Chapter Four - Dinner Theatre
The atmosphere at Number Twelve was just a bit frenetic as the clock in the entry hall announced half six. Looking around the formal dinning room, which they rarely used. Hermione sighed as she surveyed the room.
"Harry?" Waiting for a second to see if he was within earshot, she shook her head and looked at the table. "Kreacher?"
Kreacher appeared with a very subtle `pop' as Hermione looked around. "Yes, Mistress?"
"Kreacher, we've been through this quite a number of times. My name is `Hermione'." Smiling, Hermione shook her head as she and Kreacher went through their familiar routine.
"Yes, Hermione?" Smiling, Kreacher nodded to the Mistress of Grimmauld Place. "Everything is progressing smoothly in the kitchen, all of the guests with the exceptions of Miss Ginevra and Master Dennis have responded that they're coming, and Master Harry is out in the back of the house, attempting to coax the gernumblies into behaving later this evening when everyone retires to the back."
"If Teddy's upstairs, have him go out and rescue his father. He's the only one who has a clue about the agreements Luna made with them when she persuaded them to relocate here." Shaking her head, Hermione chuckled at the long explanation that Luna had provided when she had `surprised' Harry and Hermione with garden gnomes in their garden for their second Christmas here in Grimmauld Place. Both she and Harry had graciously accepted, and six months later they thanked her again when the gernumblies mobbed a disguised Death Eater who was impersonating a courier from the Ministry and subdued the would-be assassin.
Nodding, Kreacher smiled. "I'll send the young Master out to rescue his father in a moment." Looking around the room, Kreacher nodded. "Winky is finishing up the dinner arrangements in the kitchen, and Walks With Nargles is putting the finishing touches on the pastries for this evening."
"Are you certain Ron and Luna didn't need her services tonight? I know she's a bit at loose ends over there, but we could have survived without extra help." Shaking her head, Hermione smiled at Kreacher.
"If the Mistress of the House is going to throw dinner parties at the last instant to announce truly significant events, then she might as well accept the fact that additional help will be needed from time to time." Nodding smugly at Hermione, knowing full well that his referring the Mistress of the House in the third person wasn't, technically, a violation of her feelings about referring to her by her given name, Kreacher waited for her to respond.
"It was inconsiderate of us to do this at the last minute, but things seem to be spiraling a bit out of control, and Harry wants the family to know before they start hearing rumors from various sources."
"With the exception of the Weasleys, everyone would have been fine with butterbeer and pizza." Harry observed as he entered the dining room from the French doors leading to the outside. Crossing the room, he casually wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and gently kissed her on the cheek. Seeing the approving smile on Kreacher's face, he shrugged. "At least you're not giving us a never ending round of `I told you so'."
"Master Harry, Kreacher would never have dreamed of commenting upon the relationship between you and Mistress Hermione. Winky and I had every confidence that the two of you would figure things out, eventually." Nodding, Kreacher turned back to Hermione. "I'll just go and make certain that Winky remembers Master Ron's ability to demolish a dessert cart."
As Kreacher vanished from the room, Hermione shook her head. "He's been so insufferably cheerful since breakfast this morning. I really do hope we can survive everyone giving us the `it's about bloody time' speech for the next six months." Looking at Harry with surprise, Hermione kissed him. "You actually got the gnomes settled?"
"Well, actually I resorted to vague threats, which seemed to work this time." Seeing the disbelieving look on Hermione's face, Harry smiled. "I pointed out that you were very stressed, and if they didn't feel compelled to behave tonight, then you wouldn't feel compelled to ensure that Crookshanks behaved this evening, either."
"Harry! So now I've become the Wicked Witch of the Garden?" Shaking her head, Hermione glared at him. "You'll have it so they'll be hiding every time I leave the house."
"I was just teasing love. In fact, out of all the arguments I tried, I think the fact that Luna is going to be here had more to do with it than any other argument I could muster." Leaning over and kissing her gently on the cheek, Harry smiled. "For some reason, they're wanting to be cooperative today. I only had to bargain with the head gnome for about ten minutes and promise them first dibs on the dessert leftovers."
"Did you forget Ron is going to be here tonight? There's not much of a chance of that happening." Shaking her head, Hermione sighed. "The boy just turned twenty-eight and he still eats like he's sitting at the Gryffindor table for start of term."
"He'll inform you that he's still a `growing wizard', though I'm certain I don't want to know what he means by that, and Luna will just smirk and go on about him `working it off'." Shaking his head at the foibles of two of their oldest friends, Harry smiled. "But I had Winky put aside a pumpkin pie and a tray of scones for them, so that should be sufficient for seven or eight gernumblies." Looking a bit puzzled, Harry looked back towards the door leading to the lower kitchen. "Did we hire another elf for the house? The one making those crème horns Luna likes looks familiar."
"As long as Ron doesn't mystically `sense' the presence of an uneaten dessert somewhere in the house, that should work." Shaking her head at him, Hermione sighed. "That's Walks With Nargles, the nanny elf that Luna hired when they were in America last year."
"Explain to me why Luna and Ron, who don't have any children and will admit under duress in front of Molly that they don't plan on having any children for at least two more years, would hire an elf as a nanny, much less an American one."
"Luna was sitting in a coffee shop in a place called Keystone South Dakota when she noticed a house elf trying to get her attention standing outside. Being Luna, she didn't think anything of it and invited her in for a cup and some pastries." Rolling her eyes, Hermione tried to keep from laughing at the expression on Harry's face. "And before you ask, yes she does know about the Secrecy Statutes, and no it never occurred to her that someone might think it strange for her to be sitting there, drinking coffee and eating pie with a house elf."
Chuckling, Harry shook his head. "I know this part of it. What I'm still unclear on is the `why' of it. Every time I ask Ron, all he can say is `its Luna mate, what can I say.'"
"Well, you know as much as everyone in Britain, other than Luna and Walks With Nargles. All I can say is that Walks was bored living with the Anishinaabe and both she and Luna decided that the proper thing for her to do would be come back to England with them and attach herself to the family."
Shaking his head at the foibles of their friends, Harry looked at Hermione inquisitively. "Did Ginny ever get back to us?"
"Actually, she rang me back a few minutes after you went outside. They've got some sort of commitment tonight that they can't get out of, but we're still on for tomorrow night at Greengrass'." Smiling at Harry, Hermione nodded. "She's already figured it out somehow, but she says we have to tell them anyway tomorrow night. As your `heartsick and distraught ex' she has the right to be told in person."
"Heartsick and distraught? I distinctly remember her being the one to call things off." Shrugging, Harry looked a bit puzzled. "Any idea how she figured it out?"
Holding up one finger, Hermione nodded to Harry. Walking over to the doors into the dining room, she looked up the stairwell and called out "Teddy?"
Making shushing motions towards Harry as he tried to ask what she was doing, she waited until Teddy made an appearance at the top of the stairs. Seeing that he'd already changed into the clothes he was going to wear tonight, she smiled at him. "You look nice cub. Are you certain you won't mind keeping the twins occupied tonight?"
"Thanks Mum." Teddy's hair shifted a bit towards electric blue as he nodded in agreement. "It's no problem Mum. Lils and Tuney are always good fun when they come over. Vic and I can handle them."
As he turned to head back to his room, Hermione called him again, "Teddy?"
Turning around he smiled. "What'd I forget this time?"
"Nothing. Your Aunt Ginny said to give her a floo call at the Burrow. She forgot to tell you something when she talked to you this morning." Turning her head a bit, Hermione kept Teddy in her line of sight as she nodded to him.
"Thanks Mum, I'll… I haven't talked to Aunt G for a while, I wonder what she wants" he hastily corrected as he looked nervously at his mother, his hair turning a sickly shade of green that usually meant a bit of a guilty conscience. "I suppose I should go see what she wants since we haven't chatted in ages." With that, he bolted down the hallway towards the library and its waiting floo connection.
"Ginny's not at the Burrow, so he's going to have to wait until tomorrow to get his story straight with her." Hermione smirked as she walked back over to Harry and wrapped her arms around him.
"Which one of them recruited the other?" Shaking his head, Harry rolled his eyes. "Do you have the feeling that we were a tad setup?"
"Harry James Potter. Unless you have some complaints about how things turned out, I'm going to suggest that how it happened isn't really important." Looking at him with her best McGonagall look, Hermione bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing at the expression on his face.
"Actually, I was going to suggest that we raise his allowance and do something nice for Gin and Dennis." Waiting until she dropped the glare, he nodded. "Speaking of which, we do need to go by Hogwarts and let Minerva take us to task for taking so long. Since you were always her favorite, it's going to be my fault, so I might as well start apologizing to her sooner than later."
"I was the favorite? I don't seem to remember Minerva ever buying me a broom." Grinning at the look on Harry' face, Hermione dimpled as she kissed him on the nose. "I think you were definitely the favorite there."
"Please, that was just Quidditch and the House Cup. She would have bought Filch a broom if she thought it would have helped beat Severus for the Cup. You were and are her star pupil, the only reason I wasn't expelled a dozen times over was because you were with me most of the time."
"Aha, the truth comes out. You just had me around to get you out of trouble. You probably never noticed I was a girl until last night." Turning away from him, she sniffed loudly. "I see how you are, Mr. Potter."
"You've obviously mistaken me for Ron Weasley, Ms Granger. I liked having you around, and I definitely noticed you were a girl long before the Yule Ball." Turning her back around Harry put both of his hands on her shoulders. "The fact I was an idiot for fifteen years doesn't mean that I didn't appreciate you, it only means that I was too stupid to realize that everything I had every wanted was within reach since I was twelve."
"Harry, I really don't think we need to worry about the why of it." Smiling, Hermione leaned forward and kissed him, very passionately. After they broke for air, she continued, though her voice was a bit ragged. "We've finally realized what we both wanted, and the only thing we have to do is survive telling our families and friends and then its `happy ever after'."
Looking over at the clock, she grimaced. "However, since it's well past half six and people will most likely start arriving about a quarter after, I think we should go upstairs and change and get ready to greet the mob." Taking Harry's hand, she smiled as they started walking towards the door together. "Think Chastity will keep her word and not tell Petunia?"
"Chastity's not our leak there." Smiling, Harry reached down and picked Hermione up, honeymoon style. "The twins will tell their grandmother unless Dudley keeps a close watch on them."
Ignoring her protests, he carried her up the steps and to his bedroom, both of them laughing as he kicked the door shut.
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Smiling conspiratorially at each other, Helen Granger and Petunia Evans nodded towards the couple at the one end of the table. Helen was ignoring her husband Alex's vain attempt to shush her as she chatted with Petunia. "Something is very definitely up. Those two haven't been more that three feet from each other all evening. And the fact both of them were `indisposed' when we arrived?" Nodding towards where Harry and Hermione were sitting, talking with Luna and Ron, Helen smiled. "It's the hands. The only reason he isn't holding hers is because they're both trying not to."
Keeping her voice low, Petunia nodded in agreement. "Something's up. The twins called me after they got back from the Zoo today. All I could get out of them was that they'd seen their cousin Teddy there before they dissolved into a fit of giggles. Then Dudley got on the line and said that they'd be seeing us tonight. Five minutes later, an invitation arrives by owl."
"Molly and Arthur don't know anything more than we do, but from the look on Arthur's face, I think he has come to the same conclusion that we have." Smiling, Helen nodded to Arthur who looked up as they mentioned him and saw him try to cover a very satisfied grin.
Shaking her head, Petunia smiled knowingly at Hermione as she looked down the table. Giving the girl credit for keeping a straight face, Petunia nodded to where Hermione's hand wasn't on the table or in sight. As Hermione's cheeks began to colour a bit, Petunia turned to Fleur, who was on her other side.
"And what does the family Veela think about our host and hostess?" Smiling, Petunia inclined her head towards the end of the table where Luna was telling a story that everyone but Harry was having troubles keeping straight.
"Those two? Pffft. Zey are glowing like a pair of lanterns." Shaking her head, she turned to her husband. "Beel, Victoire was correct, it has finally happened."
"Fleur, you promised you'd let them tell the story." Shaking his head, Bill smiled at his wife before leaning forward to wink at Petunia and Helen. "After making everyone wait this long, the least we can do is play along for a few more minutes to let them announce it themselves."
Shaking her head, Helen smirked as she lifted her wineglass in a toast to her daughter. Rolling her eyes, Hermione returned the salute with her water goblet as Winky, Kreacher and a third house elf wheeled a pair of dessert carts into the dining room.
Standing, Harry nodded to the assembled group as the three elves began moving around the table, removing plates and replacing them with desserts of various types. Nodding to Hermione, he smiled and took a deep breath.
"Hermione and I would like to say that we appreciate everyone coming on such short notice." Looking around the room, Harry suddenly realized that everyone was looking at the two of them, as if they knew something was coming. "While this isn't the entire family, by any stretch of the imagination, we're very happy to have as many as we could gather here tonight."
Clearing her throat a bit and standing beside him, Hermione smiled as Harry threw her a grateful grin. "What Harry's trying to say is that we wanted family to be here tonight when we made an announcement." Glaring at Ron, who was coughing along with George, she shook her head. "While Harry and I have been entirely sincere over the past fifteen years when we've said that there wasn't anything going on between us, apparently we were a bit mistaken."
Ignoring Ron's `You think?" Hermione shook her head and started to blush. Looking to Harry for assistance, she sighed when he reached over and grabbed her hand with his.
"Actually, I think I can sum this up so we can get back to the wonderful desserts and you can all start the never-ending round of `we told you so'. Stepping over to Hermione, Harry placed his hand on the small of her back, leaned forward and began to kiss her. A bit tentatively at first, to allow her to control the kiss, it soon became more passionate as Hermione wrapped her arms around him. Finally breaking the kiss, after a few catcalls from George and Ron had Molly threatening to deal with both of them later, he slid his arm around her waist and turned back to face them. "Any questions?"
The room erupted into spontaneous applause, cheers and laughter. As the couple sat down, everyone began talking at once. While the desserts were being served, the story of how they'd finally decided to accept the fact that they actually had been a couple for years was passed around by those who knew the bits and pieces of it.
Helen noticed that Walks With Nargles, the house elf that worked for Luna and Ron, was putting an unfamiliar pastry on a plate for her. Turning to the diminutive elf, she smiled graciously. "This looks delicious; I don't think I've ever seen it before."
"It's a traditional pastry of the Anishinaabe made from isquotm. Very good luck for occasions such as this, Mistress Helen."
Taking a small bite, Helen's face lit up in delight. "It's pumpkin, and it's very good." Looking around and seeing that no one else had a similar piece, she turned back to Walks With Nargles. "Is there more, I'm certain Hermione would adore this."
Nodding sagely, Walks With Nargles smiled. "It's traditional for the Nookomis to enjoy the first pieces on a night like tonight. Since Master Harry's Miss Lily is gone, you will enjoy the first piece as Nookomis for good luck."
"Nookomis?" Looking puzzled, Helen turned to Alex. "Are you familiar with that term dear?"
Seeing her husband shake his head, Helen caught Hermione's eye. She excused herself from the conversation Harry and Ron were having and came around the table, with Luna in tow. As the two witches arrived, Hermione noticed the strange dessert on Helen's plate. "That looks good Mum, what's it called?"
"Walks With Nargles here says its isquotm, which turns out to be pumpkin. But she's used a term I didn't recognize and she doesn't seem to be able to translate. Have you heard of the term `Nookomis'?"
Looking at Hermione who was shaking her head, Helen was just taking another bite when Luna smiled knowingly. "Helen, it's the Ojibwa word for `grandmother'. Why do you ask?"
Helen's fork clattered to her plate as Hermione whispered "Oh my."
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