Chapter 23: Can't Take My Eyes Off You
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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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A/n: Wow, 800 reviews, that's awesome!! Thanks so much everyone!!
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Harry was waiting for Hermione on the couch when she came back downstairs with a wrapped present in her hand. Harry gave her a curious look when he saw the gift and right away she answered his look.
"I don't know if you noticed tonight when we were opening presents that there wasn't one for you from me under the tree."
"I actually did notice, but I didn't think much of it. You've given me so much over the years and the past few months that you didn't need to get me anything."
"Yes, I did," Hermione said, sitting down next to Harry on the couch and tucking her legs underneath her, "especially since you gave me that set of Transfiguration books. I love them, by the way, and can't wait to read them."
"Good, and I'm sure you'll have all eight of them read by time we go back to school. But you didn't have to get me anything just because I gave you a set of books, Hermione."
"That's not why I had to get you something, because I already had this made up before I found out you bought me a set of fairly expensive books." Harry shrugged.
"They weren't that bad, I got a good deal on them." Hermione smiled and handed him her gift.
"Well, this isn't quite as pricey as those books, but I'm sure you'll love it just the same." Harry looked over the present in his hands. It was a twelve inch square box that was narrow width-wise. It wasn't heavy, but was hard.
"It's a book, though, isn't it?" Harry said with a grin. Hermione grinned back and nodded.
"But you'll still love it. Trust me. Just open it." Harry tore the paper off of his gift and found that it was a blue and green scrapbook. He opened it up and found pages full of pictures of Teddy, and of Teddy and him together. Each page had two or three pictures on them, and were themed. One page had pictures of Harry and Teddy outside after the first snowfall of the season, with Teddy all bundled up in his thick coat and pants, his hood up and hands gloved. Teddy was sitting in the snow, and putting his hands in it, looking at the prints his hand left in the snow. Harry was sitting next to him, doing the same thing and showing Teddy the prints. Another page was one of the times when Harry was helping Teddy walk. He was standing behind him, and Teddy was holding onto his hands, taking small steps. All of the pictures were still, so they had been taken with a muggle camera.
"Ever since you got Teddy I've been trying to take pictures of you and him together with my digital camera. It was difficult sometimes to take them when you're not looking because I had a hard time being sneaky about it. I thought you should have pictures of when he's little and as he grows up since he's pretty much your first child." Harry didn't say anything, he just kept flipping through the book, looking at all the pictures. Hermione was watching him, looking for a sign that he liked the gift or hated it. Finally she asked him what he thought.
"I love it. You have no idea, Hermione, thank you so much. It's the best book you've ever given me." Hermione laughed.
"Good. I'm glad you like it." Harry reached the last page and saw that it had only one picture on it. It was in black and white and there was nothing else on the page save for that picture. It was a picture of Teddy and Harry, and Harry was lying on the couch, the same couch he and Hermione were sitting on at that moment, and Teddy was lying on his chest. Both of them were sound asleep. Harry smiled at the picture and gave Hermione a teasing look.
"Hmm, taking pictures of me while I'm sleeping; that's very stalker-ish of you, Hermione."
"That's my favorite picture. It's the one that gave me the idea for the scrapbook. I came downstairs and I saw you two sleeping and it was so sweet that I had to run upstairs and grab my camera to capture it." Harry smiled once more at the picture and shut the book.
"Thank you very much, Hermione," Harry said softly and sincerely. "I love it."
"I'm glad you do," Hermione whispered. There was a short silence between the two of them, each one afraid to move on to the reason for their talk. Finally, Hermione broke the silence. She said, "So what was it you wanted to talk with me about?" Harry took a deep breath and hesitated before speaking.
"I don't really know how to start." Hermione didn't reply, it wasn't necessary for her to do so, plus if Harry started the conversation, it gave her more time to work up her courage for her part. She just smiled encouragingly, waiting patiently for him to go on. After a few seconds of thinking it over, Harry finally decided where to start.
"Do you remember that morning a while ago when we kissed?" Hermione's eyes widened slightly and her cheeks went pink as she recalled that day vividly. Still not speaking, she just nodded her head. Harry went on, "Something changed that day, and I think that's where this started, where I started to become more…aware of you. As more than just a friend or a sister. And I've been trying to tell myself to go back to the way I felt before that day, but I can't. Because these feelings didn't just start that day, they've been going on for quite a few years, I was just too distracted to realize it. What I'm trying to say," he said, taking one of her hands in his, "is that I think I've fallen in love with you, Hermione." Hermione's jaw dropped, that was clearly not quite what she was expecting, but she was so happy to hear it, it was something she'd been hoping to hear for a long time.
"Oh my gosh," she whispered in surprise.
"I'm sorry I took so long to realize this, but like I said, I've been too distracted and stupid to not see the wonderful woman sitting in front of me as more than just my best friend. And I know you're with Barrett and everything, and this is a terrible time to be telling you this, but I wanted to tell you, just to get it off of my chest."
"Harry, I'm not with Barrett anymore. I broke up with him a few days ago."
"You did? Why?"
"Because it wasn't fair to him to feel like there was a chance that we'd work out when there wasn't. Because I can't stay in a relationship with him when I'm in love with another man." This time it was Harry's turn to be surprised. Hermione went on, "Oh Harry, I've been in love with you for a long time. That was why I couldn't stay and marry Ron, why I decided finally to move in here with you, and why I was hesitant about it in the first place. I've tried ignoring the feeling and telling myself that it's nothing, but it hasn't worked. I know I've told you this already, but I want you know, my feelings haven't changed since that night I first told you I loved you." Harry smiled and leaned forward a little, pulling on Hermione's hand to pull her towards him. When she leaned forward also, he kissed her. This time it wasn't some light kiss that ended quickly leaving them both embarrassed like before, this kiss was full of passion and love, the kind of love they'd both been feeling for a long time, and now that they both were aware of it, there was nothing to stop it. Hermione broke the kiss for a few seconds as she shifted so that she was sitting on her knees and she could get closer to Harry. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again, leaning into him as he leaned back into the pillows on the couch, wrapping his arms around her waist. They stopped kissing finally and smiled at each other.
"You know, I've finally seen what everyone has been seeing for years," Harry said. "They were right all along."
"We were just too stubborn to see what they were all seeing. Ron said tonight that we were acting like a married couple, and I told him he didn't know what he was talking about, but I was just too stubborn to believe him."
"He said we were like a married couple?"
"Yeah."
"Well, at least we didn't go in together on presents," Harry said with a laugh.
"There's nothing wrong with that, Harry. And who knows, someday they might be doing that all the time."
"We might be too."
"Yep, maybe so."
"Yeah, we were both a couple of idiots to not realize this before now." Hermione softly laughed and kissed him again, a short one this time, and then she shifted again so that she was off her knees and sitting next to Harry, still in his arms.
"You didn't realize it, I've known all along that I wanted this."
"Yes, but you didn't know that I was feeling the same way."
"True. But it doesn't matter how stupid we were. It's in the past. Right now all that matters is sitting here beside you in your arms and not having you let go." She leaned her head on his shoulder, and they were silent, staring at the crackling fire, just content to be in each other's arms after so long of not having moments like this. Every once in a while, they'd kiss each other, but other than that, they just sat in each other's arms, just enjoying the moment.
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The next morning, Harry woke up and for a second wasn't sure where he was when he didn't recognize the ceiling right away. But then he remembered that he was lying on the couch in the living room, and Hermione was lying next to him, or rather, still in his arms and partially on top of him. It was a narrow couch, after all. She was still sleeping, and Harry planted a light kiss in her hair. She stirred and took a deep breath as she started to wake up. She lifted her head off of Harry's chest and looked at him. He smiled at her and said, "Happy Christmas."
"Mmm, happy Christmas." He kissed her good morning and suddenly a thought came to Hermione. "Oh, we forgot to put Teddy's Santa gifts out and fill the stockings last night."
"That's all right, it's early still, he won't be up for a couple hours."
"Oh my gosh, it's 5:45 in the morning," Hermione said, glancing at the clock on top of the fireplace and then burying her face in Harry's shirt.
"Yep, we've got a little longer to sleep. Which is good, because I don't really want to get up." Hermione laughed softly.
"Me neither." Both of them closed their eyes with every intention of going back to sleep but not even fifteen minutes later did they hear through the baby monitor the sounds of Teddy stirring and his repeating of, `Dad' and `Mine-e'. Harry groaned when he heard his godson talking to him through the monitor.
"Oh what I wouldn't give to have that kid sleep till eight." Hermione laughed again and started to get up.
"Well, come on, Daddy, go get your boy," she said, rolling off of him enough so he could get up. "Go on, you get him dressed, and I'll put the Santa gifts out." Harry got up, but before he left, he leaned down and gave Hermione a quick kiss.
"I love you," he whispered to her.
"I love you too," she smiled and whispered back. Harry went upstairs to go get Teddy and Hermione grabbed the presents to place under the tree and the items to put into the stockings. She finished quickly, and sat back down on the couch, thinking about the last few hours. Harry loved her. She couldn't believe it. Harry loved her. And not just as a friend or a sister. It almost didn't seem real or possible that he loved her, but right before he left to go get Teddy, he told her so. She smiled to herself as she started putting things in the stockings, things were finally starting to turn around.
Harry opened the door a crack and poked his head in, almost hoping that Teddy had gone back to sleep before he'd gotten up the stairs. No such luck, though. The child was standing in his crib holding onto the railing and when he saw Harry he smiled and said, `Dad'.
"What are you doing up so early, squirt? I know it's Christmas morning and everything, but you don't get up at the crack of dawn for presents until you're old enough to come downstairs yourself." Teddy grinned and stuck his hands out to be picked up. Harry grabbed a fresh diaper and Teddy's clothes and set them on the changing table before he went and picked Teddy up out of his crib. While he changed and dressed Teddy, his mind was on Hermione, as it had been quite a bit for the last few weeks. He couldn't believe that after he realized her loved her that he spent all that time fretting about how she felt in return when they could've spent that time together. Oh well, there was still plenty of time for togetherness, and that thought made Harry smile.
"Today is a great day, Teddy, you know that?" he said to Teddy and tickled his toes, making the baby laugh. "A great day." He finished getting Teddy dressed and took him downstairs where the gifts were under the tree and the stockings were stuffed and Kreacher had already made breakfast and had it sitting on the coffee table. Hermione was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hands and she smiled brightly when she saw Harry and Teddy.
"Good morning, little guy, happy Christmas." Teddy just replied with a `Mine-e' and when Harry set him on the floor, he crawled over to the brightly wrapped presents.
Harry laughed at this and said to Hermione, "Who says he doesn't understand the concept of Christmas and presents on Christmas morning? See, he goes right to them."
"It's the colors." Harry went over to the tree and picked Teddy up and set him next to Hermione on the couch and she started to get him to eat some breakfast. Teddy ate, but his attention kept going back to Harry and the brightly colored boxes he kept setting closer to him. There weren't as many gifts under the tree as there were the night before, so it didn't take very long for Harry to set them all on the couch. He sat down next to Hermione and Teddy so they could begin opening presents. Breakfast forgotten, Teddy reached for the gifts and with a laugh, Hermione set the food aside and helped Teddy with his present.
"Wait, wait, wait, sweetie, this isn't your present, this is Daddy's," Hermione said, reading the tag and trying to stop Teddy from ripping the paper off the narrow box. Harry laughed.
"That's alright; he can help me open it." Teddy finished getting the paper off and Harry looked at the gift in his hand. He could tell it was definitely from Hermione, and apparently pictures were her theme this year. It was a framed picture of Harry helping Teddy to walk, and at the bottom of the frame were two of Teddy's footprints, his left and his right. He smiled and gave Hermione a kiss.
"Thank you," he whispered. The rest of the gifts were opened (Teddy opened them all), and after everything was cleaned up, Hermione started reading Teddy `the Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar'. He sat rapt with attention at the new book he'd never seen and even chattered in his baby gibberish throughout the book. Harry sat silently watching Hermione and Teddy and listening to Hermione read the story. Every once in a while, Teddy would look up at Harry and point to something in the book. Hermione would stop reading and Harry would tell Teddy what it was that he was pointing to.
"That's a pear. See, the caterpillar ate a hole right through the pear." Teddy giggled and Hermione went on reading with a smile and loving glance at Harry, who returned the smile and glance too. Teddy was too young to understand anything that was going on between his caretakers that day, but all he knew was that it made him happy. His hair turned orange.
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A/n: I know it's kinda short, but hey, at least Harry and Hermione are together finally! Took them 23 chapters to get there, but here they are! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I hope I didn't disappoint you. Well, here's my Christmas present to you all, I hope you had better Christmases than I did, I've been snowed in since Wednesday and wasn't able to go to Christmas Eve Mass or go to the family get together today. I even missed out on pumpkin pie today at my grandma's! But oh well!
P.S. Oh btw, the title song to this chapter, Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Lady Antebellum, was my inspiration for the chapter, especially the chorus. Here's the lyrics to it…
So lay here beside me and don't let go,
This feeling I'm feeling is something I've never known
And I just can't take my eyes off you.
And if you're interested in hearing the whole song, here's a YouTube link to it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXwWT2Chx64 Absolutely love this song and Lady A btw! Anyways, thank you for reading; I'm thinking there's only going to be one more chapter left after this. And again, it's gonna jump ahead in time, this time it's going to be years instead of months. Till next time!! And Merry Christmas!!
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