Disclaimer: If this was mine, I'd be awfully rich, and we would be happy for HHr happening.
A/N: My reply to the "You can't take my child" challenge by Natsky, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26363&st=0 . I hope you'll like the story, and I feel I need to alert you, Ginny won't be particularly likable here. I don't think that's a problem, but anyhow, I told you beforehand, ok? lol. Now, on with the story…I guess many of you anticipated what will be happening here, lol.
Credit for the original plot of the story goes to AnasellaEmm, who wrote the story A Wonderful Caricature of Intimacy on fanfiction.net.
Please go read the A/N on the first chapter if you want to know more, I reposted the whole story.
On a side note, I want to thank my newly found beta, Gingercat, for her help with this story. She made me aware of many little things to correct that I would have never spotted on my own.
Fight for Custody
Chapter Six: Planning the Next Step
When Hermione woke up the next morning, she tried to guess where she was. Her head was leaning on something hard, definitely not her cushion. Something was wrapped around her waist, too.
Blinking as the sunlight blinded her for a moment, she took in her surroundings and the previous night came back to her.
Which could mean only one thing. Harry's arm was wrapped around her waist, and her head was on his chest. Panicking, Hermione inwardly cursed, trying to move away from him before he woke up.
She felt his chest vibrate with silent laughter, and looked up to find green pools staring back at her.
"No sneaking away, Granger" he joked. "I'm already awake"
"I noticed" she dryly replied, pushing his arm away and moving back to the other side of the bed, wondering how they got entwined in that way.
"I don't know either" he said, almost reading her mind, as he moved out of the bed, grabbing a fresh shirt and entering the bathroom.
"You better not make a mess in there!" she called, and heard soft giggling from the doorway. Dreading what she was going to see, she slowly turned, and found another pair of green eyes looking at her with mirth.
"Good morning, mum" Bea said, trudging inside the room and joining Hermione on the bed. The brunette smiled warmly at the little girl, albeit being a bit embarrassed by having been caught entwined with Harry by his daughter.
"Good morning to you, honey" she replied. "What do you say, shall we go get Daddy some breakfast?" she suggested, and Bea nodded enthusiastically.
When Harry got in the kitchen, fresh coffee was already on the table, with a jug of orange juice, some toast, pancakes, milk for Bea, and eggs and bacon were being cooked in a pan.
"Are you going to spoil me and this little munchkin with your cooking, Mione?" he said, absent-mindedly calling her with the nickname he had developed for her in their seventh year.
She stiffened for a moment, as hearing it brought back memories of her past, but it was gone in a flash.
"Well, I thought you might like it, but if you don't…" she started, feeling a bit of a fool. Almost six years they have been apart, and she thought she might not know him anymore.
"Of course I like it" he reassured her, squeezing her hand.
She blushed at his gesture, and stammered something about having to get ready before leaving the kitchen.
"Daddy, what was wrong with Mummy?" Bea asked, frowning.
"Nothing, dear. She's just getting used to us living all together" he said with a smile, preparing a strawberry jam toast for her.
--
That day Hermione brought Bea to school herself. It was quite an ordinary school day, until suddenly Bea, who was playing with her friend Kate, vanished from sight. Hermione rushed out of the classroom wondering where she might be, till she heard the anguished cries of the little girl.
"Mummy!" she cried, and Hermione looked up, paling. The five year old had Apparated herself onto the roof.
"Stay still, dear. I'm going to get you" she said, and Apparated herself near the raven haired girl, hugged her and Apparated both of them back to the ground.
Bea was weeping freely by then, scared.
"Shh, honey. It's perfectly normal, didn't I explain to you that from now on all of you might end up doing some accidental magic?"
Bea nodded, while Hermione wiped away her tears. "I thought I was going to fall down" she cried, holding tightly onto Hermione's shirt.
"It's all ok now" Hermione cooed, and soon Bea calmed down. However, in the girl's mind, Hermione was now even more her mummy than before, and she was very glad she was living with them now.
--
That night, Harry was running late. His desk had been swamped with paperwork he had left behind as he had had to care for Bea. Thinking he might lose her soon made him delay his work to be with her as much as he could, and now that Hermione was helping him, he felt he needed to work harder.
However, when he left the Ministry, he was still in time for a visit to Diagon Alley, and a certain jewellery store. He spent half an hour going through the displayed goods, and finally picked one. Paying, he thanked the clerk and then rushed home to his daughter and "wife".
--
After dinner, when Bea was sleeping, Hermione told Harry about her first burst of magic.
"She was so scared, Harry. My heart really went out to her. To have her first magical experience Apparating on a roof…"
Harry chuckled, and Hermione looked at him quizzically. "I did the same thing, Mione, when Dudley and his friends wanted to punch me in school. I somehow found myself on the roof, and believe me I was scared too, even if I'm not scared of heights, as I discovered later at Hogwarts"
She smiled then, relaxing as he pulled her close. She wondered briefly about it, he had never been a touchy-feely guy, it was usually her who initiated most of their hugs back in school, but now he seemed to crave physical contact.
"Of course, he misses the company" she reasoned. "He's been alone for two years"
She was partially right. However, he didn't only miss company. He missed her company. The fact that the years apart had done her wonders and made her a very attractive woman was also part of the equation.
Harry kept feeling something stir inside him every time he saw her.
--
Once the matter of Bea's first magical experience was exhausted, Harry cleared his throat, and gathered his courage. Finally, he voiced what he had been thinking since lunch hour that day.
"I think we should go for a fake wedding" he said, and she looked up at him, surprised.
"I mean, we can't just pop to the Burrow one day and tell everyone we are married and expect them to believe it. We need to go for the whole ordeal"
Hermione could see he was right. But…"Harry, we have just more or less a week before the probation starts!"
"Which is why we should get married next Sunday" he said. "Three days before the probation starts"
"This is mad! We can't have a wedding in so short time!" she cried, immediately entering her worry mode, going to take the notepad from her work bag.
Harry chuckled, and she glared at him. "It's not funny, Potter" she said, and he immediately straightened.
"You know, we won't fool anyone if you call me Potter at the slightest disagreement" he sighed, and she softened.
"I know, Harry. I'm sorry, I still have some issues to work out" she apologized and he waved her off as to say not to worry about it.
"Now, we're gonna go for a small ceremony. Your parents, the Weasleys, Remus and Tonks, maybe McGonagall…were you thinking of someone else?"
"What about Neville and Susan?"
"Of course, them too" he agreed.
They ended being up most of the night planning their fake wedding.
--
The next day, after school, Harry left Bea with the Weasleys, telling them he would be back for dinner and that he had big news, but leaving before Molly could "persuade" him into telling her immediately. Then, he picked Hermione up at their flat, and the both of them Apparated to the Grangers.
Hermione nervously rang the bell, and her mother opened the door in a minute or so.
"Hermione! It's so good to see you!" she said, hugging her daughter. Diane Granger then noticed Harry standing there too. "And you too, Harry! Please, come in, come in"
Soon the four of them, including Hermione's father Stephen, were sitting in the living room.
She was too nervous to speak, so it was Harry doing the most of the talking.
"…and so, we realized we love each other" he ended telling her parents how they supposedly started dating. "We kept it secret till now because we wanted to be sure it was going to work" he added then, anticipating her mother's question.
"Well, what can I say, Harry. You've always been a fine young man, and we know you mustn't have had it easy, raising your child on your own. I can tell you make Hermione very happy" Stephen said, motioning for his daughter, who was looking at Harry quite adoringly at the moment, and who had the decency to blush realizing everyone was looking at her.
"Oh, she makes me very happy too, Mr. Granger" Harry said, giving her an affectionate smile, and she noticed his eyes were almost glowing with emotion. She didn't have much time to think about it, though, because the next moment Harry was on one knee, a sparkling diamond ring in his hand, and he looked up at her.
"Will you marry me, Hermione?" he asked, and for the briefest moment she had the impression he wasn't faking it. But she guessed it was just wishful thinking on her part.
"Yes" she breathlessly said, and he slipped the ring on her finger, while her mother was bawling with joy and Stephen was clapping Harry on the back.
"I guess you can officially call me Stephen now, son" he laughed, and Harry grinned back. Hermione was still staring at the ring, speechless.
--
When the Weasleys heard the news, everyone congratulated the happy couple, or supposedly happy couple. Ron was staring at Harry strangely, so the raven haired wizard went to confront his best mate, an huge grin on his face.
"So, you and Hermione, uh?" Ron said, raising his eyebrow. "I thought you were desperate because you couldn't find a wife soon enough"
Harry cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, we haven't been dating for long, Ron, and I didn't want to ask her so soon. But I realized if I couldn't ask her, then who could I ask? Now we got to hurry though" he said, diverting the focus on the engagement, and shifting it on the actual ceremony.
"Aye mate, you definitely have to get the fastest wedding of Wizarding history if you want to be ready for the probation" his friend clapped him on the back. "Don't hesitate to ask me for anything"
"Yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned it because I'll be needing a best man" Harry nervously said, scratching his neck.
"You don't even have to ask" Ron said with a broad smile. "I'll be honoured to"
Harry thanked him profusely, then turned, and spotted Hermione chatting quietly with Luna on the other side of the room.
He wondered when had she become so beautiful, and she must have felt his stare on her because she turned and blushed. He raised his glass, smiling at her, before taking a sip, and she smiled back, the diamond ring sparkling on her hand.
Maybe they would really manage to make it work, Harry thought, as he got engulfed in the crowd of Weasley males congratulating him.
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