Chapter 11: Meeting the Parents
-------------------------
Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you
- `At the Beginning' by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the movie Anastasia
-------------------------------
"Welcome back, Master Harry," Kreacher said as he took Harry and Hermione's coats when they came in the door to Grimmauld Place. Harry looked around and was glad to see nothing had changed since he left, and was glad to be home.
"There's no way we could commute to school, is there? And live here still?" Hermione smiled.
"Probably not."
"That's too bad, because I sort of missed this place. It actually feels a little more like home."
"I'm glad you have a place that feels like home, Harry." Hermione looked at her watch. "We're meeting Mum and Dad in thirty minutes; we should get ready to go meet them." Harry made a face that showed he was regretting agreeing to come along to meet Hermione's parents.
"Remind me again why I agreed to come along?"
"Because you're a good friend."
"That's the best reason you've got?"
"Because it's your godson they want to see." Harry sighed.
"I suppose."
"It won't be that bad, Harry. They're nice people, you'll like them. Just be glad we're not dating. Then you'd really be worried."
"Would I have to be worried if we were dating? Are your parents that intimidating to your choice of men?" Hermione gave a little laugh.
"I'm their only child. Their only daughter. I'm my father's little girl. So it's a good thing you're meeting them as my friend."
"I guess I lucked out then," Harry said, giving her a weak smile. The word `dating' made him think of the other day and the talk they had had. Though he didn't get a chance to think much on it, for the little comic relief that was his godson threw his hands up, squealed, and laughed arbitrarily. Both Harry and Hermione laughed at the little guy.
"Talk about random," Harry said, setting Teddy in his bouncy chair. Teddy squealed with delight again as he bounced up and down in his little chair. With one last smile at Teddy, Harry said, "Here, I'll take the bags upstairs to our rooms, you watch him."
"Ok." Harry grabbed his, Hermione's, and Teddy's bags and took them upstairs, putting each in their respective rooms. He had just dropped his bag down on his bed when he heard Hermione calling for him.
"Harry, come here, you've got to see this! Quick!" Harry rushed out of his room and back downstairs to find that Hermione had taken Teddy out of his chair and placed him on his stomach on the floor. She was on her hands and knees next to him.
"What is it?"
"Look at what he's doing!" Teddy was on his hands and knees, and was rocking back and forth, trying to crawl. He had the right idea, but couldn't quite figure out how to get anywhere yet. Hermione looked at Harry and smiled brightly and said, "He's trying to crawl!" Harry smiled and sat down on the floor next to Hermione.
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"Of course it's a good thing! It means he's growing."
"Yeah, but once he starts crawling, he'll never stop." Hermione leaned back on her knees and looked around the room.
"You're right. We'll have to start thinking of baby proofing everything. While we're here in London we should get some things to baby proof your flat at school before we worry about the house. We can go look after dinner with Mum and Dad."
"Speaking of which," Harry said, looking at his watch. "We should probably get going." Hermione nodded and stood. Harry stood too, and reached down to pick up Teddy. He said, "Well, let's go, squirt." Harry swung him up and tossed him in the air a little, making the little guy squeal and giggle with happiness as his hair turned from its natural brown to happy orange. Hermione smiled and laughed as Teddy giggled.
"Do you remember before you adopted him how you were so worried about being a parent to him? How you wouldn't know how? Now you're just a natural at parenting, Harry. You couldn't be any better if he was your own son." Harry grinned as he moved Teddy to his right arm.
"Surprising for an eighteen year old, isn't it?"
"No, I'm not surprised. I knew you could do it."
"I think I've got this stage of his life down, but the rest…has me scared to death. I've been reading up, and I'm not looking forward to the terrible twos and potty training." Hermione laughed.
"You'll be fine."
"Yeah, as long as I have you there with me." Hermione smiled again and picked up Teddy's jacket and helped Harry put it on the baby.
"Yep, we're just a little thrown together family, aren't we?"
"Yeah, I suppose so." They both looked at each other, an awkward silence settling between them. Neither knew what to really say next after Hermione's comment, nor after Harry's reply. After a moment, Harry cleared his throat and said, "Well, shall we?" Hermione nodded and put her jacket on, then took Teddy from Harry so he could put his own jacket on. Since they were headed for muggle London, they figured Apparating wouldn't be the best idea, nor would floo powder, so they were left with muggle transportation. They arrived at the restaurant a tad later than they had planned, they hadn't taken into account the fact that they couldn't just appear at their destination quicker than you could snap your fingers. Dave and Jane Granger were already waiting for them. Both parents hugged their daughter hello.
"I'm so glad we could all get together, Hermione, I know you've both been busy," Jane said as she enveloped her daughter in a hug. "I know we've been busy too, what with keeping up with the office here and making sure our people in Australia aren't having any problems."
"I'm glad too, Mum. Oh, Mum, Dad, this is Harry. And this is Teddy too."
"Harry, it's nice to finally meet you. Hermione has told us so much about you," Dave said, shaking Harry's hand.
"Yes, even though this is the first time we've met, we feel like we almost know you already," Jane said, also shaking Harry's hand and then giving him a hug.
It's great to finally meet you too, Mr. and Mrs. Granger."
"So this is Teddy.. He is absolutely adorable. I see what you mean, Hermione about his different color hair. What did you call it? Meta-something?"
"Metamorphmagus. As far as we know, he's not a full one, we think all he'll ever be able to change would be his hair and eye color. But he's still young." Harry handed Teddy to Jane for her to hold, and Teddy, whose hair had been orange, turned back to his natural brown as he looked quizzically at the new face.
"Well, he's a cutie. How old is he?"
"About…" Hermione looked at Harry for help. "Six months, I believe. Almost seven.."
"He should be getting ready to crawl soon then."
"Yeah, he's already trying," Harry said. "He was on the floor today and was up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth, trying to get somewhere, but not quite understanding how to put it all together."
"Well, once he crawls, there'll be no stopping him, he'll be everywhere," Dave said. "I know Hermione was like that when she was this age, once she started moving, it was hard to catch her." Teddy had finally decided that Jane was a good person and was smiling at her.
"Oh goodness, you've got a big smile. You're a happy little guy, aren't you?"
"Yeah, he's generally happy, except lately he's been beginning to cut teeth, so he has those moments." Both Dave and Jane nodded in understanding; they had been through it all before and knew it well.
"Do you still like your flat, Hermione?" Dave asked, changing the subject. "I know you were really excited about it when you first moved in. Is it still working out pretty well for you?"
"Well, I don't really live there much anymore, I'm living at Hogwarts at the moment, and before that I pretty much had moved into Harry's house." Dave and Jane shared a quick look that communicated how they felt about their daughter living with a man. Hermione caught it and almost rolled her eyes. She went on saying, "Of course, I haven't technically moved in." She glanced at Harry, and almost laughed at the look on his face. He had started to get a little nervous at where the conversation was going. He was glancing back and forth between Dave and Jane, as though waiting for one of them to address him about the subject.
"So, you're sure it's just a `friends' thing right?" Jane said. "You two living together?"
"Yes, Mum," Hermione said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "It's just as friends! What is the big damn deal about this?"
"Hermione, relax. It's just that, you've always liked Harry, and-"
"Yeah, he's my best friend!"
"I'm not talking just as a fri-"
"Mum!" Hermione said fiercely, and shook her head. Jane stopped talking and dropped the subject.
Dave awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "So, Harry, Hermione has told us about how teaching has gone for her, how do you like teaching?"
"It's great," Harry said, pushing past the awkward moment that had been left by Hermione and her mother's conversation. "It's funny, I never even considered being a teacher when I was younger, and hadn't given it a thought at all until Professor McGonagall offered me the job, and now it just feels like this is what I should've been wanting to do all my life. It's pretty self gratifying work." Dave smiled.
"Well, from what Hermione has told us about you, it doesn't surprise me that you've become a teacher. You seem like you could be a good one."
"Well, thank you, Mr. Granger." The dinner with Hermione's parents lasted about another hour, and for that hour, Harry noticed that Hermione hadn't said a whole lot since her argument with her mother. He had a feeling he knew what Jane was going to say before Hermione cut her off, but Harry didn't know how he wanted to handle that. A part of him wanted to just ignore it, but then another part of him wanted to ask her about it, to see what was going on. To find out if everyone was right all along about the possibility of Hermione and him. But the only problem was how to bring it up, and when he did, what would she say?
-----------------------
"Something the matter, Harry? You haven't said much since we left dinner," Hermione asked when she and Harry and Teddy were coming out of a shop with items to baby proof Harry's apartment when Teddy started crawling. Harry shook his head.
"No, nothing's wrong."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I was just…thinking."
"Oh. What about?"
Harry paused before answering, "Things." Hermione let the subject drop. Not wanting to give Hermione another opportunity to ask what was bothering him, he changed the subject saying, "Since we're in London, do you want to go see if Ron is free so we could see him?"
"Sure."
"We'll check at George's shop first to see if he's there." The three of them went into Diagon Alley and down the street to the Weasley Wizard Wheezes. The store wasn't as packed as it had been the last time Harry had been there, since a good portion of the customers were in school.
"Harry! Hermione! It's good to see you two again!" George came into the store from the back room and shook both Harry and Hermione's hands.
"It's good to see you too, George. How's business been?" George shrugged.
"Ah, well, it's going, but during the school year we don't sell as much as we do during the summer and winter holidays. But it's keeping me busy. I've had to hire a few people to help pick up the sales, and Ron helps me when he can."
"That's actually why we're here. We wanted to see him if he's here and not too busy."
"Yeah, he's here, but he ran to Gringotts for me a little while ago, he should be back soon. Oh, there he is right now." The little bell above the door jingled as Ron came into the store, a bag in his hand.
"Harry, Hermione, what are you two doing here?" Ron said, handing George the bag of money. George then proceeded to place it in the cash register.
"We were in town having dinner with my parents, so we decided that we'd come see you."
"Oh," Ron said with a laugh and a teasing grin, "Meeting your parents? Wow, Harry, I didn't even get that far." His grin fell when neither one of his friends cracked a smile. "Wow you two, I was just joking." Still neither Harry nor Hermione said anything. Ron awkwardly cleared his throat and turned to his brother and said, "George, would you mind if I went with these two?" George shook his head and waved him off.
"Go for it, I can handle things until you get back." Ron motioned for Hermione to lead the way out. Once she walked outside, Ron grabbed Harry's arm to stop him before he went outside too.
"What happened at dinner?"
"Nothing, why?"
"Because it just seems like there's something awkward between you two."
"Nothing's wrong, Ron."
"C'mon Harry, something has to be wrong. I'm not a very perceptive person, so if I am noticing it, then there's got to be something wrong."
"It's nothing."
"Ok, suit yourself." The four of them went to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink. Well, a drink for the adults, a juice for the little guy. While Harry went to go get the drinks after they had sat down, Ron said to Hermione, "Listen, Hermione, I just want to say I'm sorry for being such a jackass lately, I-"
"It's alright, Ron. I've thought about it, and decided life's too short to hold a grudge."
"I agree."
"I want to ask you something though, Ron. Forgive me, but what made you change your mind?"
"Well, I talked with a lot of people, Mum, Dad, George, they all made me see that, like you said, life's too short to be fighting all the time. And that the three of us were too good of friends to let something like a little jealousy split us up.. And to tell you the truth, I was getting tired of fighting with you." Hermione smiled.
"Well, I'm glad, because I'm tired of fighting with you too."
"So, friends again?" Ron said smiling, sticking his hand out for Hermione to shake.
Hermione laughed and said, "Friends." And she shook his hand.
-------------------
Hey everyone, here's the next chapter!! Hope you enjoyed it! I wanna shout out to my new beta, Donna, she does a great job!
Husker_fan_2006
-->