Chapter 19: Or Maybe Not
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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
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"I'm sorry to come over so late," Hermione said quietly when she and Harry went to sit in the living room.
"Don't worry about it, you know you're always welcome here, no matter how ridiculously late it is," Harry said with a smile and Hermione returned it. But the smile fell from his face and he asked seriously, "So, I'm confused, are you moving in, or are you going to do like before where you're here but still keep your flat?" Hermione sighed.
"If the offer's still there, I think I'll take it."
"Of course it's still there. But what made you change your mind?"
"The minute I walked out the door, it just felt like I had left forever. That I never was going to come back, even if I said I would. And with that thought I missed Teddy horribly. I know what I said, and I think I overreacted a little bit. So then I figured what the hell? You've got the space so why not move in permanently?" Harry smiled and shrugged.
"Yeah why not? But if you're worried about handouts, Hermione, I can charge you rent if you like," he teased causing Hermione to laugh.
"Only if you want to, Harry."
"No, I'm not going to charge you rent. That'd be ridiculous."
"So what did Ron say when I left?"
"He just asked how the evening went."
"That's it?"
"Yep." Harry said, purposefully omitting a majority of his conversation with Ron. With what Ron had said to him plus his strange dream that he had, the topic of his and Ron's conversation was not a talk he wanted to have with Hermione just yet. He needed to figure things out first. And on that thought, he needed to find a way to kick Ron out in the morning before he could get to Hermione.
Hermione gave him a suspicious look noticing that there was something he wasn't telling her, but she let it go and said, "Well, I suppose. It's late, and it's been an eventful evening. I think we should go to bed." Harry nodded in agreement and they both bid each other good night and went to their respective rooms.
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"Is this real? Or has it been happening inside my head?"
"Of course it's happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not
real?"
Harry woke again for the fourth time since he went back to bed after Hermione had come back that night. He kept having that same memory run through his head. Why did he keep dreaming about that part of his conversation with Dumbledore? In context, Harry had been talking about what Dumbledore had told him about the Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows, and how he, Harry had been carrying around a seventh of Voldemort's soul all his life, and he had been at that moment sitting in some form of limbo between life and death. At the end of their conversation Harry had asked Dumbledore if all of it was real or just his imagination. But now he was dreaming about just that question and Dumbledore's reply, and out of context it was very confusing. He heaved an aggravated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair and tugged lightly, completely wide awake after his fourth dream. Giving the blurry ceiling a frustrated glare, he rolled onto his side and punched his pillow beneath his head to fluff it a little. He squinted at the red letters on the digital alarm clock that pierced the darkness. 5:37. He scowled at the time and threw his blankets back, grabbed his glasses and put them on, and left his room going downstairs. He laid down on the couch and turned on the TV. He stared at the TV but never really saw what was on the screen. He was too deep in thought to notice the infomercial selling a knife set and the salesman demonstrating that the knives could cut glass. Because apparently every kitchen needs glass cutting knives.
He thought about everything that had happened tonight. Hermione had been right, it'd been an eventful evening, and she didn't even know the half of it. It started with the dinner. She had said he was charming, and until she had brought attention to it, he hadn't even noticed that he was being any different. Everything just seemed natural when he was around Hermione. Dinner had been the high point of the evening, after that came their walk before Apparating back to Grimmauld Place. And what seemed like the total low point actually didn't seem so bad. Apparently he hadn't made a complete ass of himself because she was there now; she was moving in. And then there was the maddeningly frustrating conversation with Ron after Hermione had left earlier. He had said that Harry and Hermione had chemistry. It was the way he and Hermione acted around each other, the way they took care of Teddy together. Thinking back, Harry could see why people could see that. Sometimes it did feel like the three of them were a thrown together family. And raising Teddy together was just another thing that felt natural with Hermione. And then there were the dreams. The memories of moments with her over the years. As he looked back, he realized that those moments seemed to become more frequent within the last couple years. At the time they seemed so subtle and meaningless, but now… Maybe he was just over thinking it, over analyzing every detail and blowing it out of proportion. Another memory came back to him, one that he had almost forgot about. It was that morning before their first day of teaching. He had been tickling Teddy, and Hermione made the comment that he should pick on someone his own size, and so he tried tickling her. They had fallen on his bed and ended up kissing. `But then that had been just a caught up on the moment thing', he told himself. Or had it?
Was he being blind? Was all of this happening or was it just all happening in his head? As soon as he thought that, another thought came back to him.
"Of course it's happening in your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" Harry groaned and put his head back on the couch, closing his eyes. Well, whatever this was with Hermione, he had a feeling that it just wasn't just happening in his head anymore.
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"You have to leave."
"Why?" A couple hours after Harry had gotten up; he'd gone to Ron's room and woke him, using the same technique of plugging Ron's nose that he'd used the night before after he and Hermione had gotten back from dinner. Ron was now glaring at him, the glare combined with a confused expression at Harry's words.
"You just do, come on," Harry said hurriedly, motioning for him to go out the door.
"Wha-? Harry, what the hell is the matter with you? Why do I have to leave now?"
"Because I want you to, now come on, let's go." Harry turned and left the room, but as he was closing the door behind him, he about ran headlong into Hermione.
"Oh, good morning, Harry."
"Morning, Hermione." Hermione gave him a puzzled look as she realized what room Harry had just come from.
"What are you doing coming out of Ron's room?" Harry was about to answer her, but the door swung open revealing Ron. Harry was saved from coming up with answer, but he didn't look at it as being saved. More like cursed. Ron took a look at what was going on outside his bedroom door and grinned. He gave Harry an amused look as he finally understood why Harry was in such a rush for him to leave.
"Good morning, Hermione," he said brightly.
"Good morning. What are you doing here?"
"I just crashed here for the night."
"Well what are you doing up so early? I didn't know you knew there was a 7 a.m. anymore. Especially on a Sunday." Ron shrugged and nodded towards Harry.
"I dunno why either, ask him." Hermione looked questioningly at Harry, who shrugged too.
"I just thought we should get an early start on getting things together to get back to Hogwarts. There are some things I want to do before tomorrow's classes." Hermione seemed to buy it, Ron definitely did not.
"Yes, I suppose you're right. I want to go over my lesson plans for tomorrow too. We can leave after breakfast." She walked away, heading down the stairs. Harry tried to quickly follow her but Ron was quicker with his comment as soon Hermione was out of earshot.
"So I see why I had to get up early and leave so quickly. And it has nothing to do with you wanting to get back to Hogwarts and review lesson plans." Harry sighed and turned back.
"Ron, please, just don't say anything to her."
"So she came back. I told you things would be better in the morning."
"Yes, you're very wise," Harry said sarcastically. Ron chuckled.
"Wiser than you, my friend. At least I can things that are clear as day in front of my face." Harry didn't answer him as he turned away from him, going down the hall to Teddy's room. The baby was already away and was sitting up in his crib. He grinned and his hair turned orange when he saw Harry. Harry smiled back at him.
"Good morning Teddy."
"Dad." Teddy put up his arms to signify that he wanted to be picked up. Harry reached down and picked Teddy up, tossing him into the air a little before holding him in his arms. He gave him a kiss on the forehead, laughing at the baby's contagious grin.
"Shall we go get some breakfast?" Teddy happily responded with his own baby gibberish.
"Oh yeah?" Harry said laughing as they both went downstairs.
A few hours later, breakfast had been eaten and Ron had left. Before he'd gone, Harry made sure to not leave any moments where it was just Ron and Hermione, just in case Ron decided to talk to Hermione about what he said to Harry the night before. But he hadn't made any attempt to do so, and left soon after breakfast. After Harry had gotten his and Teddy's things packed up, he was playing with an orange haired Teddy in the living room, waiting for Hermione to finish gathering her things. While they were waiting, an owl flew in with a letter attached to its leg. Harry took it from the bird and it stood staring at him, clearly waiting for a reply. Hermione's name was on the envelope and he brought it up to her. He didn't stay to find out if it was anything that might concern him, going back downstairs to Teddy. Harry was sitting on the floor with Teddy and Teddy gripped Harry's index fingers in each of his hands and Harry helped him stand up on his feet. Teddy took a tentative step forward, only moving it an inch or two.
"Oh, we're trying to walk, are we?" Harry stood up so he could move as well. He bent over him, holding his arms up while Teddy kept a tight grip on his fingers. Teddy stared at the floor, contemplating how to get his feet to work so he could move. He took a small step with his left foot, stamping it lightly on the floor.
"Ok, now the other one," Harry coaxed. Teddy wobbled on his two feet, but slowly took a step with his right foot, but only stepped far enough to be next to his left.
"There you go! That's the idea. Try again." Still concentrating hard, Teddy took another small step with his left foot, before meeting it with the other one. While he was doing this, Hermione came downstairs and she smiled brightly at Teddy standing up holding onto his godfather's fingers attempting to walk. It was an adorable moment to see.
"Well look at you!" she said cheerily. "Aren't you a big boy!" Teddy grinned at his distraction and wobbled, his knees bending slightly as they almost gave out from his weight, but Harry pulled him back up. Hermione quickly handed her response to the letter on the owl and it flew off, distracting Teddy again. As it was flying by him, Harry was able to glimpse the word `Yes' among others on the note. But his attention went back to Hermione when she sat down on the floor a little ways from him and held her arms out.
"Are you going to walk to me, Teddy?" Teddy took a few more small steps and then when he had a solid stance, Harry slowly slid his fingers from Teddy's grasp. The child stood for about two seconds before he fell on his butt. He looked up and gave Harry a wide eyed look as though wondering what happened.
Harry laughed and said, "You're alright." Teddy then got onto his hands and knees and quickly crawled over to Hermione. She laughed too and swung him up into the air a couple times making him squeal before holding him in her arms.
"You'll get it, Teddy." She then said to Harry, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he learns how to walk faster than most babies since he already knows how to walk as a werewolf."
"Yeah probably."
"You want to try it again?" Hermione asked Teddy. "Here, let's walk to Daddy." She set him on his feet and he took hold of her index fingers like he had Harry's and she stood and they slowly made their way to Harry's arms.
"Dad!" Teddy shouted as though saying, `watch this!' When Teddy got within arm's reach of Harry, he picked him up and hugged him tightly.
"Oh, you're growing too dang fast, kid. Pretty soon we'll be learning how to fly!" He gave Hermione a overdramatic excited look, and she gave him a stern one in return.
"I think you should wait quite a few years to start doing that, Harry." Harry shrugged.
"We'll see. But he is growing way too fast." Hermione smirked.
"How very parent-ish of you, Harry."
"Well, it's true."
"Well, I need to go finish gathering things. I'm almost done; we can leave in a few minutes."
"Ok, take your time," Harry said, setting Teddy down and handing him one of his toys. Hermione left the room and went back upstairs. He smiled at her as she left, thinking perhaps things were becoming different between the two of them. Maybe things were starting to change, and it was just so slow and gradual that he hadn't noticed it. He was just thinking that things were going to be different between them when he spotted the letter that she'd just received. She'd left it on the desk by the doorway. Curiosity getting the better of him, he walked over to read at least who it was from. His heart sank slightly when he read the note, realizing what that `Yes' was for that he saw on her response.
Dear Hermione,
I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me to the Daily Prophet's annual Fall Ball. It's in two weeks, on the 24th, and I would love it if you'd be able come with me. Please let me know as soon as possible if you can go so I can get the tickets. If you can go, I'll write back later with more details.
Till then,
Barrett
So much for things being different.
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A/n: Well there's Chapter 19. Harry's almost pretty much got it, took him nineteen chapters to get there, but he's getting there! So there's some Harry and Teddy bonding going on in this chapter, I realized a while ago that it'd been a while since there was any of that, so this seemed like a good place for it. In the next chapter I'm planning on skipping ahead a few months, how many I'm not for sure yet. Thinking about the future of this story, I'd like to say it'll be done in a few more chapters, but then there's a couple other things I'd like to add into the story, but then they're not totally necessary. One of the things was Ginny and Malfoy getting together, but then I think I'll just leave that alone. Ginny will rectify her actions before the end of this story, but getting them together would take too much explaining that I originally planned on doing in the beginning, but forgot about it. *Shrugs* Oh well, it's alright. So as to pinning a number on how many chapters are left, I still have no idea. I've still got a couple months before heading back to school, so as long as this flow of ideas keeps up I'm going to shoot for finishing it before the end of August. Keep your fingers crossed! So, till next chapter!
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