Thanks so much for all your awesome reviews! I decided to put this in the awards so wish me luck. Hope you like this update….thanks for all your support.
Chapter 6
Harry was right, the three story house wasn't much to look at, but he was also right when he said it had potential. The house stood high on the cliffs, the waves crashing against the rocks below. The house made of wood and glass needed more than a fresh coat of paint, that's for sure, but it was workable.
Harry led Hermione up the sidewalk, stepping onto the stoop. "The screen door is hanging by a thread," Harry chuckled shoving it aside. "We'll have to fix that."
Hermione hitched Nora higher up on her hip. "We'll have to fix a lot of things, but I'll go ahead and tell you, since I can tell you're kind of nervous about what I think…I love it."
"Really?" Harry asked unsure. "You really think it will work? You haven't seen the inside yet."
"No, but I don't have to," she said turning back towards the ocean. "The view already sold me."
Harry looked in her direction and soaked it all in. "Yeah," he said putting an arm around her. "It's what got me, too." He gave her a little squeeze. "But you still have to see the inside, I've had a lot of ideas that I want to share with you."
"All right," she said and took a moment to put her head on his shoulder. "Maybe we can build a porch out here…some rocking chairs, maybe a porch swing?"
"Consider it done," Harry said and then kissed the top of her head. "Let's go inside, I'll show you what I have in mind and you tell me what you think."
"All right…let's go."
He took her through the first floor, starting with the kitchen and they discussed how new tiles should be put in and new countertops, plus the plumbing needed a lot of work.
"There are too many walls separating the kitchen, dining room and den," Harry said going through the kitchen door leading to the dining room. "I thought it would be cool to knock down all the walls and have all three rooms kind of spread out in one big room. That way we can all be together no matter where we are."
"I think that's a fabulous idea," she said as they stepped into the room that would be the den. She was already visioning it in her head. "It will give us more space, too."
"Come check out the back," Harry said opening the door that led out to the covered patio. "Look at all that space…what do you think about getting a pool? The kids would get a kick out of that."
Hermione smiled as she walked to the top of the stone steps of the patio. "We certainly have the room for it and the kids would love it. A pool, plus a Jacuzzi and some patio furniture and….oh, maybe a waterfall…or a slide!"
Harry laughed shaking his head. "We could do a slide if you want…a cool slide, like the one you see at muggle water parks, not some little dinky slide you'd see in a park. Maybe even a cool cave under the waterfall or something."
Hermione laughed. "Listen to us, we sound like kids. Let's go check the upstairs before we decide to put in a
high dive."
"A high dive?" Harry asked following her back into the house. "Hey that be kind of cool."
"I'm putting my foot down on the high dive," she said holding up her hand. "Too dangerous with our
kids."
"I guess you're right." He took her free hand that wasn't supporting Nora, who was looking around in awe with a slack jaw. "Nora looks confused."
"What do you think, luv?" Hermione asked jostling her on her hip. "This is going to be our new home?"
Her little eyes widened. "No, no Muma, houf scawey."
"Scary, huh?" Hermione laughed. "Don't worry, Nora, we're going to fix it up so it will look all nice, you'll see."
"C'mere, munchkin," Harry said transferring her smoothly on his hip without letting go of her hand. "Let's go check out the bedrooms." Harry walked up the backstairs to the second floor. "This room will be Rose and Lily's room, Hermione," he said as they passed the first door on the right, letting go of Hermione's hand to open it up. "I think the girls should have the ocean view…they'll appreciate it more."
"It's just the right size for the both of them," Hermione said giving it a nod of approval.
"The bathroom is through there…it has two sinks…and the closet is over there. Yes, they'll have to share but it's a big walk-in closet and they'll have plenty of room."
"Are the boys room over here?" Hermione asked going to the next room on the other side. She opened it and frowned. "Kind of small for three boys."
"Oh. Well, actually I was thinking this could be Al and Hugo's room and…this door over here," he walked to the door a little ways down and opened it to a set of stairs leading up to another door. "It's the third floor. Could be used as an attic, but I thought James could stay here. I know he's graduating and will probably want to eventually move into his own place, but…I want him to have a room here. I want all of them to know that no matter how old they get, they will always have a room in this house."
"I think that's a great idea, Harry," she said taking his hand again. "Let's go check it out." She walked up the narrow stairs with Harry trudging up behind her and opened the door and light spilled out into the room. "Oh, it's perfect."
The room wasn't huge, but wasn't tiny either. There was a double window with the ocean view and a window seat under it. Hermione opened the window to see a small balcony big enough for maybe only two people. "Oh he'll love it, Harry."
"We'd have to get Mike…that's the contractor…we'll have to get him to make a bathroom so he won't
have to come downstairs every time he has to take a shower, plus a closet too, but he doesn't need a lot of place,
the kid never was exactly a packrat."
"He'll love it," she said with a grin. "And once he comes to his senses, he'll have fun trying to sneak up Samantha here for some snogging."
"I'd be disappointed in him if he didn't," Harry said with a chuckle. "Boys will be boys."
She shook her head with a sigh. "Don't I know it. Let's head back down, you still have to show us our room and Nora's."
"Nora's room doesn't really exist yet," Harry said as they made their way back to the second floor. "I figured we'd knock out the wall at the other end and make a brand new room for Nora."
"I think that'll work fine…and what's this door?" she asked pointing to the last door at the end of the hallway. "Master bedroom?"
"Yes, so you'll be close to Nora," Harry said and opened the door. "The room is huge and it has a huge sitting room. I thought maybe we could transfer the sitting room into my room. Put up a wall right here." He walked to the place where the bedroom just began to tumbled into the sitting room. "What do you think? I can have Mike make me a small bathroom and a closet…you can get the original master bathroom and your closet is huge. Go on…look around."
Instead she walked over to the sitting room. "Harry, are you sure this is going to be enough room?"
"Of course," he said with a smile. "Remember I spent the first ten years of my life in a bedroom closet, this is like living in a mansion."
Hermione frowned. "I try not to remember that."
Harry gave her a small smile. "Sorry, it's been so long ago I can kind of joke about it now," he put an arm around her and rubbed her arm. "It's plenty of room, Hermione. It's just a room for me to sleep in, I'll spend more time downstairs I'm sure. So, what do you think? The house isn't officially ours yet, I wanted to have your approval before we did anything."
"I think that I can't wait to get started so we can move in right away," Hermione said with a beaming smile then smiled at Nora who was still in awe. "What do you think, Nora? You like it?"
She gave a toothy smile and nodded her head. "Yeah. I like."
"Good," she said and gave her a loud kiss on the mouth.
Nora giggled and turned to Harry. "Kiss!"
"If you insist," he said leaning down and gave her a peck.
"Kiss!" she changed again. "Kiss, Muma!"
Harry lifted a brow. "You want me to kiss your mum?" When she nodded enthusiastically he smiled and then leaned down to kiss a blushing Hermione on the cheek. "There, happy?"
Nora giggled and shook her head. "No, no kiss…kiss!" she said smacking a hand on Harry's mouth.
"Oh, I see," he said with a chuckle. "A real kiss. You're a hard girl to please, Nora."
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione said flustered. "She doesn't really realize what she's saying."
"I think she does," Harry said with a grin and then cupped her chin with his free hand. "Besides, the princess has spoken."
Before Hermione could open her mouth to protest, Harry's lips were on hers, warm, firm and completely friendly, yet the brief contact still made her blood hum.
Harry pulled away while Nora cheered. "There, now are you happy?" Harry smiled when she clapped her hands. "I think she approved," Harry said to Hermione with a wink. "C'mon…let's get out of here so we can start making this a home."
As Harry grabbed her hand she hand no choice but to stagger along behind him while her lips still tingled from the brief kiss. Of course it didn't mean anything, it was a simple kiss between friends, but she simply couldn't remember a time when a small kiss like that left her so shaken up.
It was just because it had been so long, she assured herself as they walked down the stairs to the first floor. Of course, she wasn't anywhere near ready to date again, she didn't think she ever would be, but that little taste from Harry made her realize how much she missed being with a man. Being with Ron.
It was nothing to worry about. Just a brief moment of weakness on her part, which she was entitled to. It was foolish to dwell on it, she had a family to support and she had to be stronger. It was a silly, harmless, little kiss between her dearest friend and that's all it was. Besides, didn't Harry kiss her like it was nothing? Gave her that little wink and grabbed her hand so casually, like it wasn't a big deal that they had just kissed on the lips for the first time. If Harry could brush it off so easily, than she could do. It was foolish of her to even let it affect her the way it did, so she put it out of her mind. For good.
What Hermione didn't realize was, that Harry was struggling with the exact same dilemma in his own mind. And after convincing himself it was just a kiss, convincing himself that the reason the kiss got him stirred up was because he just missed kissing Ginny, he decided to put it out of his mind. For good.