Harry asked Dobby to pop him into the a secluded area on the Grangers' property instead of inside their home. He didn't want the first impression he made to be someone who took liberties not given.
Harry thanked Dobby and Dobby popped off to visit Susan and check for any intruders or suspicious folks around. Harry inspected the house in front of him. It was, from appearance, a well-appointed home in an upscale neighborhood. He seemed to remember Hermione mentioning Crawley.
He nervously moved to the front door and hit the button.
Emma and Robert Granger were waiting for the arrival of the boy that their daughter had talked so much about in letters over the year and in conversations about over the holidays.
Hermione had arrived home about five minutes earlier, escorted by the Director of Magical Law Enforcement. When they had heard that, they had been worried for a moment, until she explained that she had been present at the bank as well and had helped to get Hermione home. However, as soon as she got her to the door, she had made excuses that she had to be off to handle some thing. Apparently the wards that had been set up really did send other witches and wizards off quite quickly.
The man they had met and had talked to for a time had explained that he was an alternate version of their Hermione's Harry. He had asked for permission to set the wards and then had turned over instructions to Hermione on how to "key people in" as necessary. He had also explained that he had overpowered the wards and that only young Harry was sufficiently powerful to easily affect the wards. Anyone else would require help from more than one person.
Emma had noted that Hermione seemed different than she did when she left. She apparently was a bit tired from a long day, but Emma also noticed that her daughter seemed much more ... content that had been. She wanted to get her alone and quiz her, but didn't have a chance before Harry would arrive.
Suddenly, they heard the chime from someone at the front door. Hermione jumped up from her place in the sitting room and ran to the door and threw it open.
"Harry! I was expecting you to show up inside!" Emma noticed that Hermione had hugged Harry enthusiastically, even though she had just seen him a few minutes beforehand. This bore watching.
"Well, about that, I haven't been here before and I didn't want to seem rude and just pop in without permission. So I asked Dobby to get me here outside in a quiet spot."
"Well, I can see that I suppose," Hermione smiled at Harry as she drug him inside to meet her parents. The boy looked fairly nervous. "These two are my parents, Robert and Emma Granger. Mum, Dad, this is Harry."
Robert stood up and put his hand out, "Nice to meet you, Harry. I've heard a lot about you."
Harry smiled weakly. "All good I hope."
"Mostly," he replied slyly and then laughed. Hermione gave him a mock glare and Emma slapped his arm.
"Really, Robert! Be nice to the young man." She turned toward Harry and drew him into a brief embrace. "Nice to meet you, Harry. I assure you that you shouldn't listen to this lump; all reports we have had have been quite on the positive side."
Harry smiled back. "Thanks Mrs. Granger. I wanted to thank you for permission to stay over for the summer. It really helps me out a lot."
"Think nothing of it, Harry. Hermione, why don't you show Harry where he will be sleeping and then we will have dinner. The full tour after."
Hermione beamed at her parents and then took Harry up the stairs past the first floor to the second. "Well, we're up here." If Hermione had been looking at Harry at that moment, he would have seen a brilliant blush. "My bedroom is on this side of the hallway at the top of the stairs. Yours is the one right next door. Loo is across the hall. Originally, they were going to to put you in the guest bedroom on the first floor, next to the Master Bedroom. I convinced them that you would be more comfortable up here. Was I right?" She looked at Harry hopefully.
He smiled and said, "Really, it's quite brilliant. Thanks, Hermione." He kissed her on the cheek as he made his way inside.
He saw his trunk next to a large bed. In the room was a closet door, with a wardrobe on one side and a chest of drawers on the other. Who needed so much space for clothes?? Beside the large bed were bedside cabinets with a lamp on each one. There was also a desk in the room with a chair next to it and in front of it. He decided he really liked the room. He took off his robes and laid them on the bed. This left him in shirt, trousers and shoes. Good enough.
He went back outside to find Hermione waiting with a dreamy smile on her face, before she snapped out of it and took him back down to meet the firing squad ... err, her father and mother.
Hermione wasn't really worried about her mother. They were quite close and Emma knew that Hermione was getting to the age where she would begin experimenting. Hermione's mother only hoped that her daughter would be careful.
Robert, who wasn't as blind as his wife and daughter believed, knew that putting the boy on the second floor, just a pebbles lob down the hall from their daughter was just asking for trouble. But Hermione had been so hopeful and excited at the visit that he couldn't bring himself to put his foot down. He had decided that he would take the time to get to know the boy in a friendly manner so that his threats ... that is to say, friendly warnings ... would have more effective results.
Robert would defer to his daughter's choices, but he wanted to make sure that Harry did as well. Then, as long as she wasn't hurt and she was happy, Robert wouldn't cause any more ruckus.
Dinner was a pleasant experience for Harry. The two adults and the two teenagers talked of Hogwarts and the classes the two took, as well as the Grangers' dental practice. Hermione had steered conversation away from controversial subjects until after dinner. Dinner had started late as the trip to Gringott's had lasted far longer than the two had expected, and as a result it was close to 7:30 before the meal was finished.
Hermione had then taken Harry on a tour of the house, showing him around the whole house, beginning with the rest of the second floor. The second floor consisted of three bedrooms, the bath for the top floor, and a storage room. Harry was admiring of the bedrooms, especially Hermione's. If he was honest with himself, he would have admitted that he wanted to spend more time in the room with the occupant.
The first floor had the Master Bedroom, a den which acted as an office, and what Hermione described as her favorite room: a library. It apparently had been two smaller rooms that had been merged together. There was even a magical section in what used to be a walk-in closet. Hermione explained that everyone in her family loved to read, and as a result the library had been built up over her whole childhood.
The ground floor several rooms. The sitting room was for more formal guests, such as those that were involved with the Grangers' business i.e. important clients, government inspectors, suppliers and those similar. The dining room was attached to this through double doors. The backyard and the stairs to the cellar were accessed through a small hallway that led from the entry parlor and between the two halves of ground floor. On the other side of the house was the kitchen, and in front of that was the larger family recreation room. This was for less formal guests and visiting family such as uncles, aunts and cousins. Hermione explained that there were a small number of more distant ones but they lived in the colonies and on the continent and the family didn't see them much.
When they reached the family room, Harry had found that the Hermione's parents had planted themselves in the room, waiting for the tour to end to talk about the day.
"So, Poppet, tell us about what happened today. Why were you invited to the bank?"
Harry looked to Hermione when her dad used the nickname and he was amused to see that she was a bit embarrassed as she said, "Dad! Not in front of my friend!" with her face in her hands covering a blush.
Harry laughed, "Don't worry, Hermione, I won't call you that and I think it's cute." The Grangers and Harry laughed at her mock glare that she gave Harry.
Finally, Mr. Granger got the conversation back on track. "So, as I said, what happened today at the bank?"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and Harry wanted to know if they knew about Sirius and the Will Reading. Hermione saw his expression and gave him a look that explained she had told her mother, but her father didn't know everything. Harry wanted to know if he should explain, and Hermione indicated she would, with a resigned expression.
The Grangers watched the display of non-verbal communication with a growing sense of amazement. Robert decided right then that if they were already that close, it probably wouldn't do to threaten the boy too much, and Emma decided she wanted to get Hermione alone to have some girl talk.
Finally Hermione turned toward her parents. "Well, Dad, there are a few things that I hadn't mentioned because I was a bit distracted after learning what had happened with Harry and I was concentrating a bit on getting him here and what. You remember my explaining how Harry's godfather had passed away?" Her father nodded. "Well, the bank notice was the reading of his will. I, along with a number of others, was named in the will. I left early to help Harry as he had a number of things to do before the reading."
The two parents paused for a moment, before Emma asked Harry, "Was she helpful with what you had to do?"
Harry gave a smile toward Hermione filled with love and gratitude before answering Emma, "Actually, without her, I couldn't have gotten it done."
The two parents gave each other a brief look and then looked toward Harry for a further explanation. "Well, apparently my godfather made a condition of his will being executed that I had to have a full checkup for anything that might be affecting me negatively." The two looked interested. "Potions, curses, charms, other types of spells." They nodded in understanding. Harry looked briefly at Hermione and she indicated agreement. He turned back, "At the same time, I asked that Hermione be checked as she is my closest friend, and I felt that I had anything I didn't know about, she might as well. When we were checked, it was found that we were under the effect of some potions. I had a couple of loyalty potions, a mild love potion, and a few tracking charms." Harry looked to Hermione.
"A loyalty potion and also a mild love potion." The Grangers' faces took on an offended look.
"I know, I had the same reaction. You have to understand that the Headmaster of our school has kept me on a very tight leash. He has attempted to control where I live, what I know and when I know it, who I can spend time with outside of school, and much more."
The Grangers' looked confused and Emma asked, "Why would he do all of that?"
Harry looked at Hermione with an apologetic look. Hermione took on a slightly confused look which morphed into an expectant expression. Harry sighed. He explained to the Grangers, "Hermione hasn't heard this part yet. When it happened I was too upset to talk about it, and I was avoiding mentioning this to her as I wanted to protect her." Hermione took on a look of fond annoyance, which was more annoyed than fond. Harry looked at her with a sheepish and scared look, which was more scared than sheepish. Finally, his face took on a look of resignation.
"Did Hermione explain how my godfather died?"
Emma looked at Robert a moment with an expression before answering Harry with, "Well, she explained to both of us that he had died about 10 days ago, but she didn't explain all the details. She did tell me that he had died in a fight with the followers of that magical terrorist that attacked you as a baby." She looked to her husband with a small, sad smile, "She tells me more details at times because of the mother-daughter relationship. I tell tell you what you need to know as her father, which is most of it. But sometimes I get her to tell both of us at the same time because I want her to feel more comfortable telling you herself. We hadn't time yet to have her explain what happened totally." Robert grabbed his wife's hand and then leaned across the table to kiss Hermione on her forehead, letting them both know that it was okay. Hermione gave a tremulous smile to her father and a grateful look to her mother.
"Well, in a nutshell, it was really all my fault." Harry's face had a sad look, and Hermione began to look outraged.
"Harry James Potter! How DARE you? You did everything you knew how to do before going there and Sirius died protecting you, just the way he would have wanted! If you're going to blame someone, blame Voldemort! He's the one that caused all of this, NOT YOU!" Harry had a few tears leak out and Hermione hugged him as grieved again quietly.
As she held Harry, she explained to her parents, "Voldemort, the magical terrorist I explained before, had been sending visions to Harry all year, trying to get him to the Ministry of Magic. He, nor I when he told me about them, understood that this is what he was trying to do. Finally, Voldemort sent a vision to Harry that he had his godfather prisoner at the Ministry of Magic. We tried to verify it, but that awful toad I talked about interfered at every step. Finally, we outmaneuvered her and, after doing everything we could to check to see if it was true, Harry decided that he was going to go and try to save him. He has a saving people thing." She smiled fondly at the best friend that she still held in her hug. Harry smiled through his tears as he straightened up a bit. He then took over the story. Hermione's parents noticed that she never let go of him.
"I tried to go alone, but several people refused to let me. There were not adults that we could go to as the toad woman, a very accurate description, had every one cowed and too afraid to go against her. I should tell you that Hermione was the one that broke her evil rule at the school by tricking her into the forest and we got away with the help of a giant and some centaurs. She was brilliant." Harry gave Hermione a smile and she blushed in embarrassment and burrowed her head into his shoulder. He then continued, "As I said, several people refused to allow me to go alone. Hermione was one of them. Scared of flying as she is, she rode an invisible flying horse, well invisible for her, all the way from Scotland to London to make sure that I didn't have to face it alone. She's really one of the bravest people I know."
The Grangers, although looking nervous at the story, gave Hermione a look of pride at that last statement.
"Anyway, when we got there, we attempted to find out where Sirius was being held. Because of my visions, I thought it was a particular place, only we found out that I was being led around by the nose to the Hall of Prophesy." The Grangers looked questioning. "In the magical world, whenever there is a prophesy, a copy is sent to the Ministry of Magic. Anyway, we found that there was a recording of a prophesy which had my name on it, in addition to Voldemort's moniker of 'Dark Lord'. When it was pointed out to me, I grabbed it. Suddenly we were surrounded by the followers of the nutter.
"It was a trap. A trap that I fell into, despite Hermione's attempts to stop me." Hermione began to get annoyed again. "I know, I know, Hermione. We did try to verify it." He turned back to her parents. "That's why I was blaming myself. Anyway, suddenly we were surrounded. We learned that only someone named on a prophesy can physically take it from the shelf. That was the whole reason I was being sent visions, to get me to the room to grab the recording. It was our only bargaining chip as they didn't want it destroyed. We surprised them and fought back. The six of us against 12 of Voldemort's finest. Somehow, we were lucky and used the advantages we had.
"We battled our way through the Department of Mysteries, and incapacitated several. Hermione was hurt then." He looked down at his lap. "I almost gave up right then. I couldn't think, really. I could only go on when our friend Neville Longbottom checked and found you were alive, although hurt badly." Hermione gave him an extra squeeze. Harry finished explaining the battle up until Bellatrix learning that the prophesy had been destroyed.
"She was about to attack, and then several of the Headmaster's group showed up and began attacking the remaining death eaters. Sirius was fighting the crazy woman, who happened to be his cousin, and unfortunately he got distracted taunting her and she hit him with a spell. He fell through the Veil of Death." Once again, Harry paused to collect himself and Hermione tightened her hold on him. "I went kind of crazy."
"She tried to escape and I chased her. Finally I caught up with her and tried to use one of the worst curses in the magical world -- the torture curse." Hermione took on a look of horror although she never let go of him. "Casting that at a person lands you in wizard prison, but at that point I didn't care. Didn't work though. She taunted me by explaining that righteous anger doesn't work. You have to want to torture someone, you have to mean it. I didn't quite have it in me." Hermione smiled at him with a sad smile and kissed his cheek.
Harry explained how Voldemort had shown up and then Dumbledore and how the two had fought. He explained how Voldemort had tried to possess him and how he had been expelled from Harry. He told of how the Minister had shown up and finally there were witnesses to what he had been saying all year.
"Then Dumbledore sent me back to Hogwarts with a portkey. I ended up in his office, locked in. I got upset and tried to get out. Dumbledore showed up and I was pissed. I trashed his office and he stood there and let me. He told me how I wasn't mad enough at him. After I calmed down a little and sat down, he explained that he knew that Voldemort was after the prophesy and that was why he had Professor Snape trying to teach me to protect my mind. He had never explained to me to the point why it was. As a matter of fact, he avoided me all year.
"He then explained to me that the person who heard the prophesy originally could show it, and that he was the one that heard it. A death eater had heard the first part and that was what sent Voldemort after me as a baby. This was the whole reason for everything, and he kept it from my until 30 minutes after I saw my godfather killed. It didn't matter that I'd been fighting with him pretty much my whole time since getting back into magical world at 11. Basically, it boils down to Voldemort or me. The only one can defeat Voldemort is me, and apparently I'm supposed to have 'the power he-knows-not'. The funny thing is that when it was spoken originally, it could have been Neville too. But I was the one that he marked with a scar, so it was me."
"That is why the Headmaster has spent the last 14 years trying to control me."
To say the Grangers were surprised would have been an understatement. There was so much information and it was obvious that Harry was trying to simplify it. But it did show them Harry's character and his ability to survive in the face of awesome odds.
"Hermione, don't get upset. Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger, I decided that I wasn't going to get my friends involved. It was too much of a burden. I wanted them to be kept safe, and I now knew I was the prime target for a Dark Lord." Hermione looked at him outraged. Harry sighed. "Yes, Hermione, I know how stupid that was now." Hermione's face took a look of fierce satisfaction.
"Anyway, imagine my surprise when I had been dumped back on Privet Drive once again, looking forward to another two months of people keeping things from me and enduring the 'affections' of my horrible, magic-hating relatives. I was going spare, until an alternate version of me showed up. You met him ... err, me ... older me ... okay that's just too confusing. You met the Traveler. He delivered the notice about the Will and Hermione's letter and offer and for the first time, things started looking up.
"Fast forward to the bank. The healers had noted some dark residue in my scar. The got a curse-breaker who told me he could take care of it. First, the healer also cleared what he THOUGHT was the residue of a magical block put on babies to prevent horrible accidental magic. He thought it wasn't working properly because my magical core seemed to be just fine. Imagine our surprise when the treatment released not one, but two fully functional magical blocks. It was much more painful than it could have been, because the healer hadn't approached as such. After a bit of pain and me passing out, I woke up feeling like I had gotten into a fight and my best friend was crying on my shoulder.
"They were going to put off the procedure, but I wanted it done. Once again, Hermione is the one that came through. The only way it could be done was to have her involved in the ritual so that she could keep my magical core stable. I made sure that she wasn't in any danger by doing it, and then I agreed after she told me she WAS helping me and I had no say in the matter." Harry smiled at Hermione and Hermione gave a watery smile back. "I needed her as only someone who loved me could help, even though she would feel a small portion of any pain I felt.
"After waking up again a bit after the ritual, I found out that I had a small piece of Voldemort's soul stuck in my scar and that is was now gone. I don't know how it worked -- I'm sure Hermione here will research it," the Grangers laughed as Hermione blushed in embarrassment, "anyway, I don't know how it worked, but it was gone. The Will reading was enlightening."
Here Harry smirked a bit, and the Grangers were taken with how mischievous it looked. "Sirius had pretty much set up the will in such a way that I now know everyone I can trust and everyone I can't. He got me out from under Dumbledore's control legally and emancipated me. I am now able to live wherever I want, do magic as an adult and have control over my family's assets. It really was brilliant." He paused for a moment. "Hermione, you want to tell them what you got?"
Hermione looked to her parents and then nervously told them, "He gave me the whole family library in a Vault at Gringott's -- it will take 7 days to get it there -- and, well I don't know how to say this but ... 500,000 galleons."
Her parents faces went completely slack as they processed this. Finally Robert haltingly said, "That's ... unexpected. That's over 2,500,000 pounds."
Hermione nodded. She turned to Harry with a quizzical, although careful look. Harry nodded sheepishly. "I don't know exactly but it's in the 8-digit range."
Hermione's face became almost as shocked as her parents had been.
"I know. Yesterday I was wearing my cousin's hand-me-downs, without a pound in my pocket and all of my money in an apparently small trust vault at Gringott's. Today, I have over 1000 pounds in my pocket and instead of a few thousand galleons I have over 15 million. And I STILL don't know how much is in my family vault. That's just the Black inheritance."
Finally everyone had settled down. "So, Harry, what's your plans like?"
"To be perfectly honest, Mr. Granger, I don't have a clue. All of my thoughts were on getting me to this point. Besides needing to have a meeting with the Director of Magical Law Enforcement and Gringott's again sometime in the next week, all my plans revolve around two things. One is getting a good night sleep, cause I'm knackered." Everyone laughed at him, and even he chuckled. His face then took on a more serious, although calm look.
"The other thing is to ask you for permission to court your daughter. My older self, who had beat his Dark Lord, explained that I could win if I had the support of my friends. Apparently, the power-he-knows-not is my ability to love. And I love your daughter. So, I'm asking now for permission to court your daughter before I do anything else."
Emma and Robert looked at the pair. Harry had a calm resolute face although he smiled at Hermione when he looked over and she had a nervous, hopeful look. She smiled back at him and he looked back at them with that same sense of calm.
The two looked at each other and laughed their heads off.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other quizzically before looking back at the parents. Hermione's face took on an irritated look, and Harry just grabbed her hand. Finally the two calmed down.
"Sorry about that. Actually, we were about to ask when the two of you had gotten married," Emma giggled. Harry and Hermione blushed at each other but were still confused. "I'm sorry, but we've been sitting her for an hour listening to your story and watching you two. Every glance you had for each other was like you were talking with your expressions. Every little change in mood, every little mental question, every little concern; it was like watching a couple that has been married for fifty years or more." The two took on a sheepish look and smiled at each other and blushed again. "There! You're doing it again!"
Mr. Granger voiced his agreement and then added, "It was funny that you were asking permission to court her when it seems you have been dating her for five years. I'm sure that there is more to talk over and more details to come out, but I can safely say that seeing you two I have no objections. I will say one thing, Harry. Hurt her and I use the straps on my dental chair." He really tried to be stern, but the laughter was still bubbling inside of him.
"Now, Harry, I can see you are quite done in. Tomorrow's Friday. Why don't you two relax tomorrow and Saturday we can get into the rest of the details and get everything sorted. How does that sound?"
Emma added, "Also, we can take you shopping." Hermione squealed in Harry's ear and he became nervous. Everyone laughed at him. "Anyway, get to bed. And by the way, since you are so close with our daughter, just call us Emma and Robert."
Harry stood as the everyone else did. Emma grabbed him in a hug reminiscent of Hermione's hugs. "We can see you make our daughter happy, so this is me telling you that we approve. Just no grandchildren for a few years."
Harry was a bit shocked and blushed. Hermione's face took on a look of, "I'll get you for that" toward her mother.
"Harry, why don't you go on up. I'll be up to make sure you're comfortable in a minute, okay?" Hermione asked him with a smile.
Harry smiled at her back. "Sure. See you in a few minutes."
He left the Grangers and walked out of the family room with Hermione watching him until the door closed behind him. She then turned toward her parents.
"Mum, Dad, I'm just going to come out and say it now. I plan on sleeping with Harry, just sleeping mind you, if he'll have me. There are no current plans to do anything else for the moment, but if things do happen it's because I want it to. You can see that Harry isn't someone to take advantage of me. Do either of you have a problem with this?" Hermione took on a look of confidence and calm.
Emma smile at her, while Robert had a resigned look. He could have seen this coming a mile away. He now knew that Harry wasn't the type to take advantage of their daughter, but his (formerly little and now quite grown up) daughter seemed to be perfectly willing to take advantage of the boy. He decided he would just let Emma do her mother thing in this and nodded his head at his wife.
Emma said, "I can't say I didn't expect it, especially after seeing you two tonight. We'll have to have a mother-daughter chat soon." The two hugged her and then she left quite proudly toward Harry and her future.