a dozen times ... I want you to test me." Emma stated more emphatically.
Harry knew the spell too, Hermione had shown him how, and the charm was no big deal to do. He had practiced it on Hermione a hundred times, just for fun. Hermione was still standing there in complete disbelief. Harry reached over and placed his hand on Emma, just below her navel. Anna looked confused by Harry's hand placement, she couldn't think what he was attempting to do, he had used a wand yesterday in the Armoury and it never dawned on her to consider him capable of wandless magic. The faintest of pink glows appeared surrounding Emma's hips and waist. You could have knocked Hermione over with a feather.
A resounding "YES!" could be heard, in stereo, from both Dan and Emma as they turned and hugged each other while jumping up and down. The smiles on their faces could have lit the room.
"Congratulations Missus G." Harry screamed over their cheers as he picked up Hermione in a hug and spun her around a few times. Harry kissed her soundly before placing her on her feet, though he didn't let her go in case she was wobbly.
"Y ... y ... you mean you're n ... n ... not upset at us?" Hermione stammered in a shaky voice.
"Upset!" Dan nearly shouted, "Hell No! Your Mother damn near wore me out last night trying to make this little guy ... we couldn't be happier Pumpkin ... we couldn't be happier." Dan's voice trailed off to near silence as he ran out of breath. An ensuing four way hug developed and before Anna could get out of the way she was brought into the middle of it.
Howard walked in as the great hug was breaking up and everyone's smiles told him it was all good, he knew he would get an earful over the lunch that just appeared on the table. "Father," said Emma, "Please help me over to the table, I'm still sore in places that I only vaguely remember being sore in when we were on our honeymoon."
"Mother!" stated Hermione in a scandalous voice, all the men chuckled and Anna smiled briefly. "That's far too much information ... Eewwwwww!" Hermione had her arms wrapped tightly around herself and shivered from head to toe as she finished speaking.
Emma laughed, then said to her daughter, "You just wait honey ... you just wait." Emma nodded her head up and down as she spoke, a devious smile on her lips. Hermione found her seat beside Harry and immediately had to slap his hand away from her thigh. Harry laughed, his hand hurt, but it was funny. He knew she would be alright once she had a chance to organize her thoughts and settle down, right now she was a jumble of emotions and Harry thought that this might be a very new experience for Hermione. He didn't realize that she was often like this when he was lying in a bed in the Hospital Wing, hurt or injured. Most of the time she was so logical and methodical, but deep down she was a girl and a woman. Under the proper circumstances she could display all the emotional range of the gender, from tender love, through complete indifference to a towering, murderous rage and switch between them in the blink of an eye.
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By the end of lunch Hermione was holding Harry's hand, she had already kissed the knuckles that she slapped earlier as an apology. She then told him that she wanted to read to him, from a book that she had brought over from the house yesterday. She invited her parents and their hosts to join them and left for their bedchamber. Howard and Anna had other things to do and begged off. When Emma whispered to Dan what story she thought Hermione wanted to read to Harry, Dan howled loud enough for the two teens that were now at the doors to look back in confusion.
Emma wanted to hear the story again and thought it might be more interesting from Hermione's point of view. Dan helped her up and through the Castle to Harry and Hermione's room. Emma was moving about a little easier now, she was recovering from the effects of the marathon love making ... slowly.
As the Grangers approached the Potters' room they could hear their daughter start the story.
She had already told Harry she was going to substitute the names of their friends where she could in the story, but just the ones that made sense to her. "I'll play Dorothy, The Wicked Witch of the West will be Belatrix LeStrange, The Cowardly Lion would be Neville, Harry, I think you'll have more fun as the Tin WoodMan and I'll make Albus the Wizard, Delores Umbridge will be the Wicked Witch of the East, Oh, I know, Draco can be the ScareCrow. I'll sort out the rest as we go."
Hermione read from the front cover. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ... by L. Frank Baum." She turned to look at Harry sitting on the bed beside her and glimpsed her parents through the open door. Putting down the book she waved them in and Harry also noticed them when he looked around. Harry waved his hand in front of him and a plush loveseat appeared for her parents.
"I swear I'll never get used to you two kids making things come and go like that." Dan said as he guided Emma into the seat.
"This is just a temporary spell 'Dad'." Said Harry, "In two or three hours it will sparkle and disappear."
"This effect that we stumbled into ..." Dan started to ask.
"Is quite permanent." Stated Harry.
"Okay then," said Emma as she turned to Dan, "We'll just have to do a little planning that we never had to do before. I wouldn't really mind another one after this one," she said to Dan, "So they won't be as lonely as Hermione was growing up."
Hermione choked on her mother's words and gasped out, "I was alright growing up!"
"Hermione dear," her Mother sighed, "You're alright now, both of you ... but ... both you and Harry had all kinds of insecurities to get over and other issues to deal with ... I'm ... I'm quite amazed that the pair of you aren't locked up in a mental hospital."
"Mother!" Hermione admonished, "You're the one that's a nut case for getting pregnant at your age ... and on purpose yet!"
"I talked to Anna last night after it happened," stated Emma in a quite tone, "She assured me that because of the circumstances the baby is almost guaranteed to be magical ... and thus not create any problems for me." Emma reiterated, "And magical babies always come out properly. That's what she said."
"Yes ... that's what we read this morning too." Added Hermione in a sombre tone.
"Hermione dear?" queried Harry, and she turned to look at him, "I think that we have determined that none of us is totally crazy ... we may all tip the scale a little, but we're not going to fall off. Please start the story again."
Hermione looked around at the three of them wondering if what Harry said was really true. She picked up the book and read the cover again. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ... by L. Frank Baum." She then opened the book and paged through to Chapter 1.
"Hermione lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Dan who was a farmer, and Aunt Emma, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small ..."
The story continued for a while until.
"It was Crookshanks that made Hermione laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her surroundings. Crookshanks was not gray, he was a little orange half kneazle, with long silky hair ... Oops ... well long hair anyway."
By the time she finished the story they were ready for a snack and tea. Guinevere seemed to sense the timing and showed up at that precise moment with a tray of four hot chocolates and some cookies that she left hovering between them. While the snack wasn't quite up to a Dentists' specifications ... they gave in and enjoyed.
After the tea, Dan and Emma got up to leave, and as they were walking out Hermione called after them, "Don't you guys do anything that I'm not supposed to do."
"Too late." Her Mother returned, "But I will ask you, young lady, to avoid doing what I just did ... at least until graduation. By that time this one should have popped out and you'll have a brother or sister to practice on." Both Hermione and Emma laughed, their husbands smiled. The Grangers returned to their room and Emma lay down, Dan joined her a minute later. They talked about how Hermione handled the news about the new baby and about their Dental Practice. Dan had opened the bottom buttons of her blouse and was tracing little circles on her still flat stomach with his fingers. Of course her stomach would stay flat for several months yet and then they could watch Emma grow larger and rounder until the new baby was born.
Hermione sighed, "This is going to be a year to remember," as she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and leaned into him. His hands found their way under her top and around to her back, he loved the feel of her smooth warm skin under his fingers. She was beginning to melt from the touch of his strong fingers. They were causing those same burning, tingling sensations that she knew would soon disconnect her brain from her feelings if she didn't concentrate on what she needed to talk to him about.
Hermione started talking about what she found out about the Nimbus lumens Amor and some of its properties which led them to talk about how it was created. Harry tried to explain his feelings and desires and how he became so lost in his love for her and he found that he couldn't really describe those feelings. Hermione stopped his rambling and told him that she had entered his mind last night, she apologized for the act of doing it, but she wasn't sorry for what she found. Being as lonely as him most of her life, though not physically battered, she had been mentally tortured by other kids from school and as a result turned to books. She knew her parents had loved her and she knew Harry Loved her, but never in her wildest imagination had she conceived of the love she found when she snuck into Harry's mind last night. The experience turned her concept of love upside down and inside out, allowing her to open herself up more and respond to him. Merlin had been right when he said that we had a unique connection that had not been seen since his first wife died, over fifteen hundred years ago.
Hermione finally quit talking and they remained sitting on the bed in each other's embrace, the pulse of the Nimbus lumens Amor barely escaping the bounds of their bodies. They never noticed the loveseat in front of them crumble into sparkling dust and vanish.
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In Greater Hangleton
Belatrix shook her head in disgust, this was getting ridiculous. She was walking her Master back from an early meeting to make plans for an attack on Hogwarts. Halloween this year would be a full Moon and a fitting night to end Potter's life. She rarely left her Master's side these days. Voldemort stumbled and fell, he didn't lose consciousness and collapse again, but Bella hurried him back to their rooms before any of the others could see him. She kept repeating her mantra to herself, 'Kill Potter!' and 'Potter has to die!' Bella started working on a large batch of Polyjuice Potion just in case.