Chapter 10-Accio Life
Harry was quite sure that he had dreamt the "morning after". After finally waking up, feeding the kids, listening to Ben throw a temper tantrum because there weren't any more of his favorite biscuits, reprimanding Janie for accioing biscuits from the house next-door (thankfully, those neighbors had left for work) and nodding when Hermione asked him to come by later that afternoon for an interview, he took a step back and looked around his now clean kitchen.
Janie was finally happy and playing with blocks, showing her owl, who was sleeping in her cage in the corner, how she could stack them up to her own height. Hermione had left for Molly's to shower, change and answer questions about why she didn't sleep there last night and Harry now had a chance to breathe. He hadn't even said two words to Hermione that morning. Except for the shared smile when the kids were in bed with them, he would've thought nothing had happened last night. Except his feelings and memories betrayed him. As he moved around his house, answered mail, played with his daughter Hermione was on the edge of consciousness always. He touched Janie's back as he bathed her and was reminded of Hermione's soft skin. He heard Janie washing her hands in the sink, water turned on full blast and he remembered the rain against the roof and what he had done under said roof.
She was still on his mind as he walked down the hall to Hermione's office where she, Auror Clogkey and the Minister himself would be interviewing him. His heart raced from a mix of nervousness at the interview and leaving Janie at the Ministry Day Care, anxiousness for walking by Ron and Ginny and happiness at finally seeing Hermione after being separated for five hours that day already.
Thankfully, both portraits were empty and when he knocked on the door Hermione answered and waved him inside. Her
office was empty except for the two of them.
"Where is everyone?"
"Coming in a half hour."
"Am I too early?" Harry looked at the small clock on her desk fairly certain she had said one, not one thirty.
"No. I asked you to come early," Hermione smiled at him and gestured for him to sit.
"Oh. Why?" Harry sat down and folded his hands in front of him, leaning forward on her desk.
"So I could relax you before the interview." She shuffled some papers and then settled them into a neat pile in front of her. She caught the mischievous look in his eyes and laughed.
"No, not that way!" she lowered her voice, still smiling. "Twice wasn't enough?"
This time Harry had the grace to blush and mumbled he was just kidding.
"I know, I know," Hermione waved her hand dismissively. "Anyway. How did Janie take to being dropped off?"
"Better than I thought. I only had to sit with her for five minutes until Ben and Oliver Woods' son came up and dragged her into some mess involving sand."
"Yes, that is a messy station, but fun from what I see when I pick up Ben. Jasper is a good kid. He's five, I think? Loves little kids and, from what I hear, is already a terror on a broom."
"I wouldn't put it past Oliver to have a kid like that."
"Do you think Alison will be able to get on a broom? You saw how awful Neville is at flying and how Luna avoids it," Hermione asked folding her hands and leaning forward towards Harry, intent on directing the conversation into a territory that would relax him.
"I don't know. I can't really tell since she's only three weeks old," Harry shrugged. "Maybe Oliver should open up a school that teaches lessons."
"Not a bad idea. Doesn't Malfoy have something like that?"
"Yeah, but his is "selective" and it's a very competitive type of school. The amount of money he has poured into that school brings in people from all over. Guess we'll find out in a few years if any of them can play Quidditch."
"Speaking of kids," Hermione reached down and rummaged through her bag, finding what she needed the sliding it across the table. "A picture I was asked to give you of Alison Francis Longbottom."
Harry picked it up and in a flash remembered Janie being that little. Her hair had been a dark red but within months
had fallen out to be replaced by his darker color. Alison had Luna's blonde hair, except it was only fuzz and her
eyes were a bright blue, just like her mother's.
"I thought she had dark hair? I saw that in your memory the other day--of you holding her?" Harry pocketed the picture and saw her shake her head. He couldn't remember what color her hair had been when he and Janie had visited. She had a hat on and he never thought to look under it or even ask.
"No, that wasn't Alison," was all she had time to say before a knock sounded at the door. Harry frowned briefly wondering if he had forgotten anyone else who had a baby.
Auror Clogkey walked in authoritatively and conjured up a chair. Before Harry could think past saying "Hello" and shaking her hand, she launched into some questions that had to be asked before the Minister was to interview him.
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Two hours later Harry sat with Janie only pretending to pay attention as she finished putting a puzzle together at the Ministry Day Care. His head was spinning from the interview and he had to admit that some of the hardest questions came from Hermione. Many were about multi-tasking, how he'd handle numerous reports of different potential sightings of Death Eaters followed by a physical exam one of the healer's gave him. He thought he was in good physical condition until he looked in at a self-defense training session. He saw a girl, that couldn't have been more than 20, flip a fellow male auror-to-be onto his back, where he laid stunned for a moment. He knew he couldn't do that, and wondered if Hermione was that strong. Janie interrupted his musing by showing him her finished puzzle and announcing she was done. Harry talked with Lavender a bit, waved to Ben who was engrossed in drawing something on the blackboard then bent to retrieve his bag. It wasn't next to him and he realized that he must've forgotten it back in Hermione's office.
"C'mon Janie. I forgot my bag in Aunt Hermione's office."
"Is she there? Can I see?" Janie bounced next to him until she spotted the elevator then raced ahead to push the button. As they patiently waited and Harry answered her question, he realized he was getting many strange looks from the employees as they passed by.
It was as he stepped onto the elevator and was greeted by someone he knew by sight, but not name, he realized that he had never brought Janie to the Ministry before and this was the first time people were seeing the daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter. He held Janie's hand as they stepped out onto Hermione's floor. To distract Janie from staring back at the people watching her he pointed out portraits on the walls, hoping that Ginny would be in hers and explained the one's he knew about.
Slowing down as he approached Hermione's office, he could see Ginny in her frame flying around on her broom. Picking up Janie he pointed out the portrait and saw Ginny stop in midair, then hurriedly land and walk to the front of the painting.
"Hi Ginny," Harry greeted a bit nervously then fell silent as he watched Ginny's eyes move over Janie. Their daughter tucked her head under Harry's neck and put her thumb in her mouth, her eyes never leaving Ginny's picture.
"Remember me, Janie?" Ginny asked softly, her smile reaching from ear to ear. Their daughter nodded then mumbled something around her thumb.
"What'd she say?" Ginny's eyes flicked to Harry who shifted Janie to his other hip.
"She said, "mum", so she remembers you. She has a picture of you in her room," Harry explained. He saw Ron move into his sister's picture who openly gazed at Janie.
"Not counting the eyes, she's a little Harry. Help us all!" Ron laughed and this time Harry smiled.
"Well, Ben is a little Ron, so I guess it's only fair."
"Yeah, I saw him the other day. Quite scary to see an almost-two year old me," Ron waved to Janie who took her thumb out of her mouth long enough to wave back. "How'd your interview go?"
"Long," Harry replied and didn't get a chance to say anything else before he felt a hand on his back.
"Your bag you forgot," Hermione held it out to him then let her hand fall away realizing for the first time in over a year all of them were together again. For a moment they all fell quiet until a memo flew right at Hermione getting itself tangled in her hair. Ron fell to the ground laughing as he watched her struggle to free it, which set Janie off into fits of giggles. Laughing broke the tension in Janie seeing her mother and Uncle for the first time since they died so she squirmed to get down. Harry reminded her to stay in the hall and not go into anyone's office.
"It's for you, actually," Hermione told Harry handing him the note and giving Ron a dark look who was still laughing. Janie was now staring freely up at Ginny's portrait as her mother knelt and was asking her about her day at the Day Care.
The memo had the St. Mungo's symbol at the top and was written in very neat handwriting. Scanning to the end of the short note, Harry discovered it was from Charles who said he'd be back in two days. Would they be able to meet then? That was a Saturday; Harry wasn't slated to start his new job until that Monday. As far as he remembered, he was free.
"How do I answer this?" Harry asked Hermione who turned from Ron's portrait where they had been talking about George becoming a father.
"Here's a quill. Just answer below and send it back. It'll go to the Mail Center then get sorted out into the St. Mungo's mail." Harry thanked her and scribbled that he'd see Charles in two days time, then folded the note back along the lines and watched it sail down the hall. Janie began racing after it then stopped short as Harry called her name sharply.
"Would you mind getting Ben, Harry? I have another hour here and that means I'll have to pay over time to Day Care," Hermione asked quietly as both Ron and Ginny had Janie engaged in a conversation about her doll, Wendy, which had been a gift from Ron and Hermione when she was born.
"No problem. I'll see you back at my place," Harry glanced down at her feeling the back of her hand brush his. Not knowing how to become comfortable in this situation, constantly wondering if it was written on his face how he felt about her, he just gave her a small smile then told Janie that it was time to leave. After bidding her portrait mother and Uncle goodbye, Janie ran ahead of her father insisting she remembered the way back to the elevator.
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"How did Charles know to send that memo to me at the Ministry?" Harry asked Hermione that evening as the children were finally playing quietly with Janie's little kitchen set in the living room.
"Everyone knew you were coming in, so he probably just sent his note to the hospital and they knew where to find you." Hermione sent their dinner dishes to the sink and they began washing themselves as they sat across from each other sipping tea.
"I noticed everyone looking at me and Janie. She noticed too."
"How'd she seem this evening to you after being around everyone? And, you'll have to get used to it for awhile. Everyone is excited to see you out and about again, and not to mention seeing what your daughter looks like. No one has seen her since her birth picture was in the paper."
"For this very reason," Harry picked up the end of her conversation, "because of the staring. That's why I haven't taken her there. And, she seems very good to me. Not cranky or anything, though I did notice her using Alohamora to open the door to her room. Not sure if she's showing off for Ben on that one, though."
"True," Hermione mused wrapping her hands around her warm cup and for the first time, she met Harry's gaze for more than just a fleeting moment. Now that his deepest feelings had been verbalized, he wasn't quite sure how to act upon them and, it seemed, neither did she. He took a sip of his tea to give himself a bit more time to think of how to ask about last night.
"So, what did Molly say about you not being there last night?" he lifted his eyes back up to hers and saw her smile as her cheeks turned red. He could barely make out the bruise on her jaw when she blushed.
"Well, I told her Ben fell asleep and I didn't want to move him, and that after a few glasses of wine I fell asleep too. I'm not sure she entirely believed that story since Fleur told Bill, who told his parents that we were going out. Truly though? I think she's happy…she's always loved you and thought of you like a son, and as I'm her daughter in law, I think the fact that I'm not out dating someone she doesn't know, and that Ben doesn't know, sits very well with her. Does that make sense?"
The word "date" didn't escape Harry's attention and he found it didn't sit well with him. He
nodded in response to her question as he mulled over the word in his mind. He knew Hermione like a book, and she knew
him better than anyone else on this earth. So, how could their relationship be called "Dating"? Isn't
that where you go to know one another to see if you were compatible?
He truly thought that they had moved way beyond that point. Not just because they had spent the night together, but all that dating stuff was out of the way…the first kiss, the getting-to-know-you questions and conversations; getting to know the family (although he had only seen her parents a handful of times and her grandfather once at her wedding) and the awkward feeling of "when are you supposed to sleep together"?
He remembered being very nervous with Ginny with the sex part. They finally had gotten back together after he killed Voldemort and it had taken him that whole summer to finally relax, heal and figure out what he wanted to do with his life. Then, Ginny's birthday was in August and after they had gone to dinner and a Weird Sister's concert they had come back here, one thing led to another and they had gone further than they had on his birthday (they had stopped because he couldn't remember the infertility spell and wanted to make sure they knew the right way to say it).
He also truly thought Ginny may want to wait until she was done school but that hadn't been the case. A new level had been reached in their relationship on her birthday and by Easter of the following year he passed an exam given by McGonagall to teach, and knowing that he had steady income he had gone out and bought a ring for Ginny that night and waited until her graduation to ask her to marry him, planning with Ron on the best place to ask…should he ask in front of her parents? When they were alone? All in all, she had been surprised, deliriously happy and had gone running to her parents first thing.
"HARRY!" Hermione called and knocked on the table in front of him. Harry blinked and moved his eyes up from his cup which had been staring unseeingly at the empty bottom.
"I was just saying that Janie had been abducted by alien's then I realized, when you didn't answer that, maybe they took your mind. Are you alright?"
"Ummm, yeah, I was just thinking about something you said," Harry leaned forward settling his elbows on the table while keeping eye contact and desperately trying to not be nervous. This was a whole new territory he was walking on with Hermione and he didn't want to upset the fragile balance they were beginning to achieve. "You mentioned dating and I was thinking that…well, perhaps that we were already beyond that. To me, it means getting to know someone kind of like Cho and I back in school. And you and I…we already know each other so well."
She looked at him thoughtfully for so long that he became uncomfortable, thinking he had indeed said the wrong thing. He disguised his agitation by taking their empty cups and placing them in the sink. He heard Ben laughing at something in the living room and peeked around the corner to see them laying on the floor watching a cartoon. Fifteen more minutes of quiet, then bedtime for the kids. `Where would Hermione be tonight?' he wondered before turning back around.
Hermione was suddenly standing in front of him and before he could register her movements, she was kissing him with such an intensity that he swore his heart stopped beating for a moment before picking up again, twice as fast. Wrapping his arms around her, letting himself fall deeper into her embrace and warmth he responded in kind until two loud giggles punctuated the charged silence. He felt Hermione fall back to her heels but she kept her arms around his neck.
"You're right. Dating is not the right term for you and I right now." He could see her lick her lips and take a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
Harry let his thumb run over the crescent shaped scar above her eyebrow feeling the new skin that had formed over the deep scratch. "What is the right word then? Or, do we really need one?"
Hermione's eyes narrowed a bit in a look that meant she was thinking about his question. Harry answered for her, feeling the words sear through his mind then pour out of his mouth, making him wonder again what force was pouring the words into his head.
"Actually, I don't think we need one Hermione. I love you, Ben, Janie and you love us, isn't that enough to build off of?" He ran his hand over her almost invisible bruise, enjoying how she leaned into the soft touch.
"It is, Harry." Her voice was thick with emotion and he could see her eyes shining with unshed tears. Bending down he kissed her on the forehead then gathered her close.
"What should we do about tonight?"
"What do you mean?" she mumbled into his shoulder, turning her head to nuzzle his neck.
"Are you going back to Molly's?"
"Oh."
They were quiet for a moment as the unsaid question and unspoken answer hung in the air between them. Another big, unavoidable step was lurking in front of him and he found that this felt like the right moment to ask. He had never thought about them living together before, until this moment. Not used to such spontaneous events he tried to just move with the flow of the last two days.
"Would you consider living here? If you were more comfortable you could have your own room, there are six bedrooms you know." His hands were shaking so he ran them through her hair trying to disguise how scared he was asking such an emotional question.
Hermione took a deep breath and nodded against his shoulder.
"Yes." She answered, then elaborated. "I don't even need to consider it Harry. I want to be with you and Janie." Pulling back she looked up into his face seeing his lips form into a relived but happy smile. "I guess tonight would be as good of a place to begin as any wouldn't you say?"
"I agree, though Molly and your parents should know."
"If you don't mind getting Ben ready for bed, I can go over there and tell Molly now. We can tell my parents together over the weekend. However, we'll have to be ready for tomorrow afternoon. As soon as I change my address on the Ministry recoreds, the rest of the wizarding world will know we're an item."
"That's fine with me." Harry answered his heart leaping for joy and they shared a slow, passionate kiss that lasted until two small children wiggled their way between them demanding a bedtime snack.
Harry was beginning to feel as if a bit of his life was coming back and moving forward…and as he and Hermione peeled apples for their children, he remembered what George had said about "accioing Fred's life back to this world"…and he felt that saying applied very well to the journey that he and Hermione were embarking on together.
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