Disclaimer: JKR owns.
Safe Harbour
Chapter 1: The Good Life
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4 Months After LFL
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"Hermione, I'm back!" Harry yelled out as he entered his Boston flat with a flurry of snowflakes following in his wake. He quickly slammed the door shut and shook the snow of out his now wet ebony locks.
"Did you get it?" she called back.
Harry wiped the snow off the top of the cardboard box he was carrying and walked into the nursery where they had been working mercilessly on putting the crib together without magic.
"Yes; slightly burnt pineapple and jalapeno pizza, just the way you like it," he said with a grimace as he presented the pizza to a very swollen Hermione. She was sitting in the rocking chair by the window, reading a book on environmental studies that one of her professors gave her before she left on maternity leave.
Since finding out about the baby and moving to Boston, Harry and Hermione had led pretty quiet and peaceful lives. They had both felt a sense of guilt after they'd deliberately lied to Ron and Hermione's parents, but that had all been forgotten with the impending excitement of the pregnancy. True to their word, they had read through every single one of the pregnancy and parenting books they had bought.
They had also seen Dr. Hammond again for a follow up appointment and were delighted to know that their baby was perfectly healthy and growing.
After a couple weeks, Harry had found himself growing restless during the days. Hermione started school and he was very happy that she was doing well, but was peeved about the hours she had to keep. During her absences, he started reading the books in Hermione's collection, but that only made him feel nostalgic of home. He tried going out to explore the city but that only made him feel like a cat in a sea of dogs. It didn't help that numerous women had come up to him, inquiring if he'd like to go out sometime. He was surprised with himself when he responded that he was married, but the women seemed to get the picture and wandered off quickly.
One day he came upon an under construction restaurant that said they were taking applications for investors and sponsors. After talking with the owner, he decided to invest. Not only would it give him something to do, but he would have a say in the decisions the restaurant made and he could also provide Hermione and the baby with a monthly income once the restaurant was up and running.
The holidays came and went with the occasional communication with Hermione's parents and none with the Weasley's. Actually, they did receive many letters from the Weasley's, Ron and Ginny in particular, in the first few weeks they were in Boston. Hermione actually read them at first, but after a few, her guilt was starting to reach new highs.
As the pregnancy went further along, her emotions were closer to the surface than ever before and it was starting to make Harry mental. In the gentlest way possible, he suggested to her that it would be better to stop reading the letters all together since they could not bring themselves to answer them yet, and reading them only seemed to upset her. He used the baby as his way of getting her to agree. Alas, after the conversation, (tearful on Hermione's part), all following letters and packages from the Weasley's were sent back unopened. They hoped that they would assume it was the fault of an incompetent owl. Though, they knew that at least Ginny would be able to connect the dots when they finally did return, a baby in tow.
Hermione's mum, Cate, had tried to convince her daughter to come home for winter break but Hermione insisted that she just simply had too much work on her plate at the moment and that they'd get together around Easter instead. Of course, the two felt bad about lying, but again, they figured everything would be all right in a matter of months.
At least that's what they kept repeating to themselves…
Christmas and New Year's were celebrated both by Harry and Hermione a little half heartedly since it was their first without their family and friends. There was a few friends in Boston who threw parties that they attended. For the most part it made them forget about their situation and just act like two excited soon-to-be-parents.
Speaking of which, they still didn't want to be told the gender of the baby, so it served a problem deciding the colour for the nursery. But they did have fun picking out different boy and girl names. So far Harry's names were very traditional while Hermione's sounded like they were ancient Greek philosophers.
Hermione's classes had gone by successfully as well, seeing that she excelled in every class, albeit being pregnant. She even made a couple good friends that she relied on to take notes for her if she was ever late or got sick in the middle of class. Reluctance to leave for maternity leave was putting it lightly since Hermione was pretty adamant about staying in the bloody classes until the baby practically stuck its head and yelled that it was time to come out. Fortunately, Harry managed to sweet talk her into it.
There was another topic that the both of them could spend hours pondering over internally: where they lay together in terms of a relationship. Harry and Hermione progressively started acting more like a couple as the months passed. Harry would cook quiet meals for Hermione when she got home from classes and would gladly give her massages whenever she wanted. They would go out on walks through the park, closely huddled together to ward off the atrocious winter cold of Boston. Holding hands became a habit to them, and they could often be discovered lying in their bed, watching a film, wrapped in each others arms. The chaste and/or lingering kiss wasn't too foreign either. Hermione sometimes had quells of horniness during late hours of the night, and Harry was all too pleased to help appease her. Both never seemed to be bothered or even realize that these "quells" happened at least four times a week.
The fact that Harry continued to refer to Hermione as 'love' without coming out and saying that he loved her was a highly frustrating topic with her. She could spend hours droning over the topic, debating in Harry's defence that he was doing it because he wanted to make her comfortable and since she was his best friend, never letting herself settle on the possibility that Harry possibly could love her in 'that way'. All the kissing and snuggling was strictly platonic, and they were mature enough to express their terms of friendship in those matters. Because that's what they were. The best of friends- having a child together. Nothing more would come of that. They would have love for their child but not for each other. And that's how it was going to be... and she was sure that was how Harry wanted it to be as well. He had to. Harry couldn't think of her in any other light than the greatest of friends.
She was just plain old Hermione Granger. Pregnant with her best friend's child at the tender age of nineteen.
Harry couldn't possibly love her 'that' way.
And that was that.
But, oh how she wished he did…
"So I'm glad you decided not to get up and do some work on this thing while I was gone," Harry commented sarcastically as Hermione squashed her confusing jumble of thoughts by opening the box and taking a large bite of the pizza.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to move a limb while you were out of the house?" Hermione questioned back with a challenging smirk.
"Did I say that?" he asked sheepishly, scratching his head.
"Those were your words exactly," she responded cheekily, taking another bite.
"Good to know you listen when you want to." Harry sat down on the ground next to the pile of wood that was supposed to be their baby's crib.
"Hey! I listen all the time!" Hermione protested, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Face it Hermione, you have a very selective hearing process that plays in parts with your stubbornness. You listen to what you want to," he smiled at her as she finally shrugged, accepting his insinuations all the while devouring another slice of jalapeño and pineapple pizza.
"I still listen," she tried again when Harry thought she had dropped the subject.
Harry laughed, "Let's hope he doesn't inherit your stubbornness or we'll be in for some real trouble."
"You insult her when you say 'he' you know," Hermione said, softly rubbing her round stomach.
"Well he shouldn't be since he's a boy," Harry said again with a smug look, knowing Hermione was in her rocker right now rolling her eyes at him.
"Do we need to do this again, Harry?" she asked pointedly as he started lifting up pieces and trying to jam them together.
"Yes, I think we do. You know it's okay to admit you're wrong for once in you're life 'Mi."
"Harry, she kicks every time you refer to her as a boy!" Hermione again objected.
"And there's another point, he kicks way too hard to be a girl." He laughed as he saw the look of fury in Hermione's narrowed eyes.
"I hope she shows you a thing or two when she's born."
"He won't have to," he said airily. Looking at the angry expression on Hermione's face, Harry blew her a kiss knowing he'd get more of a rise from her.
Hermione scowled and threw her pizza crust at Harry, pelting him in the head.
"Ow!" he cried out, clutching his forehead. Hermione bit her lip to keep from laughing and when he turned his eyes on her she mocked him and blew him a kiss.
"Funny, Granger."
"You know you never thanked me," Hermione said changing the subject.
"For what?"
"For helping you paint the walls," she said obviously, motioning around towards the
light green walls.
Harry snorted, "All you did was sit in a rolling chair and stroke a paint stick up and down the wall."
"I'll have you know that's a lot of work! I was exhausted afterwards," she said with a wistful sigh.
Harry snickered, "I bet." She forgot to mention that the main reason she was exhausted was because she had one of her "quells" during the middle of painting.
"I'm serious, that was like a full upper body workout."
"More like a full body work out..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing," he responded quickly.
"That's right, you just get back to your slave labour while I sit here and read."
Harry sighed a few minutes later and wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead, "Hermione, this thing's bloody impossible! I'm going to have to use magic!"
"Harry, no! We agreed we wouldn't use magic while doing this!" she said quickly, closing her book.
"I don't know how else to do it! It's like the bloody crib from hell- it just won't assemble!"
"Here, let me see the directions," she said snappishly, taking the booklet from Harry's right hand.
Hermione's eyes quickly scanned over the small booklet as Harry sat back and huffed, moodily staring at the wooden pieces of the crib.
Getting down to the last lines of the instructions, Hermione began to think that maybe something really was wrong when she spotted some words that made her raise an eyebrow. She lowered the booklet and looked at the disassembled parts.
Smirking, she said, "Guess what genius, you're trying to put it together backwards."
"What are you on about?" he asked with a frown, scooting back over.
"Flip the bottom piece around and you'll notice it's a lot easier to fit the screws in."
Harry did as he was told and blushed as he saw the two holes that had been absent earlier, "Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
"Give me a break okay, I've been slaving over this, running around to get you food, and then doing every other little thing you ask for. It's not like I'm having the greatest time right now," he finished, successfully putting the legs in the correct position.
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. What was he insinuating? That he didn't enjoy spending the time with her? Did he regret leaving with her?
Harry looked up at her with a grin as he finally put the frame up but frowned at the
look on her face. He sighed, "Hermione, you know I didn't mean anything by that."
Hermione shrugged and asked quietly, "Is it that horrible living with me?"
"No, not at all," he reassured her, scooting over on the floor to kneel in front of her.
Knowing how she could get in her hormonal state and wanting quickly to assuage her, he placed his hands on her thighs, "You know I love every minute of our time together. It just gets a little exhausting for me is all."
Hermione opened her mouth to argue but Harry beat her to it, "But, I'd rather it be me than you. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Really?" she squeaked as if she was scared of his answer.
Harry smiled, "Really. I like it when you boss me around and bark out orders at me. It's kind of sexy actually..."
She raised an eyebrow, "I've been bossing you around since the day I met you on the Hogwarts Express."
"Touché," Harry laughed, "But I can't get turned on by an 11 year old yelling at me despite how pretty she was."
"But you can get turned on by an seven months pregnant, crazy lady that refuses to let you use magic to put up the crib?"
Harry pretended to mull it over, "Pretty much, yeah."
"Smooth, Potter."
"Yeah, I always know the right thing to say," he smirked while squeezing her thighs lightly.
"So... are you turned on right now?" she asked conspiringly, eyeing him with one of her chocolate orbs.
"Hermione Jane Granger, are you suggesting that I skive off from finishing the crib just to have a shag?"
"With me, yes." she responded very blatantly. This was her tone that told Harry he was going to do it whether he liked it or not.
"What would the 11 year old girl from the train say in a situation like this?" he asked pulling her gently to her feet.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she winked, taking his hand and leading the way out of the nursery and into their bedroom.
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Harry lay awake in bed, leaning on his elbow and watching Hermione sleep, with his other hand resting gently on her abdomen. He often tended to do this: wait for Hermione to drift off and then just observe every inch of her until he couldn't keep his eyes open. As weeks turned into months since they had left London and he continued to watch her, it bothered him because he couldn't figure out why he would get overwhelming senses of pride and gratification as he watched her.
He used to tell himself that it was only because she was Hermione, his best friend- but that excuse wasn't cutting it anymore.
After months of being with Hermione in such an intimate setting, pretending that they were a couple and not correcting people when they complimented them on what a lovely pair they made- his understanding of love and marriage came almost full circle. How could you not want to spend the rest of your life with a woman that was the epitome of everything to you?
Life in Boston had been perfect and he never wanted that feeling to go away.
He was in love with her, that he knew. Now, all that was left was finding the best time to tell her. His eyes glanced down again to her bulging stomach and an idea started formulating in his mind…
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Hermione awoke later that afternoon to a pounding at the front door. She lifted herself up from the bed, blearily rubbing at her eyes. Looking over, she found Harry sprawled out in the position she had left him in with a small smile gracing his face.
She smirked to herself, revelling in the fact that she could cause him such satisfaction even in her current state of body. A soft buzzing sound was heard on the table next to the bed and Hermione glanced over to find her mobile ringing.
She answered, "Hello?"
"Christ woman, I've been outside your door for five minutes now. Five minutes! If I catch hypothermia, it's entirely your fault!"
Hermione grinned at the sound of her friends stressed voice, "Okay, I'm coming Jess."
"Waddle your ass out here fast- I'm carrying my weight in the books you've requested."
Hermione ended the call with an amused smile. She quickly stowed Harry and hers wands away and reached for Harry's shirt and boxers.
Walking as fast as she could, she finally answered the door with a hand resting on her stomach, "Hey you."
Jessica Sacramone stood on the other side, looking as if she were about to tip over, "I'm going to start charging you every time you make me run to the library for you…"
Hermione smiled and moved to the side so the young woman could come in, "You can set those on the counter."
With a grunt, the slim brunette hoisted the books onto the kitchen table, throwing her bag and scarf down next to the pile. Jessica was about to respond with a snarky comment before she turned to get a good look of Hermione approaching.
She smirked knowingly, "So you and Harry been bumping uglies all afternoon?"
Hermione shot her a look, "Not all afternoon- just a few hours into it."
"Well if you're wearing his clothes then what's he in right now? I swear Hermione, if I happen to see a Brit's wiener today, you'll have to pay for the therapy."
Hermione laughed, "Relax, he's still sleeping."
"You know, I've never known a more horny pregnant woman than you. I guess this makes the experience for Harry better than he initially imagined."
Hermione shot her a glare but Jessica instantly brightened, "Ooh, you'll never believe what I found for the baby today!"
Hermione's face softened, "Jess you didn't have to do that."
"No, I really did need to buy this one," she replied, pulling a light pink bag from her tote. "Look- isn't it adorable?!"
Hermione laughed to herself as she read the baby outfit Jessica was holding up aloud, "I'm with smarty." There was an arrow pointing to the left underneath the phrase.
Jessica nodded along in excitement, "Isn't that so cute?!"
Hermione laughed again as Jessica continued, "And there's more!" This time, she flipped the shirt over so Hermione could read the words written in a permanent black marker.
"Not with Jessie?" Hermione read with a furrowed brow.
Jessica nodded, "Just in case, if we're out together with the baby and a hot guy comes along, he won't think it's mine and he won't be deterred to talk to me! Remember, you're alien could make or break me," she finished, using her nickname for the baby. Jessica had started calling their child 'the alien' ever since she seen the sonogram pictures.
Hermione sighed wearily, "Jess, I don't think my child will have any effect on your love life."
"You never know," she replied wisely, pushing the baby outfit into Hermione's hands. "It's like that one time I took the kitten to the mall and all those gay guys practically swarmed me. Well, if my calculations are correct, which they are," Hermione snorted as Jessica continued, "It should have the same effect only on middle aged, handsome, rich guys if I go to like the gym or the movies with a baby…"
"What if the baby starts getting fussy right in the middle of your pick up line?" Hermione asked with a light grin.
"We're just gonna have to talk to the mutant. Make sure it knows the GP of the day," she replied like it was no big deal and telling a game plan to a baby would be a slice of cake.
Hermione rolled her eyes and thanked her before turning to the books. With an eager look, she said, "So what'd you bring me?"
"I'm pretty sure this is everything you asked for- though may I remind you we don't need to know anything from these books for the midterms."
Hermione counted off the titles in her head and then looked back to Jessica with a sheepish look, "Jess…"
Jessica slapped a hand to her forehead, "Don't tell me you want another..."
"Just one," Hermione said sweetly, telling her the title of the anatomy book she had been wanting to look through.
Her friend sighed, "Fine, but once you've deflated, I totally expect a few months of solid beckoning on my behalf from you. Understand?"
Hermione grinned and nodded, "Will you bring it to me after your morning class on Monday?'
"Sure," she agreed, walking into the kitchen for a drink, "You know Hermione, I'm fairly confident you'd be fascinated by reading a fucking dictionary."
To avoid the topic, Hermione only said, "Don't swear in front of the baby."
Jessica smiled devilishly, "Piss, shit, fuck, cocksuc-"
"What the hell is going on out here?" asked Harry from the hall wearing only a pair of pyjama bottoms.
"Jessie is acting like a five year old again," Hermione said fondly as Harry came up to kiss her on the cheek.
"You," he growled in Jessica's direction, "Damn- I had hoped you had fallen off the face of the earth by now."
It was no secret that Jessica and Harry didn't exactly see eye to eye on things, but there wasn't really any animosity between them. They both enjoyed ribbing and throwing extremely rude insults at each other whenever they where together.
"My hopes have been dashed as well, you pasty Brit. And for the love of god, put a shirt on before your pale ass blinds me to death."
Harry stretched languorously next to Hermione, showing off his chest and making the girls giggle.
"Jess got the baby another present," Hermione told him, handing him the pink outfit.
"Pink?" Harry scoffed right off the back, "He won't be wearing this at all."
"Read it dufus," Jessica said.
Harry muttered it aloud and rolled his eyes in bemusement.
"Just make sure the arrow isn't pointing at you and you'll be good," Jessica shot at Harry before taking a swig of water.
"Please go swallow a knife," Harry responded dully, "And stop drinking my water."
Of course, Jessica continued to drink from the water bottle and Harry made a move to swipe it from her before Hermione stopped him, "Enough you two."
"He started it," Jessica said, sticking her tongue out.
"Love, we need to change the locks on the apartment and tell this pile of uselessness we moved," Harry whispered playfully in Hermione's ear.
Jessie scowled, "I heard that jackass. Remember Hermione, chicks before dicks! Don't let this loser talk you into things. You control the man- not the other way around!"
Hermione laughed, "Good advice."
Harry was about to come back with a clever comment when Jessie's phone started to ring. She answered it and hung up a short while later.
"Alright, I need to get going- Mitch wants to meet up tonight," she reached down to pick up her bag and scarf as Harry and Hermione shared a perceptive look, "Call me this weekend, okay?"
"'Kay. I have an appointment tomorrow and then Sunday we'll be working on the nursery, so if I don't see you this weekend, I'll see you Monday," Hermione told her, hugging her friend and slapping Harry's hand away as he reached up to smack her head.
"Douche," Jessica muttered to Harry with a triumphant grin.
Harry only scowled at her and pushed her along to the doorway.
Jessica was already out the door when Harry's head snapped up.
"Hey, wait!"
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked in confusion as Harry started for the door.
"Uh-um," Harry's eyes glanced around and stalled on Jessie's half empty water bottle. He went to grab it, "She left her water."
Before Hermione could question him, he ran half naked out the door and down the hall to where Jessica was waiting for the elevator.
"Wait, I need to talk to you about something," Harry said sliding into the elevator with her.
Jessie rolled her eyes good-naturedly, "There's a tanning salon a few streets over…"
"What? No- that's not what I'm talking about."
"Well then?"
"You know how your uncle owns that jewellery shop…"
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