Disclaimer: JKR owns.
A Late Night Visit
Chapter 9: Meet the Grangers
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[AN]: Sorry it's taken me a few weeks to get back to this one. I've currently been working on two other projects: Perfect Timing and Choose Me. Both are now completed, so I can focus on this story and My Countenance. Feel free to check the others out though!
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Eventually, Harry and Hermione arrived in Hogsmeade. The sky was a faint dark blue, and a pinkish-purple hue was starting to break on the horizon. Luckily for them, that meant that it would still be a bit darker when they apparated to Hermione's home in Fulham.
Harry sneaked in one last kiss before Hermione wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and apparated them away. They reappeared a second later in the garden grotto hidden in the corner of Hermione's expansive backyard.
Harry tried to take a second to ogle at his surroundings, but Hermione quickly tugged him off towards her back porch.
"We have to sneak in through my window," Hermione whispered, slipping out of the invisibility cloak, "I don't want to risk going through the house."
Harry simply nodded and watched the good view as Hermione started climbing up the ivy fence and onto the roof. Once she was secure, she gave the go ahead for Harry to start climbing up.
"I didn't think that taking me home to your parents would first require us to go all James Bond…" Harry told her quietly as he pulled himself over, the cloak slung over his shoulder.
Hermione pinched his side and then grabbed his hand, leading him over to her wide window.
"Alohomora," she whispered, tapping her wand against the glass. She heard the window click from inside and slowly eased it open. Fortunately, her room seemed completely untouched, meaning that her parents hadn't tried to wake her yet. Though, there was an aroma of strong coffee wafting through the air, and Hermione concluded that they must already be up.
"Nice room," Harry said as he too crawled through the window.
Hermione turned back to him with an excited grin, "Thanks."
"So what are your parents going to think when we come down together?" he asked, walking towards her bed and sitting on the edge.
Hermione shrugged, "Well, I figured that since they don't know I left, that I could go and ask them if you can stay here for the rest of winter break. And when they say yes," she continued in a way that left no other option, "I'll come back up and pretend that I'm calling you or something. Then you can sneak back out the window and then knock on the front door- what?"
Harry was staring up at her, completely flabbergasted, "Have you done this before or something?"
"No," she answered, giving him a confused look.
Harry shook his head in an impressed manner, "Damn- our devious affair really had an impact on you."
Hermione let out a laugh as she pushed him back on the bed, "Shut it, Potter."
"Your bed is so comfy," Harry returned with a sly grin, as he pushed himself more in the center of it.
"I'm glad you like it. Make yourself at home, I'm going to go downstairs and ask," she finished, shrugging out of her jacket and kicking off her shoes.
"Wait!" Harry called quietly as she was reaching for the door. Hermione turned back with a questioning look, "What if they don't say yes?"
"Then I guess you'll be hiding out in my room for the next two weeks," she answered easily.
A wide grin spread over Harry's face as he pretended to think it over, "Hmm, that might be fun, too."
Hermione winked cheekily before playfully giving him a severe look, "Now don't walk around too much; the floorboards creak in certain spots."
"Gotcha, love."
Hermione couldn't help sending him another smile. After telling him that she'd be back soon, she opened her bedroom door just enough to squeeze through, and left, leaving Harry alone to his thoughts.
…
Hermione practically floated down the stairs, barely noticing the scent of coffee and the light banter coming from further in the house.
"Mum? Dad?" she called out, walking into the open kitchen.
"Morning sweetheart!" answered the voice of a woman, who looked like an older, wiser (if that was even possible), version of Hermione. Her mother, Elisabeth, was dressed in her usual Christmas morning jumper and comfy jeans, giving her daughter an adoring smile. She was standing at the refrigerator, probably about to start getting out ingredients for Hermione's dad to make them breakfast. Just like Hermione, Elisabeth was a horrid cook.
"Hey love," spoke Hermione's dad, Richard, getting up from the table and walking towards his daughter, "Happy Christmas."
Hermione smiled at her dad as he kissed her cheek, "Happy Christmas. You too, Mum." Hermione walked over and pecked her mum on the cheek as well.
"Happy Christmas baby. Well, how do you want to do things? Do you want to open presents and then eat, or eat and then open presents after?" Elisabeth asked brightly. It was obvious that Hermione inherited her organizational skills from her mother.
Hermione bit her lip, "Um, actually I wanted to ask you both something first…"
"Oh?" her mum asked, sharing a look with Richard, before turning back to Hermione with a guilty smile, "I'm sorry I'm so excited- it's just this is the first Christmas the three of us has spent together in a couple of years…"
Hermione's nerves were starting to overwhelm her as she stared into her mother's exuberant eyes.
"What's on your mind, Hermione?" asked Richard, sitting down at the kitchen table and giving his daughter a quizzical look.
"Um… well, it's about Harry actually…"
"Harry?" Richard asked sprightly, "Is the poor chap doing alright?"
Hermione shook her head, "Not really. He left the Burrow yesterday and now he has no one to spend Christmas with. And I was wondering…" she trailed off, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she looked back and forth between her parents anxiously. This was turning out to be a little more nerve wrecking than she had imagined. What if they did say no?
"You want to know if he can come over for the day?" Elisabeth guessed in an approving tone.
"Well, more like for the rest of the holiday."
Richard and Elisabeth shared a blank look before turning back to Hermione, who had instantly started pleading Harry's case, "Please Mum, I'm worried of what might happen to him if he has to spend the holidays alone. Harry needs a friend right now…"
Her parents shared another look. Hermione couldn't tell if they were sending an approving, or rejecting message. Finally, her dad turned to her and started to speak in a careful tone, "You're mum was really looking forward to the three of us getting some quality time together. Afterall, this will probably be your last Christmas here before you move out and start your own life."
"I know, but Harry's as good as my family. I mean, he practically saved my life on more than one occasion last year," she told them, hesitant to guilt trip them, but willing to do anything to get them to agree.
After glancing back at Richard, Elisabeth turned to Hermione with a consenting look, "Well, I suppose we do owe him a thank you in person. I don't have a problem with it if your father doesn't."
Hermione turned on Richard with a begging look, "Daddy, please."
Richard sighed unsurely. It wasn't that he wanted to be rude and coldhearted towards the boy that was his only child's best friend. It was just that Harry was an eighteen year old boy- surely he had realized by now how beautiful his daughter was. He didn't know how well he'd be able to sleep with an undoubtedly hormone driven bloke sleeping under the same roof as his Hermione. Alas, as he looked back up into the eyes of his daughter, he knew he wouldn't be able to disappoint her.
"I suppose he could sleep in the guest house…"
Hermione grinned from ear to ear and sprang forward to hug her father, then her mother, "Oh thank you! I'm going to go and ring Harry to let him know."
With that, Hermione ran out of the kitchen and back up the stairs, leaving Richard and Elisabeth to gap at her enthusiasm.
"I've never seen her excited like this before…" Elisabeth muttered, glancing back to her husband.
Richard gave her an incredulous look, "Oh, don't even suggest that something like that is going on, Beth."
The brunette sent him a sly grin before shrugging her shoulders innocently, "Okay then, I won't."
…
Hermione sprinted up the stairs and burst into her room with an eager smile on her face.
"They said you could stay!" she said in a fervent whisper.
Harry looked up suddenly from the edge of the bed, "Really?"
Hermione nodded and then shrugged reasonably, "Yeah, but in the guest house."
"Hmm," Harry sounded furtively. He glanced behind him and looked out her window where a separate house stood close in the backyard, "The one right outside your bedroom window?" he asked, his voice taking on a crafty tone.
Hermione nodded, "Yep, that'd be the one."
"Oh this is going to work out nicely," he said, cleverly pulling Hermione down on the bed and planting a languid kiss on her lips.
"So," Harry muttered between kisses, "how long before… I should go down?"
"Mmm, a few more minutes," she mumbled back distractedly.
Harry grinned into their next kiss, and eased himself more on top of her. He couldn't believe that they were still this comfortable with each other after what had happened a few hours earlier, but he was amazingly grateful for it.
About thirty minutes passed before the two were able to find enough strength to break apart from their embrace. Hermione had to practically push Harry out of the window so that he could sneak back down and head to the front of her house, while Hermione headed towards her bathroom to freshen up.
A couple of minutes went by before Hermione heard the doorbell ring downstairs. She sprung into action, throwing her door open and skipping down the stairs.
"I got it!" she hollered to her parents.
But despite Hermione's forewarning, Richard showed up in the entryway first. He opened the door and leveled a solid stare at the boy standing on his porch, "Harry Potter?"
Harry froze staring into the unfamiliar face that was supposed to be Hermione's, but clearly wasn't. "Um, hello sir," he fumbled in front of her father, jabbing out his hand, "It's nice to meet you."
Richard gave him an examining look for a few seconds, before taking hold of Harry's hand in his larger fist, "Likewise. The name's Richard. I can't tell you how much Hermione's mother and I appreciate everything you've done, Harry."
Harry blinked, unsure if Richard was being sarcastic or not. His voice hadn't given anything away, which lead Harry to believe that he was maybe referring to something else concerning Hermione…
The young wizard paused, hesitant to respond, when suddenly a soothing voice came to his rescue.
"To protect me, he means," Hermione cut in, appearing on her father's side, "Hi Harry."
"Hey Hermione. Happy Christmas," he greeted, trying to keep the loving look from his eyes. This was the first time he had met Richard, but if he were to guess, he'd say that he was probably just as perceptive as his daughter. He'd definitely have to be careful around him until he and Hermione decided to come clean to them.
"Happy Christmas- come in," Hermione replied, stepping aside and nodding him in.
Harry stepped in modestly under the watchful eye of Richard, and followed Hermione, who grabbed him by the hand and led him into the kitchen to meet Elisabeth.
"Mum, this is my best friend Harry Potter."
Elisabeth turned from the kitchen sink and sent Harry and earnest smile, "Of course, I've heard a lot about you Harry. I'm Elisabeth," she held out her hand to him and Harry stepped forward and shook it nimbly. He had to blink a couple extra times in order to not blatantly stare at the woman. Obviously, he hadn't expected for Hermione and her mum to look so much alike.
"It's good to finally meet you, Mrs. Granger," he returned politely.
Elisabeth patted him on the shoulder in a motherly fashion, "Please, you can call me Elisabeth, or Beth. Are you hungry?" she asked with a hopeful look. During the time that Hermione had used to 'call' Harry, Richard and Elisabeth had started on a decent breakfast of eggs, bacon, and French toast.
"I'm starving actually," Harry replied truthfully, glancing hungrily towards the already set table.
"Well, Hermione can show you to where you'll be staying and then we can all sit down to breakfast. Did you bring anything with you?" she asked suddenly, looking around for any sign of Harry's luggage.
"Magic Mum," Hermione reminded her, eagerly tugging Harry off in the direction of the back door, leading out to the guest house.
Hermione and Harry hurried across the lawn of the backyard as subtly as possible. When they finally got through the doors of the guest house, Hermione turned on him and smiled.
"Hard part's over," she said relieved.
Harry was still busy taking in the enormousness of the 'guest' house. He turned back to her with a cheeky grin, "Yeah right, the hard part is going to be trying not to snog you every second."
A coy grin spread over Hermione's lips as she grabbed his hand and pulled him in closer, "We'll have to figure something out for that, won't we?"
"Just keep you're window open tonight and it'll be good," Harry said, leaning in as well.
"You know I will," she muttered against his lips before kissing him. Harry got caught up in the moment, and slid his hands down her back before slipping under the hem of her shirt.
Hermione made a sound in the back of her throat, and then gently pushed away from him.
"Sorry," Harry mumbled, though the look in his eyes said that he wasn't really sorry at all.
"It's okay- it's just my parents are probably waiting for us…"
"When did you want to tell them that we're dating?" Harry asked, pulling out his trunk from his pocket and setting it on the ground.
Hermione made a dubious sound, "I don't know."
Harry paused from enlarging his trunk and sent her a skeptical look, "Hermione…"
"What?" she questioned defensively, "I know we'll have to tell them, but I think that'll be a lot to unload on the first day you're here, you know?"
Harry bit the inside of his cheek before relenting, "I understand. Plus it's Christmas…"
Hermione grinned, happy that he had conceded, "Exactly. We have a bunch of stuff to do today."
"Are you sure I'm not intruding on your family time? I don't want your parents to feel like that."
Hermione shook her head, despite the conversation she had with her mother and father earlier, "They don't, trust me."
Harry didn't give up, and scratched at the back of his head uncomfortably, "Do you think I should wait in here while you guys open your presents?"
Hermione sighed, starting to get frustrated, "Harry, stop. My parents want you here as much as I do. And I'd like for you to be there with me when we're opening gifts. Believe it or not, there might be a few of them under the tree for you too."
"You didn't have to get me anything…" Harry protested, giving her a tender look.
Hermione rolled her eyes in a playful manner, "Fine, I'll take them back if you don't want them."
"Well," Harry cut in, grabbing her waist as she was turning to walk away, "If you've already taken the liberty to get them, then I'll accept. I'd hate to inconvenience you by taking them back…"
Hermione laughed, turning in his arms, "Nice recovery."
"I know, I'm getting better." Knowing that it was risky, Harry pulled Hermione into him again, and pressed his lips to hers softly. Breaking away, Harry stared unblinkingly into her eyes, "I love you Hermione. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell you how much."
Hermione smiled gently at him, "As long as you keep showing me; that's all that matters."
They met in one last kiss before leaving for breakfast, excited for the Christmas day that awaited them.
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