Title: Best Friends Having Lunch
Author: AddisonJ
Chapter 2: "Isn't it Obvious?"
17 Years after Chapter 1
Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter.
A/N: I had written Chapter 1, which is full of angst, and could not go back to edit it for weeks, because I did not want to go through those feelings of melancholy again. Then, I read a Pride and Prejudice fan fiction by Jane Greensmith called "All I Do" set in an alternative universe that takes Darcy and Elizabeth 20 years to the happy ever after. Going through such disappointment and sadness to a happy ending in that short story made me envision this second part to what was supposed to be a one-shot.
If you enjoy angst, don't bother to continue. Otherwise, please read and review.
And yes, there is death and divorce but no affairs. (It's difficult to write a Harmony happy ending in a post-epilogue world without death and/or divorce. Believe me, I tried.)
Canon note: I made Albus a year older than Rose. He had already left Hogwarts but Rose is a seventh year.
Thanks to my beta, Tears of Mercury!
XXX
Two best friends having lunch. Nothing unusual there. They had known each other for 3/4th of their lives, since they met on the Hogwarts Express as first years.
Two best friends having lunch. It used to be a weekly event when they were young adults starting lives as husband, wife, mother, father, married to others who happened to be a brother and sister named Weasley. Before that, it wasn't just weekly but a daily occurrence in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Now, the circle has closed and it was once again a daily occurrence at the Great Hall of Hogwarts as Professor Potter and Professor Granger (or Granger-Weasley, but never just Weasley) dined on soup at the high table of the Great Hall, no longer at the Gryffindor table. No, instead some of their children sat at the Gryffindor table or the Ravenclaw table- none at the Slytherin table.
The two best friends always sat together, side by side. They spoke to each other. One would wonder how they managed to still find topics to discuss after 30 years of friendship, but that sort of rhetorical question could easily be answered by spending just a few minutes in their company, or by knowing the personalities of those involved: one, a talkative know-it-all, the other a more taciturn yet still verbal man. Together, they defeated the Darkness and brought back the Light. As young adults, they contributed each in their own way, one as an Auror, working with the former husband of the other; the other, as an employee of the Ministry of Magic, becoming the expert of the rights of magical creatures such as centaurs, giants, werewolves, and house elves. Thanks to the efforts of Madame Granger-Weasley (as was her surname at the time), the rights of the underclass magical creatures had been greatly expanded. Not to the full rights as Madame Granger-Weasley would have wanted (the resistance of the old pureblood families was nearly insurmountable), but she had made greater strides than many thought possible. So why did Madame Granger- Weasley retire early from her profession as a prosecutor of Wizengamot ? Could it be her divorce from the missing piece of the Golden Trio? Or the fact that her youngest had enrolled at Hogwarts and she wanted to be near him? Or that, shortly after the final divorce decree, the wife of her best friend had died suddenly, to a Muggle disease, nonetheless, a heart aneurysm. One moment Ginny was choosing drapes for the sitting room and the next, she was on the floor, lifeless.
Harry was distraught, of course. So was everyone else. Molly and Arthur Weasley had never expected to lose another child, not after they lost Fred in the War, and not their youngest, their only girl. Widowed, Harry transferred to a more administrative role in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; his work as an Auror was dangerous, and since his own three children had already lost one parent, he didn't want them to lose another so quickly.
Knowing Harry as well as she did, Hermione knew what he would say and what he would not say. The Boy-Who-Lived was also the Boy-Who-Lived-Under-the-Stairs and still had difficulty expressing emotion. Defeating the Dark Lord certainly reduced his overall anxiety level, but having a traumatic childhood, from abuse in the house of his Muggle relatives to having his life threatened and nearly dying at least annually while he was at Hogwarts (he did receive an honorary degree for the missing seventh year when they were hunting and destroying Horcruxes), Harry still kept most of his feelings to himself. Ginny understood that and let him be. That was the Harry she knew and loved. Hermione knew that and pushed him when needed. She was also able to know his thoughts without his speaking. So, when Harry became a widower, she mourned the loss of Ginny, and she became quite active in the Potter family. She looked after the children, looked after their father, looked after her own children and made sure Ron was handling it as well as could be expected (but he did have Lavender Brown to help him through. Harry had no one else.). Hermione knew the Weasleys would fold together in their grief, but Harry … Harry would be Harry. He would say he was fine, but grow all quiet, a shell of himself. That's when he would find Hermione at his house, making sandwiches, checking that laundry gets done and dishes put away. Checking on the children at Hogwarts and young James as a new Auror. That's when many owls were sent to Hogwarts for the Potter and Weasley children from their Mum/ Aunt Hermione, letting them know that they were loved and cared for, and that someone is looking out for their Dad.
No one was really surprised when Harry accepted the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship. The position had been a revolving door for decades, as if waiting for Harry Potter to be ready to take it. But when Headmistress McGonagall offered the position of History of Magic to the Wizengamot's most successful prosecutor, there was a bit of a surprise. It wasn't her best subject, but Hogwarts: A History was her favorite book (with the exception of the chapters on the Golden Trio and the Defeat of Voldemort, which were written a bit too much in the style of Rita Skeeter for Hermione's taste). Why would a rising star at the Ministry basically retire to the wilds of Scotland? No one who really knew Hermione and Harry would ask that question. Indeed, no one would, who saw them as they were now, sitting side by side eating lunch at the Great Hall at Hogwarts, as they had everyday for several years now.
***
Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley did not ask that question at the Gryffindor table.
"They love each other," Lily's best friend, Constance Bruce, whispered to her.
"They've always loved each other," her other best friend, Sapna Patel whispered back.
"Not that your Mum never loved your Dad, but look at them. They complete each other's sentences. They butter each other's toast. When Professor Granger starts to leave the table, Professor Potter moves the chair for her. When Professor Potter has research to do, he goes to Professor Granger for advice. They're like two parts of a whole. It's so obvious they were meant to be - no offense, Lily, but look at them. Even a blind man can see that it's so bloody obvious."
"Did you notice how they always seem to stand near each other? And Professor Potter often has his hand on Professor Granger's elbow or back or shoulder? And how Professor Granger always gives Professor Potter a quick kiss on the cheek to say hello and goodbye?"
"Those kisses seem to be getting longer lately. And they started looking at each other - quite quickly, mind you - but they started looking at each other even when with other people, doing other things."
"I think you need to spend your time reading the Witch Weekly and not staring at my Dad and Aunt," Lily finally and quite angrily interrupted her gossiping friends. Lily would join the gossip if it were about celebrities or that cute Hufflepuff in fifth year. She'd prefer it not be about her family, especially her father. She understood his desire to avoid any publicity and lead as private a life as possible. And she certainly did not want to tell her gossipy friends about a family meeting the week before.
***
"He's shagging her," Scorpius Malfoy drawled to his best friend, Rose Weasley. They had been discussing Quidditch strategy at her Ravenclaw table when he looked up, stared at her mother and uncle in that Slytherin/Malfoy way of his, and drawled that statement.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Rose said angrily. "Can we focus? I'm worried about the Hufflepuff defense this year. They're quite a determined lot."
Scorpius glanced at Rose's angry face, then turned his eyes once again to the other two best friends eating lunch. He was silent for a bit, lazily eating his apple and staring under half-lidded eyes, but Rose knew him well enough to know that he would not leave well enough alone. He had to show off his superior deduction talents. Scorpius had this uncanny ability to size people up immediately, by reading those unspoken clues in mannerisms, tone of voice, behavior. He sized her up first year as a worthy recipient of his friendship, even though she was half-Muggle and related to Potter. He seemed to know they'd be best friends and a tenacious offense in Quidditch. Rose braced herself for his next statement.
"Look there!" he suddenly stopped eating the apple to point to the head table where Rose only saw professors eating. "When your Mum dropped her napkin, they both reached for it. Potter's hand reached it after your Mum, but his thumb brushed her palm as she grabbed the napkin off the floor and they exchanged a look. The sort of look that says 'I'll see you later - in my bed.'" Rose rolled her eyes at Malfoy, who, of course, continued with a smirk, "I know that look; I'd give you that look if I could. It's all so bloody obvious."
"Shut up, Malfoy," Rose repeated, then tried to distract herself with a swig of pumpkin juice. She could discuss most things with Scorpius, but this was not one of them. Maybe later when it all was not so fresh …
Her eyes sought out those with whom she could discuss it - Hugo Weasley and Lily Potter. Lily met her eyes immediately with a pleading look. Lily took after her father, gentle and brave, but not a talker. Hugo took after his father, willingly oblivious if he wanted to be. Lily looked desperate. No wonder, sitting with Constance and Sapna, who were undoubtedly on the same topic as Malfoy, judging from their eyes going between the head table and Lily, and Lily's pale face flushing pink. Rose glanced at Hugo. No issues there. He and his mates kept their eyes to themselves and seemed to be laughing about something. Definitely not discussing the bedroom antics of their parents. Yet Hugo knew to glance up, see his sister's face, look at Lily, and know when to make an exit.
"Well, gotta go. No rest for the wicked. See you in Charms, my friends," he addressed his friends and made a swift exit to join his sister outside.
"Argh! I'm going to the library. You can gossip about my father and aunt with me out of earshot now." Lily made a less smooth exit.
Rose grabbed Scorpius' apple, took a bite, and handed it back to him, ignoring his disgusted look. "Later, Malfoy. Let me know when you're ready to discuss Quidditch or your career goal as the next Rita Skeeter," she drawled back to the Slytherin as she exited to Malfoy's briefly surprised then knowing look. (Scorpius had that knowing look once he saw Lily and Hugo leave the Great Hall at the same time as Rose.)
"Constance and Sapna guessed," Lily said immediately, her emotions too upset to start with pleasantries. No real need to start a conversation with pleasantries with one's cousins.
"Scorpius knows. No - I certainly didn't tell him," Rose rushed on as she saw the shocked expression on their faces. "He guessed. He's so bloody clever I knew he of all people would guess."
"It'll only get worse - they're in love. They just realized it themselves and they see each other all the time. They practically live together now. Once they buy that cottage in Hogsmeade, it'll get worse."
"I still can't believe it," Hugo added to the conversation whose topic was obvious to all. "I know they told us last week, but I still can't believe it."
"I know they were all best friends, but I didn't know Dad would love someone other than Mom so quickly," Lily stammered, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Rose gave her a deep hug.
"Your Dad loved Aunt Ginny. We know that. You know that. He did say that. But it's different. My Mom's not replacing your Mom and your Dad's not replacing our Dad. It's different, and they're in love now."
Rose remembered back to the family meeting last week, how they all met in Uncle Harry's sitting room in his apartment in the teacher's wing of the castle. His apartment was next to her mum's and she always knew if her mum was not in her rooms nor the library or her classroom, she would be at Uncle Harry's.
***
Last week:
Rose was surprised to see James and Albus were there too. They were Aurors in training in London. She remembered thinking that it must be a big meeting for them to come up to Hogwarts as well.
She remembered how nervous Uncle Harry and Mum seemed when they all arrived. Nervous, but … giddy as well. Uncle Harry had been looking poorly since Aunt Ginny died. The bags under his eyes were deepening and the first couple of gray hairs were starting to appear in his dark, tousled hair. But at that moment, he looked as if he had lost 10 years of age and his demeanor was that of a lovestruck sixth year. No one would think the man before them was a DADA professor, the Boy-Who-Saved-Them-From-Darkness.
Her mum wasn't giddy, by contrast, but happy. Really genuinely happy in a way Rose hadn't seen in years. Before the divorce, there were the numerous rows with Dad; after the divorce, the tensions of juggling visitations and work and family. Since she started at Hogwarts and had her children close by, and the schedule with her Dad was now stable, her Mum had started to relax more and smile. But now, she was almost glowing with happiness.
Rose had glanced at her cousins and her brother to see if they were as clueless as she had pretended to be. One look at the two best friends and she knew the topic of the meeting.
James met her eyes. He could guess as well. Albus looked as clueless as Hugo, while Lily looked a bit scared, not willing to believe her eyes.
Uncle Harry started the meeting by thanking them for being there at short notice, but they wanted to tell them all as soon as possible before anything might leak out.
He talked about how much he loved Aunt Ginny and how the past couple years were so difficult; and how he came to rely on her mum so much, that they were always best friends and her mum was always there for him, since they were 11 years old.
Then her mum spoke about how hard it was to divorce her Dad and that part of her would always love him, but that they were just not very good at being married to each other, and how Lavender Brown was so much better for him, but they would always be best friends. And then she spoke of how she loved working at Hogwarts, being near her children, her niece and nephews, and her other best friend.
That was when her mum looked at Uncle Harry and Rose felt it deep in her gut: They're in love. They've always been in love.
Rose then remembered her Uncle Harry would floo everyday during the divorce.
She remembered how Uncle Harry would come by unannounced and be the only person who Mum would allow in her study on those bad days when she was especially grumpy and downright mean, and Rose would keep Hugo busy while Uncle Harry talked to her Mum.
Rose also remembered on at least one occasion that she'd floo Uncle Harry when her Mum would come home depressed about a case lost or fight with her father. Rose, without thinking, would floo Uncle Harry. Not Aunt Ginny, not Aunt Fleur, not Grandma Molly or Grandma Jane, but Uncle Harry when her mother needed a shoulder to cry on.
And Rose remembered one of her first memories.
Flashback-- Rose as a toddler:
She was a toddler and her mother's stomach was growing big with her future baby brother. She was playing with James and Albus, and she wanted to show her mum a butterfly she had captured. She had found her mum standing too close to her Uncle Harry. She found her mum with tears in her eyes, her arms wrapped around Uncle Harry's back and Uncle Harry pulling her mum close. She found her mum lifting her head while Uncle Harry's mouth fell upon her mother's lips as they kissed with abandon. She found her mom pulling her lips away from Uncle Harry's, shifting her head so that her curls flew to each side of her face, wiping her mouth and her eyes, her mouth fixing the word "no! no!" and turning to leave. She found her Uncle Harry grasping her mother's shoulder, his eyes pleading while her mum tugged out of his grasp, eyes wet with tears and cheeks flushed from excitement. She saw her mum run away from her Uncle, who stood there with shoulders slumped, eyes downcast. Rose, at her young age, had no idea what had happened; nonetheless, the result was that she felt overwhelming sadness. The butterfly forgotten, Rose just wanted some time by herself to sit and contemplate and have her own arms tightening around herself and hoped she would never see such a thing again.
Years later, Uncle Harry and her mum were standing together, not with the anguished looks of Rose's early memory, but with muted joy. While Rose was daydreaming that long- lost, never-repeated, never-told memory, the two adults had explained to their children that they were in love. They were deeply in love and wanted them to know first. They had already told her Dad, who was taking it quite well and was unsurprised, they said. (Living with Lavender doubtless helped him deal with his two best friends shagging.) They wanted to tell the children next. They wanted the children to know nothing would change. They still loved them, still loved their former spouses, still taught at Hogwarts and kept their homes. But they planned to purchase a cottage in Hogsmeade by the Library that would be a weekend retreat for them. No, they were not planning to have more children (to answer Albus' query) but they wouldn't promise anything since Hermione was still young (the children groaned at that). Yes, they planned to tell Headmistress McGonagall but planned to keep it all low-key. They did not want the other students or teachers to learn since they were coworkers as well as friends and relations. And they certainly did not want it in the Daily Prophet.
"But won't getting a house together be obvious?" asked James, the implications beginning to sink in. "And once you're married -"
"We're not planning to get married," Hermione started to answer, but Harry pressed her hand so tightly that she stopped herself mid-sentence and looked at him with widening eyes. "At least, we haven't discussed it. But this is long term -" she added quickly to assuage any uncomfortable feelings about this being a short term fling. "--We really do love each other. We've always loved each other. Just in a different way now."
"Did you ever cheat on Dad?" Hugo asked in a torturous voice. Everyone glared at him in shock that he actually said out loud what they dared not think.
"No!" They both answered at once. "Never." Hermione added, in case clarification was needed.
"I always kept my vows," Harry said, looking directly at his children.
"Then you weren't tempted -" Hugo tried to continue, but Harry stopped him.
"Don't you ever think I would cheat on your mother," Harry said as Hermione spoke,
"I never cheated on Ron. And that's all I'll say on that topic."
Rose thought of the events she had witnessed in the garden as a toddler. Is that considered cheating?
***
Now, in the present day, she and Lily and Hugo were dealing with the aftermath of the meeting. Harry and Hermione had kept public displays of affection to a minimum, but that was not enough for some Slytherins (and not just Malfoy) to start to guess. Headmistress McGonagall seemed to keep an eye on them as well. And gossips like Constance and Sapna were already imagining what was not there - or was it? Was there always something there?
"Isn't it obvious?" Scorpius had said. Was it so obvious?
"Is it obvious?" Rose asked out loud. "Is it obvious that they are in love?"
"Constance and Sapna think so," Lily responded. "They thought that last year too."
"They're just nosy gossips," Hugo replied in a gruff tone.
"You haven't heard anything from your side?" Rose asked Hugo.
"Nope. We prefer to discuss more interesting topics like chocolate frogs."
Rose and Lily both rolled their eyes. Typical Hugo response.
"So, it's obvious for those looking for it. It'll just get worse when word gets out then."
"If they're really going to do this, they need to get married. I can't have them living together without being married. That would be obvious."
Lily pondered Rose's words. Marriage would be a huge step. Marriage would sanctify the meeting last week, would legitimize the gossiping of Constance and Sapna, and likely others. And the Daily Prophet! What a field day the press would have!
But there was more. Underneath all this discussion of Scorpius and Constance and the Daily Prophet, much more had not yet been said by any of the three Potter and Weasley children.
"But how do we actually feel about this? How do we feel about my Dad and your Mum being in love? About them declaring their love to us and us discussing their possible marriage?" Lily asked in a strong, clear tone so unlike her usual quiet, soft tones. The Sorting Hat had chosen well for the young Miss Potter.
Rose had not verbalized her feelings to her cousins. Of course she had told Hugo. They talked right after the meeting. She tried to decipher the reaction of James and Albus, but she had not actually spoken of it.
She glanced at her brother to see if he had wanted to respond first. She was well aware of her propensity to speak first, whether it be at a family gathering or the classroom, so she stayed silent.
Hugo furrowed his brow and said, "They said it won't change much. Dad is still my Dad. He already moved on. Mum can too. And I always loved Uncle Harry. He'll always be Uncle Harry to us, not 'step dad'. We still have our Dad. We know he won't be replaced."
"Are you afraid of your Mum being replaced?" Rose asked Lily quietly.
Lily dropped her head to avoid Rose's direct stare. "I'm afraid that Dad never loved Mum as much as he loves Aunt Hermoine."
Both Rose and Hugo felt as if a Bludger had knocked them in the guts. Did Mum always love Uncle Harry? Even when she married Dad? Was their marriage a mistake? Were they mistakes?
What was it that the giddy couple had said at the meeting last week? They loved their former spouses, but in different ways? Did that mean they had always loved each other more? 'Different' could mean a host of things. 'Different' could mean more.
"I refuse to be a mistake," Hugo spoke with a fierceness that made both Lily and Rose widen their eyes. He looked at both of them powerfully, noting their reactions to his words, but it made him all the fiercer. "And I'm sure you do, too," he said to them both. Lily nodded.
Still, Rose began to remember. She remembered how even when her parents were still married how Uncle Harry would bring a light into her Mum's eye just by his presence, a light that did not occur with her Dad. How they both seemed to gravitate towards each other even when Dad and Aunt Ginny were present. How they often seemed of the same mindset and would take sides against Dad and Aunt Ginny. Rose had assumed it was because her Dad and Aunt Ginny were siblings, they would naturally side together and that just left Uncle Harry and Mum on the same side. Or was it?
Uncle Harry's continued and unwavering support of Mum's work for the rights of magical creatures had nothing to do with Weasley sibling dynamics.
Stop it! Rose scolded herself.
"What's past is past. We can't go back and change it. How do we feel now?" Rose articulated her thoughts. "Lily? Hugo?"
Lily began, "Dad hasn't been this happy since Mum died. Since before Mum died, to be honest. It feels funny and it feels wrong somehow, but Mum's gone, Aunt Hermione has always been there and I've always loved your Mum. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm okay with it."
Rose turned to her brother, "Hugo?"
Hugo scraped his foot along the ground, leaving a short trail in the dirt. "I love them both. If Mum's happy, she'll be less short-tempered with us. I love them both, too. I love Aunt Ginny and Dad, too. But I won't stop what already happened. No reason to. I'm in it, too," Hugo rambled his assent in his barely articulate way.
Lily looked at Rose. "What do you say?"
Rose swallowed hard. "Like you said, Lily, Hugo, I'm wondering if we're all mistakes, if they always should have been together. But what's been done is done. Right now they're happy and that makes me happy. But what about Albus and James? Have you heard from them?"
"They're fine. Albus accepted it immediately. James was a bit upset, he was Mum's favorite, but he is fine, too. But we haven't discussed them actually getting married …"
Rose took the initiative. "I propose that we send them an owl and have a meeting, the five of us, to discuss whether our parents should marry. All in favor?"
Two "aye's" responded.
"Right then. Let's meet at the Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade weekend. I think they should have a small ceremony right away. Why stop what is obviously unstoppable now?" Rose concluded.
And so they did. The five cousins met the next Hogsmeade weekend, put forth their proposal that their parents wed, and went through all the possible arguments and counter arguments should the giddy couple bring them up (all the children were quite certain that they would be approaching the fiercest prosecutor in Wizengamot, hence the need for thorough preparation).
The parents were surprised that all five of their children had decided thus, and that they were so well prepared to counter each and every argument put forth. For truth, the happy couple did not see the need to marry, in part to not upset the children. But if the children themselves proposed it -
Headmistress McGonagall married them that very night in her office, with all five children in attendance. Ron and Lavender apparated to attend, and Ron gave away the bride, who wore her dress robes with sensible heels.
***
"I told you so," Scorpius told his best friend after Headmistress McGonagall announced it to the student body the next day in the Great Hall.
"I told you so," Constance Bruce and Sapna Patel told Lily.
"What the bloody hell?" Hugo's mates said as they heard the news. "Something you forgot to tell us, mate?"
The newly married couple settled in a lovely little cottage near the Hogsmeade Library shortly thereafter. They also moved into Harry's apartment in the castle (his being slightly larger than hers) and acted like an old married couple from the start. After spending 3/4ths of their lives together, how could they not? That is, until those times when they acted like giddy newlyweds who could not stay apart, whose eyes marveled at the happiness they had finally found in each other. For they would always have each other.
The best friends held their hands tight.
Best friends having lunch who spoke of dreams and possibilities. Talked about Teddy and Neville and Luna, and James, Albus, Lily, Rose, Hugo, and yes, Scorpius. Talked about everything including what's really important, what they really wanted to say. Living lives that lead to their own happiness.
Chat about what is, not what might have been. Chat about reality and dreams. Chat about today, yesterday and tomorrow. Chat about their love and marriage. Accept their lives. Accept the ups and downs. Accept the expectations. Accept the joy and happiness. Appreciate it, make the most of it -- their second chance at love.
Spend that time before waking up, between awake and sleep, holding Hermione's swelling belly and dreaming. Dreaming of a baby girl with bushy hair and green eyes, and thinking of flower names for girls. Daisy.
The End.
A/N: I forgot which fanfic it was, but I did read one where their baby was named Daisy Potter.
Please review!
And huge thanks to my beta, Tears of Mercury.