Give Me Another Chance by DarthMittens

Rating: PG13
Genres: Drama, Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 7
Published: 18/05/2011
Last Updated: 24/07/2011
Status: Completed

When Harry confesses his love to Hermione, she lies, telling him that she loves Ron. Harry
leaves and Hermione realizes her mistake. Her and Ron's relationship quickly crumbles. 3 years
later, as a professor at Hogwarts, Hermione has the opportunity to rectify the mistake that has
been haunting her every minute of every day since that fateful night. But will Harry listen to her?
And who will help Hermione in her quest for Harry's heart?




1. Confessions of the Heart
---------------------------

**Summary: When Harry confesses his love to Hermione, she lies, telling him that she loves Ron.
Harry leaves and Hermione realizes her mistake. Her and Ron's relationship quickly crumbles. 3
years later, as a professor at Hogwarts, Hermione has the opportunity to rectify the mistake that
has been haunting her every minute of every day since that fateful night. But will Harry listen to
her? Who will help Hermione in her quest for Harry's heart?**

**A special thanks to Lycus (fanfiction.net) for giving me the idea for this story, and just to
let you all know, this prologue is going to be from Harry's point of view, but I think that the
rest of it is going to be from Hermione's and another character(s) that has/have yet to be
named.**

**Please Enjoy!**

**Give Me Another Chance**

**Prologue: Confessions of the Heart**

25-year-old Harry Potter slowly walked up the sidewalk to Hermione's house twirling the
single ruby rose he had picked on his way. His hands were trembling and his legs seemed ready to
give out from under him. He still had no idea what he was going to say to Hermione—he always
performed better when going spur-of-the-moment anyway.

Harry was deeply and madly in love with Hermione, and could envision spending the rest of his
life with her. She completed him, and he would do anything for her.

Harry had actually been in love with Hermione for two or three years now and had yet to tell
her. The reason he hadn't told her yet was because there was a problem: Ron. Hermione had been
going out with Ron for a little over five years now. The only light at the end of the tunnel was
that Hermione had denied all four of Ron's marriage proposals, claiming that she wasn't
ready yet. Harry hoped this meant that Hermione wasn't truly in love with Ron, and that she
might actually give him a chance. But then again, it could've just meant that Ron had not yet
stopped badgering her about giving up her position as Transfiguration Professor, which she had now
held for two years, so they could start a proper family.

So here Harry was, sweat beading on his forehead and hand poised to knock. He used his arm to
wipe the sweat off his head and wiped his also-sweaty hand on his jeans as an excuse to delay the
moment of truth for as long as possible.

"Here goes nothing," Harry muttered to himself before finally knocking on the
door.

Hermione opened it dressed in her pajamas, which consisted of small shorts and an overlarge
T-shirt. She smiled at Harry, who had to lean on the doorframe because his knees went weak.
"Hi, Harry! It's great to see you, but…why are you here unexpectedly at nine at
night?"

"Hermione…er…" Harry's mouth didn't seem to be working, so he wordlessly held
out the rose.

"Thanks, Harry!" said Hermione, who took the rose and smiled at Harry again.

"Yeah…er…sure," said Harry. Hermione was starting to look at him weirdly, so he
decided to go for it before things got too out of hand. "Hermione, the reason I'm here is
to tell you something. I want to tell you that I think you are the most beautiful and wonderful
woman a guy could know, and that I am completely and utterly in love with you. I couldn't hold
it in any longer, I just had to let you know before it was too late," finished Harry.

Hermione stared at Harry in shock, a tense silence enveloping them. Harry could see the cogs and
wheels turning furiously behind Hermione's eyes, her brain trying to understand what was
happening. As the seconds ticked by Harry's heart and hopes fell lower—he knew now that he had
made a mistake and had definitely changed his relationship with Hermione…in a very bad way.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Harry, Hermione spoke, her eyes full of tears. She
whispered, "I'm sorry, Harry. Just to let you know though, you weren't too late. You
just…it just wasn't meant to be. I love and always have loved Ron."

**A/N: Hmmm. Poor Harry.**

**I promise you that this was just a really short prologue and that the actual chapters of the
story are going to be about 2,000 words long.**

**I hope you enjoyed it, and Please Review!**



2. Mistake
----------

**Chapter 2 – Mistake**

**3 Years Later**

*Hermione opened her front door dressed in her pajamas, which consisted of small shorts and an
overlarge T-shirt. She smiled at Harry, who she hadn't seen in a couple days. "Hi, Harry!
It's great to see you, but…why are you here unexpectedly at nine at night?"*

"*Hermione…er…" Harry's cheeks were bright red and he wordlessly held out a
beautiful red rose.*

"*Thanks, Harry!" said Hermione, who smiled at Harry and couldn't help the
flutter in her chest and the warming in her heart whenever he was around.*

"*Yeah…er…sure," said Harry. Hermione was getting confused—what was wrong with him?
"Hermione, the reason I'm here is to tell you something. I want to tell you that I think
you are the most beautiful and wonderful woman a guy could know, and that I am completely and
utterly in love with you. I couldn't hold it in any longer, I just had to let you know before
it was too late," finished Harry.*

*Hermione stared at Harry in shock, a tense silence enveloping them. This was Hermione's
wildest dream coming true. Harry actually loved her! All these years of loving Harry with all her
heart and he really loved her back! The most…eligible bachelor…in the wizarding world.*

*Yes, Harry loved her, or so he thought. But Hermione knew better. This was just a passing
fancy, a crush, there was no way he could love* her*—a plain bookworm. Her heart was screaming
yes but her brain was screaming no even louder. What would Harry do when he* finally *realized
that he could have whoever he wanted in the wizarding world? He would leave her, that's what he
would do, and she knew that it would break her heart. No, maybe it would just be better to save
herself from that heartbreak now.*

*So, decision made, Hermione tried to focus on Harry again but found that her vision was
blurred by her tears. She whispered, "I'm sorry, Harry. Just to let you know though, you
weren't too late. You just…it just wasn't meant to be. I love and always have loved
Ron."*

"NOOOO!" shouted Hermione, bolting upright in her bed. She looked around for a second,
disoriented, before falling back on her pillow and crying into it, just like she had done twice a
week every week for the past three years. "No," she moaned again, feeling the pain and
regret as if it had happened yesterday.

It was only a week later when Harry left that Hermione realized what she had done. She had been
and still was very in love with him. And when he left, she realized that he really had been in love
with her. He had been in love with her, and like an idiot, she had rejected him. Rejected him for
Ron!

Ron. Two weeks without Harry there to balance out their personalities and their relationship had
fallen apart. And when Hermione had realized this and tried to break things off with Ron, he went
berserk on her; screaming, crying, laughing, going into denial, and all of that fun stuff. He and
Hermione didn't talk so much anymore, and when they did it was strained and awkward.

She and Ron were done and Harry had left, her chance was gone. Not that she hadn't tried to
find him. She even took the first month of that next school year off in her efforts to find him,
but to no avail. He was gone, gone because she had broken his heart.

Hermione had denied Harry because she had feared he would break her heart. Instead, she not only
broke her own heart but Harry's as well. And now she was forced to live with the consequences
of her idiotic actions. She was 28 years old, turning 29 in 18 days, and was sad and alone. She
hadn't dated even once since her break-up with Ron even though she had many offers from some
very handsome men. She taught Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and
lived there year-round. The only times she went off campus regularly were to go to her parents'
house for Christmas or somebody's birthday, and even then it was only for two or three days at
most.

Her big chance to leave Hogwarts for more than a couple days ended today because today was
September 1st, which meant another school year. This was very good for Hermione because it allowed
her mind to be focused and not wander to the depressing aspects of life as frequently.

Rolling out of bed, she got ready for the day, making sure to put on her robes instead of muggle
clothes.

***GMAC***

Hermione seated herself at the staff table next to Hagrid, who still taught Care of Magical
Creatures. "Hello, Hermione."

Hermione smiled at her favorite half-giant. "Hey, Hagrid. Ready for another school
year?"

"I sure am!" said Hagrid excitedly. "Did yeh know, Hermione, me and Olympe saw a
Nundu in Africa?"

"Really?" said Hermione. "That must have been absolutely terrifying!"

"It wasn't tha' bad, actually," said Hagrid. "It was
sleepin'."

"Oh," said Hermione. "Did you—"

At that moment the Great Hall's doors opened to a mass of students. Hermione put a smile on
her face along with Hagrid, and quite a few students smiled back. The Gryffindors in particular
were keen to smile and even wave up at Hermione, who was their head of house (and a much more
likeable one than McGonagall, to say the least). Hermione was glad to see all of the familiar faces
and sad that the previous seventh years had graduated. But of course, she would be gaining new
house members at the sorting, which was just about due to start at any second.

As soon as the doors opened again the older kids' chatting stopped and the little first
years came in behind Professor Lupin, the Deputy Headmaster and the Defense Against the Dark Arts
professor. Lupin had gained great standing in the wizarding world after it was learned by the
general public that he spied on the werewolves led by Fenrir Greyback. He had been reappointed the
Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor the year following the war.

The sorting hat sang its song of unity and about the history of the founding of the school while
the first years watched on in awe. The rest of the student population watched the first years in
awe, wondering if they had really been that small when they were that young.

After the song was finished, Lupin stood up in front of the school and informed the first years
that when he called their names, they were expected to sit on the stool and place the sorting hat
on their head. Then when they were sorted they were to join their house at their table.

Hermione watched the sorting and applauded each student (applauding a bit louder when a student
was sorted into her house) and the sorting passed normally. That is, until Lupin hit the
P's.

"Pearson, Robert," he called.

The young boy nervously walked up, sat on the stool, and put the sorting hat on his head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Pinkworth, Melissa."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Then Lupin hesitated. He took a deep breath and looked up at the first years, eyebrows furrowed.
He gave his head a quick shake, cleared his throat, licked his lips, and shakily said,
"P-Potter, Jade."

Hermione quietly gasped, much like everyone else in the hall did before breaking out into
hurried whispers. A cute young girl with jet-black hair and beautiful green eyes walked up to the
sorting hat a little nervously, though not as nervously as Robert Pearson had.

Hermione barely heard the hat shout "GRYFFINDOR!" over her jumbled thoughts.

*Harry has a child? H-How is that even possible, the girl's eleven! The only thing I can
think of is adoption, but…the black hair and green eyes…how is this even possible?*

Hagrid seemed to have recovered more quickly than Hermione, for he leaned in close to her and
whispered, "He musta blood-adopted her."

Hermione blinked at that. Of course, blood-adoption! The adoptee is magically bound to his/her
new parent(s), which modifies his/her DNA as if the adopter(s) is actually his/her parent(s). So
therefore, Jade Potter *would* have black hair, green eyes, and most likely very similar
traits to those of Harry, including his parseltounge ability.

"Potter, Raven," came Lupin's strong voice again. Another girl that could have
been the twin sister of Jade (in fact, Hermione guessed that it most likely *was* her twin
sister) jumped eagerly up the steps to the sorting hat and jammed it on her head.

Meanwhile, Hermione was still staring on in shock.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

As she weakly clapped for Raven, Hermione felt her heart twist uncomfortably in her chest. Harry
had adopted two girls. It made perfectly good sense. She had—Hermione took a deep breath through
her nose—rejected him, and to keep himself going and not just giving up after having his heart
broken, he started his own family so he could be loved.

A small smile made its way onto Hermione's face. At least Harry had found happiness
somewhere, he definitely deserved it.

After the sorting had ended and the feast had started, Hermione studied the two girls that bore
the last name Potter. They were talking to each other and some other first years around them and
giggling and acting like any other 11-year-old girls that attended Hogwarts. But they did seem a
little shy, too, acting more nervous when they talked to older students.

It was funny; they were acting very similar to how Harry acted at the beginning-of-term feast in
his first year.

It seemed that Hermione had been caught staring, for Raven looked up and caught her eye.
Hermione smiled at her, and she smiled back before turning to a prefect close by and asking her a
question. She was obviously asking who Hermione was, for Raven pointed at Hermione and the prefect
looked right at her before answering the young girl.

Raven stiffened, which caused Hermione's smile to falter a bit, before turning to Jade and
whispering something to her and pointing at Hermione. Both girls looked up at Hermione and
Jade's eyes widened as Raven's seemed to narrow a bit. Then Jade's expression came to
match Raven's. All three of them sat there studying and trying to get a measure of each other
as if they were about to face off, and there was indeed a small bit of tension in the air.

Hermione looked away first, looking down at her food. It was obvious from their reactions to the
knowledge of who she was that Harry had told them about her, and not everything that he told them
were good things.

"So waddya think, Hermione? Do yeh think those two'll be as much of a handful as you
three were?" Hagrid asked Hermione, his smile hidden behind his beard.

"Oh, Hagrid," Hermione said, a smile playing on her lips. "We may have been a
handful, but life was a handful for us and we had to be more of a handful than it to beat
it."

"Aye," said Hagrid somberly. "Tha's true, that is."

A silence fell over them, then Hermione asked, "Hagrid, does this…does this feel a bit…odd,
to you?"

"What, teachin' yer best friend's kids?" Hagrid asked, a hint of humor in his
voice.

"Yes," replied Hermione, who thought that everything felt surreal at that moment.

"It was fer me my firs' time. But yeh get used ter it, yeh do," replied
Hagrid.

"Oh," was all Hermione could say in response.

"Trus' me, Hermione, it's gonna get weirder before it starts ter feel normal
again," said Hagrid wisely.

This broke Hermione out of her weird spell and she laughed out loud. "That was very well
put, Hagrid." The feast ended and the two teachers stood up. "Tea on Friday as
usual?" she asked.

"O' course," replied Hagrid. He began walking away. "I'll see yeh
then!" he called over his shoulder.

Hermione shook her head and smiled, then began walking towards her living quarters, which were
accessed by going through the staff room to the wall opposite the entrance and stating a password,
a different one for each teacher to access their separate, individual living quarters.

Hermione got ready for bed and laid down. As she fell asleep, she couldn't shake the image
of the stares from Harry's girls. To Hermione, they seemed to promise retribution for hurting
their father so much.

Hermione knew she was in for a rough day tomorrow, and knew, once again, that it was all her
fault.

**A/N: Oh my gosh! Did anyone see that one coming? If you did, then take 5 house points. And
another 5 if you review.**



3. Revenge
----------

**Chapter 3 - Revenge**

When Hermione woke up the next morning a smile was on her face.

It was the first day of school! A new year for Hermione to help her young students mature into
fine, intelligent citizens by teaching them everything she knew about transfiguration (and a few
values and morals here and there of course). She quickly got ready for the day, fueled by her
excitement.

She had to contain herself from skipping merrily down to the Great Hall—the students would look
at her like she was crazy. When she arrived at her destination, she put some bacon and pancakes
(drenched in syrup, of course) on her plate and began eating them with vigor.

But then…then she slowly stopped. She could feel the eyes of somebody on her. Hermione looked up
towards the Gryffindor table but saw nobody staring at her. But she did see the two Potter girls
smiling and talking with the other first years around them.

Lupin stopped behind the two girls, smiled and introduced himself personally, then gave them
their schedules. Jade and Raven glanced at their schedules, looked at each other with wide eyes,
looked at Hermione, then quickly looked away when they realized Hermione was already looking at
them.

Hermione knew what warranted that reaction, because she knew her own schedule by heart. Today,
which was a Monday, Hermione had the Gryffindor and Slytherin first-years in double transfiguration
at the end of the school day.

Hopefully the beginning of her day would be easy.

***GMAC***

Hermione, tired to the bone, quickly got the classroom ready for her first years. She didn't
know how they had done it, but the seventh years, in the span of an hour, had transfigured the
stone floor into a giant pink shag rug, shattered a couple windows, and vanished half of the desks.
And today they had only been doing a comprehensive review of the first three years of
transfiguration. They definitely had a lot of work to do to become NEWT-ready.

Sighing, Hermione plopped in her chair just as the first students entered the classroom. Over
the next five minutes leading up to the bell, Hermione surreptitiously studied all of the students
entering the rapidly-filling classroom, checking for Raven and Jade. They didn't make it on
time.

But then again, Hogwarts was a big and complex castle—Hermione thought that she would cut them
some slack as it was only their first day and they were probably dashing around frantically to find
her classroom.

But ten minutes later, right in the middle of Hermione's speech about how important it was
to master Transfiguration, Raven and Jade Potter walked into the classroom talking loudly and
walking at a leisurely pace.

Hermione, now feeling very unsympathetic and unforgiving, crossed her arms and started tapping
her foot, which was always a danger sign. "Nice of you to join us, girls. Can either of you
two give me a good reason to not give you detention?"

"No, Professor Granger," replied Raven confidently. Jade, looking a little scared,
gave a half-nod/half-shake, relying on her sister to lead. "We knew coming in that we probably
would have gotten a detention anyway so decided to just show up a late."

Some of the class giggled and Jade whispered to her sister just loud enough for Hermione to
hear, "Raven, I really don't think this is a good idea. Daddy wouldn't like
this!"

Raven didn't show any sign that she heard her sister and continued staring defiantly into
Hermione's eyes. So she was brave enough to stand up to a teacher and brave enough to stand up
for her father—well, nobody could deny that she deserved to be in Gryffindor.

"Five points from Gryffindor for talking back and twenty for your tardiness. And what do
you mean, 'we knew coming in that we probably would have gotten a detention anyway'?"
asked Hermione a little unprofessionally. She knew that this kind of question should have been
asked in private but could not keep her anger from rising at the injustice that Harry had made her
out to be a horrible person to his children.

"Well, let's see…hmm…" said Raven sarcastically. Jade seemed to be frozen in
place, staring at her sister with concern. "Maybe because you hate our dad?"

Hermione felt her mouth drop open in shock and she had to make an effort to stop her hands from
curling into fists. So Harry was lying about her, was he? "I don't hate your father. Now
please sit down and take out your wand. If you would like to discuss anything with me, please come
to me after class and we will discuss it alone. If you make a scene in my class again I will have
no choice but to give you a detention," Hermione said in a matter-of-fact way that would have
made Headmistress McGonagall proud.

Hermione turned around and faced the board to give herself time to collect herself. She took a
few deep breaths, but the whole class started laughing and she whipped around to see Raven sitting
on the ground, pulling on Jade's hand to get her sister to join her. Jade glanced between
Hermione and her sister, stuck out her chin defiantly, and plopped on the ground next to Raven, who
smirked smugly.

Unfortunately for Jade and Raven, it was Hermione who held authority in her classroom and Merlin
help the fools who disobeyed her. "Detention, both of you, after school." Jade's
lower lip quivered a little but she stayed seated. Raven just kept smirking. "Now please sit
in your seats or it will be a *week's* detention." Hermione smiled sweetly at Raven,
whose smirk slid off her face. Jade glanced at her sister, picked up her stuff, and bolted to her
seat. Hermione could see Jade wiping the tears off her face and tried not to let it affect her—the
only reason she was being punished was because she was sticking by her sister. She would have to
have a few words with Raven this evening.

Raven sighed loudly, picked up her stuff, and slowly started walking towards the seat next to
Jade. "Excuse me, Miss Potter," Hermione said sternly. "Where do you think
you're going?"

Raven looked at Hermione like she was stupid. "Er…to sit next to my sister," she said
a bit slowly.

Hermione shook her head. "Front row, right in front of my desk," she said. Her desk
was located in the front left corner of the room, which was on the very opposite side of the room
from her sister.

Raven sighed, gave her sister a quirky smile, and walked up to the front of the classroom, where
she unceremoniously dropped her bag on the floor and sat in the chair.

Now that *that* drama was over, Hermione walked up to the front of the classroom and
transfigured a brick into a magnificent bouquet of roses, earning impressed ooh's and aah's
from the class. "Now, obviously you won't be starting off with anything *that*
difficult. That was actually OWL level, which you will be taking in your fifth year. Now,
please—"

A loud scraping sound cut off what she was going to say next, and Hermione closed her eyes
before opening them again and looking towards her desk, where Raven, who was sitting there
innocently, had scooted hers up so the two were touching. Most of the class was snickering, and
Hermione knew she needed to stop this now, before it got out of hand. "What are you doing,
Miss Potter?"

"You told me to sit right in front of your desk, Professor Granger," said Raven
innocently, earning a couple chuckles from the class.

"Would you please come here, Miss Potter?" Hermione asked Raven, who stood up and
began walking over to her. "No, with your belongings please, you won't be returning during
this period."

The class instantly shut up and the only sounds in the room were of Raven packing her stuff up.
She looked unaffected as she walked back up to Hermione, who conjured a note in her hand and handed
it to Raven, meeting her challenging stare. "You can read it on your way to Headmistress
McGonagall's office. I've always encouraged my students to read," she informed Raven.
Raven turned around and began walking towards the door. "And don't forget about your
detention," Hermione called to her back.

***GMAC***

Raven Potter closed the Transfiguration room's door behind her and began walking towards
Headmistress McGonagall's office on shaky legs. She looked down at the note in her hand.

*Headmistress McGonagall,*

*I am displeased to inform you on the first day of term that Miss Potter and her younger
sister repeatedly disrupted my class. Miss Jade Potter stopped after receiving a detention, but
Miss Raven Potter continued. She too will serve a detention today with her sister, but I am
deferring the rest of the punishment to you, as threat of detention does not seem to be enough to
deter her.*

*My recommended punishment would be to contact her father and let him discipline his daughter,
as I am quite sure that he would be upset at her behavior and would like a say in her
punishment.*

*Thank you,*

*Professor Granger*

Raven stopped in her tracks and leaned back against the nearest wall, her hands trembling
violently. They were going to contact her *father*? Raven knew for a fact that her dad would
be upset and worst of all…disappointed. And she knew that Professor Granger had *nothing* on
her dad.

Harry had always stressed that he wished for them to be nice to everybody and that they should
behave at school because school was very important, and here she goes and gets in so much trouble
*in her first day* that they were going to contact him.

Her dad had never been anything but proud of his two daughters, and Raven knew that today was
going to be the first day that he wasn't.

Raven's legs collapsed from under her, making her sink down the wall, and she buried her
head in her hands and cried.

***GMAC***

Hermione had just dismissed the class when Raven came back in, head held high. "Sit down at
your desk, Miss Potter," said Hermione in a no-nonsense tone.

Jade was sitting in the desk next to Raven's and the two girls caught each other's eye
as Raven sat down.

Hermione held out two hand-held scrapers to the girls." I always save a special treat for
the first detention of the year. You two get to scrape the gum off the bottom of the desks, which
haven't been cleaned since the beginning of last year when the first student in detention did
the same job you two are about to do."

"Yay," replied Raven unenthusiastically.

Hermione noticed that her eyes had a faint red tinge around them, like she had been crying
earlier. *Good,* thought Hermione, *maybe she'll think twice about breaking the rules
again*.

The only sounds in the room for the next two hours were the sounds of gum being scraped off
desks and Hermione's quill scratching against the pop quizzes she was grading.

After every desk was scraped, the two girls handed in their tools and Hermione said, "Now,
I wish to speak to each of you alone."

Raven stepped out first, leaving Hermione to study Jade, who was looking at her shoes.

"Miss Potter, I must ask you, why did you go along with your sister?" asked Hermione
of the young girl.

"B-because I love her and I want to be more like her," replied Jade, the pace of her
speaking increasing as her confidence grew. "She's so much more brave and confident than
me, and…and I wish I was like that," she finished in a quiet voice.

Hermione mulled that one over, then finally said, "Why are you trying to be something
you're not? That's what makes being a human great! We get to be whoever we want to be,
experience life in our own way! Embrace the differences between you and your sister, they're
what make you who you are!"

Jade continued looking at her shoes.

"Now, can I ask you one more question?" Hermione asked rhetorically. "Why
don't you like me?"

Jade may have been more like her sister than she thought, for she whipped her head up and
snarled, "Because you make my daddy sad," before picking up her stuff and storming from
the room.

A crazy thought passed through Hermione's mind. *Maybe Harry* didn't *tell them
what happened. If not, then these are some pretty smart girls here.*

Raven entered and came to stand in front of Hermione's desk.

"Was it worth it?" came out of Hermione's mouth before she could stop herself.

"Of course it was worth it," Raven tried to snap, but the effect was ruined by the
tremble in her voice.

"It was so important to you that you had to take advantage of your sister, who got a
detention on her first day at Hogwarts because she looks up to you?" asked Hermione
quietly.

Raven looked away. "She wanted to do it too. I was just there to help her get the
courage," Raven said with little conviction.

"You really shouldn't do that to her," Hermione said. "It's not fair to
her. If I were you, I'd apologize."

"*If* I apologize, I'll do it because *I* want to, not because *you*
told me to," said Raven defiantly.

Hermione had to contain a smile. They were just so…so much like *Harry*.

"Very well, you may go," said Hermione, reclining in her chair. But Raven didn't
move. "Miss Potter? You're dismissed."

Raven picked up her stuff and slowly stood up before looking Hermione in the eye and asking
icily, "Was it worth it?"

Hermione waited until the door was shut before putting her head in her arms and crying.

**A/N: Ahh, poor Hermione. Reduced to tears by an eleven-year-old. Next chapter comes big, bad
Harry.**

**Please Review, it really means a lot to me to know your thoughts!**



4. Confrontations
-----------------

**Chapter 4 – Confrontations**

Harry angrily strode through the front doors of Hogwarts castle, a letter from Headmistress
McGonagall clutched in his fist.

*Dear Mr. Potter,*

*It is my regret to inform you that both of your daughters were disruptive in transfiguration
class today and received detention. Miss Jade Potter stopped misbehaving, but Miss Raven Potter
continued. Therefore, we request your presence tonight at 7:00 PM in the hope that you may be able
to help us resolve this issue.*

*Thank you for your time,*

*Headmistress McGonagall*

Harry couldn't believe it. His two angels had never misbehaved before. They were very good
girls and Harry was always proud of them.

After being rejected by Hermione, he had moved away immediately to the southern part of England
and after a month of being lonely, decided to blood-adopt a child. He went to an orphanage that
only housed the children of witches and wizards and met many children, but instantly fell in love
with Raven and Jade, who were twin sisters.

So, a couple hours and plenty of signed forms later, 9-year-olds Raven and Jade were Potters and
timidly exploring the new Potter Mansion with Harry, who was giving them a tour. Over the next few
years, the three grew into a proper family and loved each other very much, with Harry telling them
stories of his, Ron's, and Hermione's adventures in Hogwarts.

Although Hermione had broken his heart, Raven and Jade were there to mend it and he was quickly
back to normal. The only pang of sadness came whenever he spoke of Hermione to the girls, and
although he tried to not let it show, Raven and Jade were both very intelligent and observant and
he knew that they knew that Hermione had done something to make him sad.

Something that was definitely not helping Harry's mood was all of the students holding out
parchments and random objects to be signed. But Harry had dealt with it before and chose to use his
best tactic: just ignore it. Headmistress McGonagall appeared at the end of the Entrance Hall and
cried, "Shoo! Shoo! All of you, into the Great Hall for dinner or you'll be receiving
detention!"

With much grumbling and quite a few foot-stamps, the students reluctantly complied with
Headmistress McGonagall's command. McGonagall then walked up to Harry and gave him one of her
rare smiles. "So good to see you, Harry."

"And you, Professor McGonagall," replied Harry amiably.

"Oh please, Harry. I feel old enough as it is with the children calling me professor!
Can't you do an old woman a favor and call me Minerva?" asked McGonagall, who seemed to
have changed a bit since Harry had last seen her.

"Of course, Minerva. I just wish we weren't meeting again on such bad news,"
replied Harry.

"Ah, yes. Raven and Jade," replied McGonagall, who seemed to be deep in thought.
"It's quite odd, actually. They behaved perfectly well in their other classes today. I
don't understand what happened; all of the other professors loved them!"

"Er…Hermione is the transfiguration professor, unless I'm mistaken?" asked Harry,
who had an eyebrow raised.

"You are correct," replied McGonagall as she led Harry toward her office. "Why
would that be a problem?"

"Oh, it's nothing," said Harry. "Let me just have a word with my girls in
private. I'll have this sorted out in no time," replied Harry.

"I trust that you will," said Minerva, who had stopped outside of her office and said,
"Spotted Tabby," to the stone gargoyle, which leapt aside to reveal the staircase to
McGonagall's office.

Harry stood on the top step and rode it to the top, then took a deep breath before opening the
doors and stepping in. Raven and Jade were sitting in front of McGonagall's desk but facing
Harry, who conjured a chair a few feet in front of them. His two girls were looking at their
feet.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes until Harry quietly said, "Do either of you have
anything to say for yourselves?"

Raven looked up and said, "It was my fault, dad. Jade wouldn't have done anything if it
weren't for me."

Jade looked up sharply. "No, daddy! It was both of us." She glared at her sister.
"We deserve equal punishment."

"But according to your professor, you stopped, Jade," said Harry.

"Yeah, b-but…" stuttered Jade, who sighed and gave up.

There were a couple more minutes of silence before Harry broke it again. "I'm very
disappointed in the both of you. I expected better from you two."

When Raven looked up again she had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, dad."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me," said Harry. "I expect you two to
apologize to Professor Granger tomorrow. And I'll know if you haven't." Raven and Jade
glanced at each other. "And now, the question that I really want answered. Why Professor
Granger? You two behaved perfectly in the rest of your classes." Harry reclined in his chair
to wait for their response.

"You know those stories you tell us about when you were in Hogwarts?" asked Raven.

"Yes," said Harry, pretty sure where this was going.

"Well, whenever you talk about Professor Granger, you get really sad. We thought,
well…" trailed off Raven.

"You thought she hurt me? You thought that you would get her back for me?" asked
Harry, arching an eyebrow.

Both girls nodded.

Harry sighed. "As much as I appreciate the sentiment, even *if* I wanted to 'get
back at Hermione' I would do it myself. You guys just need to worry about yourselves,
okay?" They both nodded. "And for the record, well…it's actually my fault we
aren't friends anymore."

Both girls' heads snapped up, shocked. "W-what?" stuttered Jade.

"I made a mistake, and because of it I ran away and didn't talk to her again. The fault
is completely mine," said Harry heavily.

"But weren't you two best friends?" asked Jade. "Why didn't you try to
talk to her again?"

"Well," said Harry, scratching his head, "it's really complicated, but
basically…I was scared. Scared that she would hate me."

Raven and Jade looked at each other in shock. They had *never* seen their dad *scared*
before.

Harry sighed again. "Okay, now its time for the hard part. Punishment." Raven and Jade
looked at each other gloomily. "Well, Raven, I hope this talk we had will stop you from
continuing to misbehave, but you did keep going after the first detention, so you still need to be
punished. So…I think you should have detention with Professor Granger for the rest of the week and
if you disrupt her class again this month you'll receive a suspension." Harry gave her a
minute to let that sink in.

"I guess that's only fair," said Raven.

"What about me, daddy?" asked Jade.

"You served your punishment already, didn't you?" asked Harry.

"But I already told you that it was my fault too!" cried Jade. "It's not fair
to Raven if you only punish her!"

Harry had to hold back a smile. He loved them so much and it made him happy when they stuck up
for each other. It made him wish he had a sibling.

"If you're sure…" said Harry. Jade nodded vigorously. "Alright, you'll be
joining Raven in her detentions, then." Harry stood up. "Well, that settles that. And I
mean it when I say that you two are going to apologize to Professor Granger tomorrow."

"Okay," they said simultaneously.

"And always remember that I love you guys and I'm only an owl away, okay?" said
Harry, crouching down and holding out his arms.

Raven and Jade both hugged him, saying, "Love you too, daddy."

Harry stood up, hiding the tears in his eyes. It would (most likely) be three months until he
saw them again.

"Alright, girls. You better behave, or I'm taking back your Christmas presents,"
Harry joked before leaving the office. Harry stopped before going down to McGonagall to give
himself a minute to smile.

They would be alright.

***GMAC***

Hermione checked her watch—it read 7:25 PM. She had five minutes until she was supposed to meet
Headmistress McGonagall to discuss what Raven's punishment was going to be.

She liked to get to meetings early, but grading the papers had taken much longer than she
thought it would due to the fact that her mind kept wandering to what Raven had asked her today
before leaving. It was like she had reopened the wound, and Hermione constantly found herself on
the verge of tears for the rest of the day.

She turned a corner and walked right into somebody, making her fall over backwards. She quickly
scrambled to her feet, face beet red, and said, "Oh my gosh, I'm so—"

She stopped short as she saw who she had walked into. Her breathing picked up and her heart
fluttered in her chest. It had been so long since she had seen him, and he looked as handsome as
ever.

Harry seemed to recover himself first. "Sorry about that. Please excuse me."

Hermione felt her heart twist in her chest as he walked past her without another word. 15 years
of friendship, gone. Her chance to be with Harry, gone. She hoped that when they saw each other
again, they might at least chat and perhaps Hermione could finally confess her feelings to him. And
now here she was…watching Harry walk away…again. Well, this time she wouldn't let him. This
time, she would do things differently.

"Harry!" she cried, and felt relief when Harry stopped and turned around.

Hermione slowly walked up to him and stopped right in front of him, her heart pounding in her
chest. "How are you?"

Harry looked taken aback. "I-I'm good. Excellent. I forgot, I wanted to apologize for
my daughters' behavior. Believe me, I'm astounded that they would do such a
thing."

Hermione said, "It's alright. I've seen much worse, believe me."

"A-and how are you?" asked Harry.

"Great. The beginning of the school year is the best day of the year," replied
Hermione. She scolded herself mentally. *Enough of the small talk, just do it already!*
"Harry, I want to tell you something."

"Look, you don't have to apologize. None of it was your fault. You love Ron, not me.
That's cool, it's fine. Let's just get over it and move on. I-I've missed
you," said Harry.

"I've missed you too," said Hermione, her heart fluttering again. "But
that's not what I wanted to tell you."

"Oh, wait," interrupted Harry. "Are you and Ron married yet?"

"Ummm…no, we kind of…broke up a week after you left," said Hermione. "Because
what I really should have said was—"

Harry's watch beeped and he looked down at it in alarm. "7:45 already? Oh man,
Hermione, I'm sorry but I have to go. I was supposed to pick up my girlfriend 15 minutes
ago." Hermione felt her heart shatter in her chest and she stopped breathing.
"I'll…uh, I'll see you around, yeah?" Harry started walking away.

"Yeah, sure," Hermione replied weakly.

But Hermione knew that Harry wouldn't go out of his way to talk to her. That conversation
they had just had felt too weird. It was like they were just acquaintances.

Hermione watched Harry turn the corner leading to the Entrance Hall, then sighed and continued
on to Professor McGonagall's office.

They were awkward around each other and Harry had a girlfriend. Hermione felt tears gather in
her eyes as she realized that Harry had moved on and didn't love her anymore, their friendship
was completely wrecked, and it was all her fault.

*Because what I really should have said was I love you too, Harry.*

**A/N: Both of them have really bad luck, don't they?**

**Please Review, it really means a lot to me!**



5. Apologies and Confessions
----------------------------

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! I promise to update sooner next chapter!**

**Chapter 5 – Apologies and Confessions**

Hermione didn't have Gryffindor first years on Tuesday, so she didn't see Raven and Jade
until after school. They entered the classroom five minutes after the final bell rang, both
avoiding looking at their professor.

"Come in girls, and please sit in the front rows," said Hermione.

Raven and Jade wordlessly walked up to the front, dropped their belongings unceremoniously on
the ground, and sat in their seats.

"As it is the beginning of the school year," Hermione began, "There isn't
much cleaning to be done, which would be the usual punishment that I would give you. Instead,"
Hermione flicked her wand and several filing cabinets appeared in the classroom, "You'll
be hand-copying these records of rule-breakers and their punishments. As you can see, they are
fading, so they are in need of being rewritten," Hermione finished.

"Yes, Professor Granger," said Raven sullenly before opening a drawer at random and
taking out a stack of cards.

Jade did the same and in no time at all the room was filled with the sound of scratching quills:
the two students copying the records and Hermione correcting more quizzes. Two hours and three sore
wrists later, Hermione set her quill down and said, "That's enough for today girls, just
put your cards back in, mark your place for tomorrow, and you can see yourself out."

Hermione went back to grading the quizzes, not looking back up until she heard the shuffling of
feet in front of her desk. She looked up slowly, hating herself for being afraid of Raven hurting
her again. When she made eye contact with Raven, who was standing in front of Jade, she firmly
asked "Yes?" so as to not show her fear.

"Professor Granger," began Raven, "I would like to apologize for my behavior in
your class yesterday." Hermione was dazed and confused at the same time. "It was
unacceptable of me and I sincerely hope you can forgive me."

"I'm sorry too, Professor Granger," Jade said from Raven's side. "It was
wrong of us to disrupt your class and to disrespect you in front of the other students."

Hermione took a second to admire Harry's parenting skills. She always knew he would be a
good father. "It's quite alright, girls," she said warmly. "I just hope that it
never happens again."

Both Raven and Jade seemed to relax a bit now that the task was finished and they actually
*smiled* at Hermione before Jade said, "It won't, Professor Granger. We
promise."

Raven nodded somewhat enthusiastically before turning around and walking out of the classroom
with Jade, and this time Hermione waited until the door was shut to smile.

***GMAC***

The next day, Hermione had the Gryffindor first years again, and she could see why all of the
other professors confessed that the two Potter girls were their favorite students.

They were organized, they were smart, and they weren't afraid to raise their hands in class.
They really did seem to be the brightest of the first years. Quite frankly, they reminded Hermione
of herself at that age except for the fact that they had made friends without having to have a
near-death bonding experiencing by fighting a fully-grown troll.

And so Hermione actually found herself regretting that they had to serve detention after school
again. Hermione knew that Harry had sorted them out, they really didn't need these detentions
any longer. And despite the fact that they seemed to be the brightest of their year they *did*
share traits with Harry, which meant that they probably needed as much time as they could get for
their homework.

So when the girls stayed after school and sat in their front seats, Hermione said, "I
believe that you two really have learned your lesson. Unfortunately, you must still serve your
detentions. But instead of doing menial, time-consuming tasks, I will allow you two to quietly work
on your homework."

Jade smiled at Hermione and said, "Thanks, Professor Granger!"

Raven didn't smile but said the same and once again the room was filled with the sound of
scratching quills.

Hermione finished grading her fifth years' essays by the hour mark. She really didn't
have much to do, and usual when that happened, she found her mind wandering to Harry.

She closed her eyes and found herself drifting off to the past, reliving her days in Hogwarts.
Fighting trolls, drinking polyjuice potion, turning time, secretly practicing for the Triwizard
Tournament, infiltrating the ministry. Then she thought about some of the less hectic and stress
related times. Basking in the sun by the lake, goofing off in class (not that she ever partook in
any of the goofing off, of course), watching Harry flying loops around the Quidditch pitch, eyes
darting in every direction looking for the snitch.

Then she was on Harry's broom with him right behind her, and they were flying in the air
over the school enjoying the beautiful sights. And oddly, despite the fact that she was in the air,
she wasn't afraid. Harry was there, nothing was going to happen to her with him right
there.

"Do you want to get down, Hermione? I know how much you hate flying," said Harry's
smooth, deep voice.

"No," said Hermione. "I changed my mind—I really like flying."

"Professor Granger?"

Hermione furrowed her brow. What happened to Harry? Why did he sound like a girl?

"Harry, why are you calling me Professor Granger? And what's wrong with your
voice?" asked Hermione, who was thoroughly perplexed.

"Professor Granger?" Harry's little girl voice asked a bit more sharply.

"What?" Hermione mumbled groggily as she opened her eyes.

"Professor Granger, are you alright?" asked Raven.

As Hermione realized where she was she blushed to the roots of her hair. How could she fall
asleep when two students were serving detention in her classroom? She was absolutely mortified.
"Erm…yes, I'm quite alright," Hermione responded with mock-calmness.

"Are you sure?" asked Jade, who looked more amused than worried. "Because you
were talking about flying and our dad."

Hermione felt her face turn a deeper shade of red. "Your father was very good at flying,
I'll have you know. Youngest seeker in a century, and he never failed to catch the snitch…well,
except for that one time the dementors attacked him, but that doesn't really count."
Hermione was doing what she always did when she was nervous or embarrassed—spouting facts.

"We know," said Jade. "Uncle Draco told us all about it. We're both going to
try out on the team as Chasers."

Hermione did a double-take. "Uncle Draco?" Last time Hermione had checked, the rivalry
had been as solid as ever. Apparently a lot had changed in the last three years. "But Malfoy
and Harry hated each other!" Hermione exclaimed half to herself.

"Yeah, they did," said Raven. "But our dad and Uncle Draco were bidding for
ownership of the Appleby Arrows and instead of having to pay a really high price, they decided to
buy the team together. And then they just kind of became friends," Raven finished simply.

Hermione took a second to collect herself. All of this new information from the past week was
doing her head in. Once she had calmed down, she asked, "What does your father do for a
living?" This was really quite unprofessional of her, but Hermione couldn't help but be
curious.

"He's a businessman," replied Raven. "He owns Potter Manor, which is our
home, and invests his money into businesses so he can make more money. At least, that's how dad
explained it to us."

So Harry had truly become Lord Potter. This next question Hermione couldn't help but ask.
"And who's his girlfriend?"

"Hannah Abbot," Jade practically spat out.

Harry was dating Hannah Abbot, eh? *The little blonde Hufflepuff bint*, Hermione thought to
herself savagely. What did Harry see in her, anyway? He had never expressed any interest in her at
school. Hermione mentally shook her head and refocused on the conversation. "You don't
seem to like her very much."

"We don't," Raven replied angrily. "She's mean and annoying. But then
when she's around our dad, she becomes the perfect girlfriend. We tried telling dad once, but
he got pretty angry and told us to be nice to her." Raven then grumbled, "As if we would
do that when he wasn't around."

"We think that Hannah is only our dad's girlfriend because he's really
famous," Jade said.

*Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking*, thought Hermione to herself. The three sat
stewing in their own thoughts for a while before Raven asked, "Er…Professor Granger? You
don't have to answer this, but…what happened between you and dad?"

Hermione looked down at her hands, unwilling to meet the two girls' eyes. Their tentative
and newly-formed bond would probably crumble following this revelation. But Hermione was taught to
never lie, and she thought it would be particularly heinous if she did so to her own students when
she was teaching them the same thing.

"Your father came to me one night…and he…he confessed his love to me," Hermione
admitted. Both girls' jaws dropped. "I, being a supreme idiot, rejected him,"
Hermione said.

Raven and Jade's looks of shock surprisingly became looks of curiosity. "Why?"
asked Raven. "You didn't love him back?"

"That's the thing!" exclaimed Hermione. "I do love him! I did love him!
I've always loved him!" *Wow,* Hermione thought to herself, *the first people you
tell this to are Harry's eleven-year-old twin daughters.* "I made a mistake. It was all
my fault."

Raven and Jade looked wide-eyed at each other before Jade said, "That's weird. Our dad
said the same thing."

"He did?" asked Hermione, confused.

"He thinks that he was the one who made a mistake," said Raven.

Hermione felt her heart break even more than she did the night she realized that she had made a
mistake in saying no to Harry. He hadn't really loved her? Was she just a passing fancy, a
simple crush?

"So…so he didn't love me?" asked Hermione quietly.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Raven. "Of course he loves you!"

"He told you?" Hermione asked Raven.

"No," responded Jade. "But it's pretty obvious." Raven nodded
emphatically.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know, really," said Raven. "But…when he talks about you, you just
know, I guess." This time Jade nodded along with her sister's words.

*Well*, thought Hermione, *if two eleven-year-olds can see it, I'm guessing it must
be there. Merlin, I can't believe that I'm spilling out my heart to and getting advice
about my love life from Harry's daughters*. Hermione looked down at her watch. It read 6:15
PM. The girls' detentions had finished at five. "You two better get going, it's
already 6:15, dinner will be ready soon."

"Bye, Professor Granger," Raven and Jade called over their shoulders as they headed
for the exit.

"Have a good night, and I'll see you tomorrow!" Hermione called back as the door
was shutting.

It was strange, but telling somebody how she felt really took a load off her chest. *Maybe I
shouldn't be as hard on psychologists*, Hermione thought to herself as she made her way to
the door of classroom.

***GMAC***

As Raven and Jade made their way to Gryffindor tower, they looked at each other and raised an
eyebrow simultaneously. They were twins, they knew that they were thinking the same thing.

It was about time that Hannah Abbot was out and Hermione Granger was in.

**A/N: I hope you liked it, especially considering the fact that I went a little more
light-hearted with this chapter. This was sort of the fun and happiness before it gets all serious
and dramatic.**

**And please remember to Review. Your input really means a lot to me!**



6. The Hag, The Jesters, and The Princess
-----------------------------------------

**A/N: As promised, here’s the new chapter up earlier than the last one! Just to let you all
know, this story is completely written and tops out at about 30,000 words.**

**Please enjoy!**

**Chapter 6 – The Hag, The Jesters, and The Princess**

Hannah Abbot sat across from her boyfriend of four months at the fanciest restaurant in the
Wizarding World, Incendio, examining her perfectly manicured nails.

Hannah had been a somewhat quiet, shy girl in her days at Hogwarts. She only hung out with
members of her house and it was her personal mission to be nice to everybody she met and knew as
long as they didn't show open animosity towards her. And, of course, like the rest of the
school, she had had a crush on Harry Potter.

But she didn't like him because he was rich and famous. She wasn't even the slightest
bit attracted to him until 6th year, when all of the quidditch had paid off and given him a nice
body. Throw in the messy hair and an aura of niceness and he was her dream man.

And in April he had asked her out to the very restaurant they were sitting in now.

She had accepted his invitation, of course, and was awed by the amount of admiration that Harry
received. After that, it all went downhill (or uphill, in her eyes).

The night after the date, a reporter from the Daily Prophet came and interviewed her about
herself and her date with Harry. The article was featured in the paper the very next day and random
witches and wizards in the streets greeted her and questioned her.

At first she was frightened and hesitant about all the attention she was receiving, but Harry
assured her that she would be fine and she trusted him. She gradually became used to being famous
and, over a bit more time, came to crave it. But she hadn't hit rock-bottom yet.

It actually happened the next day, when Hannah was searching Harry's office for his
misplaced glasses. She came across his reports and peeked inside. What she saw nearly made her
heart stop. He was worth over 150 million galleons (approximately 1.25 billion U.S. dollars). At
this point, Hannah was officially in love with Harry Potter's fame and money.

She felt that she definitely deserved to spend his money—putting up with his brat twin
daughters, always snooping around and looking at her suspiciously, was a severe trial on her
patience (and in her mind, her health).

At least the two were Hogwarts age now and could leave her and Harry's wallet alone. Now
that Harry wasn't bogged down at home watching the two nuisances (he claimed that he loved them
and enjoyed spending time with them, but Hannah knew better, for who would want to spend time with
banes of her existence?) it meant that she could also be more freely out and about, and she planned
to use that privilege wisely. In fact, she already had a spa treatment and shopping spree
completely planned out for tomorrow. She was planning the final details in her head as she
pretended to listen to Harry talk about those bloody girls again, going on about how wonderful they
were.

"I can't believe that they're actually eleven and attending Hogwarts!" Harry
said enthusiastically.

"Mmhmm," Hannah mumbled.

"I also don't know…was I… was I too hard on them for their punishments?" asked
Harry nervously. "I mean, suspension is a pretty big deal just for disrupting class."

"Yeah," said Hannah, her mind silently debating on whether she should go with
three-inch heels or four.

"But I'm sure they won't do it again," said Harry, still obviously a bit
concerned. "They're good girls, they just made a mistake and now they know
better."

"Mmm," Hannah mumbled again. She had decided on the four-inch heels, but now she was
trying to choose the right color. Red or black?

Harry calmed down a bit and said, "They told me to keep this a secret, but…they're both
trying out for the quidditch team," Harry said, obviously pleased.

"Wow," said Hannah, who was basing her responses solely on the tone of Harry's
voice. The black would look better with her altered dress robes, but the red would look sexy with
her halter top.

"So what do you think? You think they'll make it?" Harry asked, unable to contain
his excitement stemming from the joys of watching his children grow up.

Then Hannah's mind solved the problem. "Both!" she exclaimed. He was worth over
150 million galleons—buying both would be no problem at all!

"I think so too," said Harry. "Raven is a bit more aggressive than Jade, but Jade
definitely has her finer skills mastered better." Harry's eyes clouded over a bit and he
went into a state of mind similar to that of his girlfriend. "I wonder what they're doing
right now."

***GMAC***

Raven and Jade were sitting in the Gryffindor Common room with their best friends. Scorpius
Malfoy, who received a long letter from his father after he was sorted into Gryffindor stating that
he still loved him even though he was a part of, in Draco's eyes, the worst house in Hogwarts,
had his father's regal looks along with his platinum-blond hair, but seemed to be less cunning
and more stubborn and hard-headed. And Teddy Lupin was the master prankster of the group—being a
metamorphmagus definitely had its advantages.

The four had decided on day one of the school year that they were going to be the best
pranksters in the whole school. It helped that three of them were descended from the original
group. They hadn't quite done anything yet, but they were definitely planning to.

That is, until the conversation that Raven and Jade had had with Professor Granger that day in
detention. The twins had been surprised when they learned the finer details of their dad's and
professor's falling out, and they had decided to make both of them see the light and get over
themselves (and get rid of Hannah Abbot, of course).

Raven and Jade knew that they were going to need help though, and they knew just who to rely
on.

"Alright, I officialy call this meeting of the Marauders open," Raven said from her
chair in the circle they had made.

Scorpius snorted. "That was lame, Raven. We're a group of four, not a group of four
hundred."

Raven balled her hands into fists. "I was just making it official! I thought someone
should."

As Scorpius went on a rant, Jade and Teddy caught each other's eye at the same time and
rolled their eyes simultaneously. Every day it was like this.

Scorpius instantly became friends with Raven and Jade the first time they met when they were
nine, but seemed to like contradicting everything Raven said. Teddy had just joined the group on
the train to school but already seemed to fit nicely, adding another coolheaded member to balance
out the two hotheaded ones.

"And why are we calling them meetings?" asked Scorpius. "It seems kind of weird
that we're now calling the time we hang out 'meetings.'"

Raven made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat. "I'm not calling them meetings,
you git. I'm calling *this one* a meeting because we actually have something important to
talk about."

"Oh we do, do we?" Scorpius asked rhetorically. "And just what is *so*
important that we have to call this a *meeting*?"

"I'm getting to that," bit out Raven through clenched teeth. "If you'd
shut your big mouth for two seconds, then you'd hear it."

Teddy cut off Scorpius before he could respond. "Go on then, Raven, tell us what it
is!"

"Well, it's a really long story, but basically…me and Jade's dad and Professor
Granger are in love with each other," Raven said simply.

"Ewww," said Scorpius. "Your dad's in love with one of our
professors!"

Raven just sighed and moved on. "My point is that they aren't friends anymore and
don't know that the other loves them. Professor Granger might know now, but our dad certainly
doesn't," Raven finished, obviously thinking that her point was made.

This time, though, Teddy had a question. "So…well…are you saying that you're going to
do something about it?"

"Actually," said Jade, "*we're* going to do something about it.
Because…well…we need your help and we want to make our daddy happy."

"What about Hannah?" Scorpius teased.

Raven just sighed again. Scorpius knew full well what Raven and Jade's views on Hannah were,
and quite frankly, he shared them.

"So what do you guys say?" asked Jade. "Will you help us?"

"Of course," said Teddy. "You guys are my friends."

Jade and Raven smiled at him. Scorpius frowned. "I don't know. This love stuff seems
kind of lame to me."

Raven looked over at Jade and smirked just the smallest bit. "Well, if you can't do
it…"

"I never said I couldn't do it," said Scorpius, temper rising again. "I just
said that it's lame."

"Well I think that's just an excuse," said Raven, challenging him.

Scorpius glared at Raven, returning her challenge, then finally said, "Fine. I'll prove
it to you. I'll do it." He smirked. "This is going to be a piece of cake."

As Scorpius sat there smirking, the other three shared a secret grin. They could do it if they
all worked together.

"So," said Teddy. "What's the plan?"

Raven blanched and looked at Jade, who was looking back at her with the same expression on her
face. "Er…well…we don't exactly have one yet."

"Then we'll come up with one!" said Scorpius triumphantly. "Each member's
task for this week is to come up with at least one plan." When no objections were raised, he
continued. "I now call this meeting officialy to a close!"

Raven winced. "Wow, you were right, Scorpius, that *did* sound pretty lame."

"Shut up," Scorpius snapped.

***GMAC***

Hermione lay in bed with a cup of tea on her nightstand, relishing in the warmth of the blanket
on her lap as she attempted to read a book.

Unfortunately, her mind was on overdrive and she couldn't help dissecting the conversation
between her and Harry's twins during their detention earlier that day.

Was what they said true? Could Harry really still be in love with her?

She desperately wanted the answer to be yes and her heart said yes, but her brain was giving her
a resounding no.

For how could Harry still be in love with her after what happened that night? And then there was
the three years of not seeing each other—that definitely had to have had a negative effect on their
relationship.

Plus, he was now dating someone. Hannah Abbot, to be precise.

Hermione hadn't dated once since she broke up with Ron because she knew that her heart
belonged to Harry. Yet Harry was dating. Was that just another thing to add to her list of why
Harry was no longer in love with her?

Probably.

But then again, if Harry thought that there was absolutely zero chance of being with her, then
it would make sense that he moved on. Hermione knew she would never do that because she was so
stubborn that she would never admit defeat no matter the odds, but Harry was a bit less stubborn
(but only by a little).

*Wait a second*, thought Hermione. *That's exactly what I'm doing now though,
isn't it? I'm admitting defeat! I* never *admit defeat! What's happening to
me?*

If only she could show her seventh years how confusing love was, then they would be grateful for
the relative ease of their NEWTs.

Hermione put out the torch and snuggled under the blankets, pulling them all the way up to her
chin. When she closed her eyes she saw Harry's face, and she spoke out loud:

"I swear, Harry, that I will tell you how I feel, no matter the consequences."

Because that's what he had done with her, right? It only seemed fitting that she do the
same.

And then it was all up to him. It was all up to how he would answer.

Her deepest desire was for him to rejoice and kiss her and tell her that he never stopped loving
her. A smile graced her lips as she fell asleep thinking this.

She had a nightmare that night. Right before she woke up, nightmare-Harry said, "I'm
sorry Hermione, but I'm in love and always have been in love with Hannah."

**A/N: Okay, so I wrote this while I was half-asleep. I hope it isn't complete crap. I
mostly just built towards the main plot of the story, so I think I'm okay.**

**I did push up Teddy's birthday a year and Scorpius's numerous years. All that means
is that Draco had his kid right after his seventh year of Hogwarts.**

**As usual, please leave a Review, they really mean a lot to me!**



7. Finished Before it Started
-----------------------------

**A/N: Here it is—the next installment! Please Enjoy!**

**Chapter 7 – Finished Before it Started**

Throughout the week of Raven and Jade's detentions, they spent the time talking about Harry.
The girls found it interesting to hear their dad's stories from a different point of view and
Hermione enjoyed hearing about Harry's last three years with the girls. Although the twins were
different in several aspects once you got to know them, they really were just like Harry.

Jade was Harry's quiet and reserved side, like when he first came to Hogwarts or when it
came to asking a girl to the Yule Ball.

Raven, on the other hand, was Harry's bold side. She seemed to like to lead and act without
thinking more often than Jade. Raven reminded Hermione of Harry leading the DA or leading their
small group in the ministry battle.

Hermione found herself a little sad when the girls' detentions were over because she found
their company much more enjoyable than grading papers or reading. It was like talking to two little
female Harrys.

On Friday, she sent them off with a, "Feel free to pop in any time if you wish to speak
about anything!"

Little did she know, the girls were just as sad to see their detentions end.

They found her fascinating and looked up to her as a female role model—she was *much*
better than Hannah Abbot—because she was intelligent and witty, much like themselves.

As they left Hermione's classroom Friday afternoon, the twins looked at each other and
simultaneously said, "We *have* to get them together."

Their dad and Hermione had to get together and it had to happen *now*. But first, they
needed a way to get Hannah Abbot out of the picture. They knew that it would be more difficult to
get Hannah to break up with their dad than it would to make their dad break up with Hannah, so they
would focus on him. But for that they needed a plan.

Therefore, on Saturday at noon, another meeting of the Marauders was called to order.
"Okay," said Raven, "Jade and I both have plans to get rid of Hannah Abbot, do
you?"

"Wait," said Scorpius, "I thought we were getting your dad and Professor Granger
together."

"We are," replied Raven. "But to do that we have to get Hannah out of the way
first."

"Well why didn't you tell me that?" demanded Scorpius. "I don't have a
plan to get rid of Hannah!"

"We thought it was obvious!" exclaimed Raven. "Teddy, you knew we would have to
get rid of Hannah first, right?"

"Of course. It's simple logic and pretty obvious," he said with a sly grin at
Scorpius.

"Haha, very funny," said Scorpius while rolling his eyes. "Alright then, what are
your plans?"

Teddy went first saying, "Well, from what you said, it's obvious that Hannah only wants
your dad's money, correct?" Raven and Jade both nodded. "What if you just told your
dad to try restricting Hannah's access to his Gringott's account?"

"He wouldn't do that," said Jade.

"Well, he'll listen to you two, won't he?" Without waiting for a response,
Teddy plowed on. "What if you told him that he should try restricting her access to see if she
truly loves him? If she freaks out and goes crazy, then it'll become obvious that she's
only in it for the money!"

"Hmm," said Raven. "That might work, but I think I like my plan better."

"What is it then?" asked Scorpius.

"I'm thinking that we should get a muggle recording device and record Hannah saying
that she isn't in love with our dad," said Raven.

"But Raven," said Jade. "We would have to wait for Christmas break at the
earliest to pull that off!"

Raven opened her mouth to object, then deflated. "You're right. I guess we'll keep
that one in reserve if it hasn't happened by then. What have you got, Jade?"

"I say we contact Rita Skeeter—you know, Raven, the horrible woman Professor Granger told
us about?—and give her some dirt on Hannah, anonymously of course," said Jade. "She loves
to dish the dirt on famous people—I don't think she'll be able to resist."

"My father told me about Rita Skeeter," said Scorpius. "She sounds
horrible."

"So is it agreed then?" asked Teddy.

"I think it is," said Raven. "I'll just go get a piece of parchment and a pen
and we'll get to writing."

At that moment an owl flew into the room, and Raven and Jade recognized it as their dad's, a
spotted owl named Bird (Raven and Jade didn't find this as funny as their dad did). Raven and
Jade looked at each other questioningly—they had gotten the previous letter from their dad in the
morning like everyone else. Jade stood up and grabbed the letter and Bird stayed, cleaning his
feathers.

Jade sat back down in the chair and opened the letter, and as she read more her eyes got wider,
until she finally held out the letter to Raven and let her head fall back on the chair. "Read
it out loud," she said.

Raven Read,

"Dear Raven and Jade,

"How are you? I've missed you both so much, and I'm glad to hear you apologized and
haven't gotten in trouble again. I'm sending this letter to you outside of the normal owl
post because I wanted you to be able to think and talk to each other after I ask you this
question.

"As you know, Hannah and I really like each other. I actually love her. With your
permission, I would like to ask her for her hand in marriage next weekend. You two mean more to me
than anything else in the world, and I'm more worried about your happiness than mine, so
I'd like your opinion on the matter.

"Always remember that I love both of you,
Dad."

The group sat in a stunned silence for a while as they digested this shocking information. It
was finally broken when Scorpius asked, "What are you going to do."

Raven and Jade glanced at each other and said. "We'll tell him we're happy for him
and hope it goes well. She seems to make him happy."

"So we're giving up?" asked Teddy incredulously.

"Of course not," said Raven mischievously. "She may seem to make him happy now,
but it will just hurt even more if he finds out the truth after their married. The only difference
now is that we have to do this quickly and we have to make double sure that we do this
anonymously."

"Right," said Scorpius determinedly. "Let's do it."

The two twins both stared at Scorpius and simultaneously burst out laughing. "What?"
inquired Scorpius. "What's so funny?"

"You," said Jade. "I thought you said that all this love stuff was
boring."

Scorpius examined his nails like he didn't care about anything at the moment. "It is. I
was just acting so it looked like I really wanted to do it…for your benefit, you know?"

"Right," said Teddy.

"Whatever," said Raven before going back to boss mode. "Scorpius, go grab me some
parchment and a quill and ink so we can write this letter to Rita Skeeter!"

"Why do I have to do it?" asked Scorpius.

"Because you didn't come up with a proper plan, that's why," said Raven and
the other two laughed.

Scorpius grumbled the whole way up the boys' staircase and was still grumbling when he got
back. "There," he said as he shoved the items into Raven's hands.

"Thank you Scorpius," replied Raven sweetly. Then she got serious again. "Alright
then." She dipped the quill in the ink and poised it over the parchment. "Dear Rita
Skeeter…"

***GMAC***

It was dinner on Saturday and Hermione had just finished her delicious pudding. As she got up
from the staff table, Raven and Jade approached her. "Professor Granger, can we talk to you in
private please?"

"Absolutely," replied Hermione and followed them out of the Great Hall, unsure what
this was all about.

They went into the first classroom they found and went in, locking the door behind him.
"What is all the secrecy about, you two?" asked Professor Granger of her two favorite
students (not that she would tell anybody that, of course).

"It's horrible! Our daddy's going to propose to Hannah!" Jade exclaimed.

Hermione felt her heart stop beating and a lump formed in her throat. She felt tears begin to
fill up her eyes, and she sat down hard on the desk behind her.

"Jade!" exclaimed Raven. "I told you not to tell her like that! Look what you did
to her!"

"Sorry!" replied Jade. "I couldn't help myself!"

"Professor Granger," said Raven, "You have to tell our dad how you feel. If he
just knew that you loved him…"

Hermione sighed, looking down at her hands. "No," she said. "No, Harry is almost
as stubborn as I am. No matter what he says he harbors resentment towards me somewhere, even if he
does love me. He'll go through with it no matter what."

"No he won't," said Jade. "Because we're going to break them
up!"

"Jade, will you stop talking!" Raven shouted.

"Why would you break them up?" Hermione asked sadly. "Harry's obviously
happy."

"Well I don't think he'd be happy if he knew Hannah was a gold digger, would
he?" asked Raven. "My point is that Hannah doesn't truly love him and you *do*.
I think he deserves to have someone who truly loves him."

"I'm telling you, it's not going to work," said Hermione.

Raven crossed her arms. "You leave that to us, Professor Granger. You just work on
preparing yourself to tell him how you really feel when the opportunity presents itself,
alright?" she asked stubbornly.

Hermione couldn't help but smile. Considering the fact that these two were Harry's
replicas, she was pretty sure that they would get the job done, especially because they had made
her a promise. Harry never broke his promises.

"Okay then, we'll see you on Monday," said Raven, dragging her sister with her
towards the door.

"Bye, Professor Granger," said Jade.

"Don't forget to practice turning your needles into matches!" Hermione reminded
them as the door closed behind them. Then Hermione shook her head at herself. She really was always
in teacher mode.

Hermione, who didn't feel like talking to anybody, disillusioned herself before heading back
to her room.

With no preamble at all, she unceremoniously threw herself onto the bed and began sobbing. She
sobbed and sobbed, staining her pillow and sheets.

Because despite the promise the girls made, and now that the small rush at having a plan was
gone, Hermione couldn't find it in herself to be optimistic.

***GMAC***

Harry looked down at the ring in his hand. It was pretty simple, with a gold band and one
diamond because he didn't like to spend too much money or show it off. He planned on asking her
the question next Saturday, when they went to Incendio again.

Harry had his doubts, of course. They hadn't been going out for long. She may not be in love
with him yet. Despite what he told his girls, he wasn't sure that he was completely in love
with her yet, but he knew that he was going to be if he gave it some time.

The problem was that it was impossible to devote one's heart to someone completely when it
was still in love with another. Harry chuckled as he looked down at the ring. He had been expecting
to be asking Hermione for her hand in marriage on day. Not even six months ago did he even
*dream* that he would be asking Hannah Abbot.

Harry's main fear was that he was rushing things. But to be perfectly honest, he thought
that this was the perfect way to get Hermione out of his head and out of his heart.

He was tired of pining for Hermione, and he just wanted it to be over. If he finally solved the
issue of his love life it would be one less thing to worry about.

He hoped that Raven and Jade would be for the marriage. If they didn't want it to happen he
wouldn't do it, though. He would hold off on the proposal and let the two most important ladies
in his life get to know Hannah better, and ask only when he got the okay from them.

Sighing out of an odd combination of worry and happiness, Harry hid the ring under his bed and
got under the blankets with his (hopefully) soon-to-be fiancée.

**A/N: Ooh, and the plot thickens.**

**I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please leave me a Review, they really mean a lot to
me!**



8. The Plan Unfolds...
----------------------

**A/N: Sorry about the delay. Life has been hectic! I promise sooner updates. Look for them
every three days!**

**Chapter 8 – The Plan Unfolds…**
When Hermione received her Daily Prophet the next morning she was shocked.

**True Love: Hannah Abbot and…Harry Potter’s Wallet?**

*Yesterday afternoon, I, Rita Skeeter, the only* Daily Prophet *writer that uncovers the
truth for her loyal readers, discovered some disturbing news. Harry Potter’s girlfriend of six
months, Hannah Abbot, is not truly in love with Harry.*

*After receiving an anonymous tip to check Hannah Abbot’s spending, I discovered that she
spends over 250 galleons a week! Many of the purchases come from expensive robe shops such as*
The Silk *Unicorn, and she has over 70 pairs of shoes. Extravagant? Also according to the tip,
Hannah Abbot apparently hates Harry Potter’s children, Raven and Jade Potter, who are both
currently attending their first year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.*

*Is it good for the two eleven-year-old girls to grow up in a household where the female
role-model is showing them through her actions that it is acceptable to date a man just to spend
the money in his wallet? The wielder of this mighty quill says no, but I guess it is just for the
wizarding public to decide.*

Hermione looked over toward the Gryffindor table to see Raven and Jade stifling laughs. Hermione
knew they were going to try to break up Harry and Hannah, but she didn’t know that it would entail
this! It really seemed a bit drastic and if Harry knew…Hermione shuddered at the thought.

But then she began daydreaming at the staff table. She saw Harry reading the Prophet and
throwing it down in disgust. He would check his Gringotts account and see that the Prophet was
telling the truth. He would march up to Hannah and break up with her. Then she would finally be
free to reveal her feelings to him. He would respond by sweeping her off her feet and giving her a
kiss, then they would step into his bedroom and make sure to lock it behind them.

*Wait a second*, thought Hermione, *what the hell is happening to me?* She didn’t
daydream—she only thought logically. She found that as she grew older her heart began to grow
enough to affect her brain with silly emotions just a bit…like what had just happened. So Hermione
decided to think logically.

She thought through what would *really* happen—knowing Harry—and sighed. If the girls
thought it would be that easy they would have to think again.

---GMAC---

Raven and Jade smirked with glee as they looked down the table at Teddy and Scorpius, who
smirked back. The plan was going great. By the end of tonight, Hannah Abbot would officialy be out
of the picture…then it was on to phase B: Operation Get-Harry-and-Hermione-Together.

The day was great—Raven and Jade couldn’t keep the smiles off their faces. It seemed that
nothing could go wrong: They had both been perfect in their first flying lessons, they had beat
Teddy and Scorpius in a two-on-two wizard chess match, and had even finished all of their homework
by 7:00 PM.

At dinner they had turkey, which was absolutely delicious…until Bird arrived. Bird took off as
soon as he had dropped off the letter, which meant that their dad didn’t need a reply. Before
opening the letter, the twins smirked at each other, obviously believing that this letter signified
the end of Hannah Abbot. They eagerly opened the letter and read:

*Raven and Jade,*

*I know you just heard from me yesterday, but this is very important. Never believe anything
the* Daily Prophet *writes, especially if the author of the article is Rita Skeeter.*

Raven and Jade looked at each other, mouths open like they were trying to catch flies. This was
definitely not what they had been expecting.

*I don’t know if either of you saw what was written in that horrible paper about Hannah this
morning. If you did, please don’t let it change your opinions about her. She is a very sweet girl
and I am indeed in love with her. It is true that she is spending quite a bit of money, but she
grew up poor and isn’t used to having this much money to spend. Quite honestly, we have enough to
last us. I’m sure that she’s just going through a phase.*

*She was really upset by the article and to make it up to her, I decided to propose to her…and
she said yes!*

Both girls almost fainted upon reading this.

*We’re thinking about having the wedding during Easter Break, and we’re going to ask
Headmistress McGonagall if you can get that week off so you can attend the wedding! (I’m sure
she’ll say yes, but don’t tell her I said that.)*

*Now I know you already know this, but you’re not any under obligation to call Hannah ‘mom’ or
anything just because we’re going to get married. The truth is that you won’t really see her all
that much except for Christmas and summer break.*

*And as a last question: when are Quidditch try-outs. I want to send you two a little
good-luck gift on the big day!*

*Love,*

*Dad*

After finishing, both girls just stared at each other trying not to burst into tears. Not only
had their amazing plan failed, but it completely backfired…their dad had decided to push the
proposal up!

At that second Teddy and Scorpius sat down. The two boys looked at the girls and simultaneously
asked, “Who died?”

Raven wordlessly handed the letter over to the two to read it, and at the end of it they looked
as bleak as their two female friends.

“Now what?” asked Scorpius.

“I don’t know,” said Jade, who recovered before Raven. “But I think we have to notify Professor
Granger of this development.”

That said, the group of four slowly and silently made their way toward the Transfiguration
classroom. As soon as they knocked the door opened, and Hermione shook her head and said, “I
wondered how long it would be until I saw you guys.”

She let them in and they gave her the letter to read. When she looked back up her eyes were
glistening, but it seemed that she had already known something like this was going to happen.
Telling them to sit down, Hermione made her way over to her desk and sat on the edge of it.

“Girls…actually, all four of you, while I appreciate what you were trying to do, that definitely
wasn’t the best way of doing it…and not just because Harry hates Rita Skeeter,” said Hermione as an
afterthought. “No matter what you are doing or what you know about someone, it’s not right to share
their secrets with a newspaper and expose their faults to the entire British wizarding population.
You all crossed a line, and I would tell you to apologize to Hannah if I didn’t know that you would
get into huge trouble from your parents. So this time I’ll let it slide, but I hope you four never
do something so…so…so *Slytherin*,” Hermione said, unable to think of a better word and
knowing that this conversation wasn’t going to leave this room, “again. Do you understand what I’m
saying?”

All eight downcast eyes rose to meet Hermione’s. Raven, Jade, Scorpius, and Teddy simultaneously
said, “Yes, Professor Granger.”

“Good,” said Hermione, satisfied. “Now please go back to your common room.”

The young Marauders proceeded up to their dormitories in silence, ashamed that they disappointed
their favorite professor. They sat on the comfy chairs in silence for a good fifteen minutes until
Scorpius asked, “So that’s it? Are we just giving up then?”

“No,” replied Raven sulkily. “We’re just recovering from being swept off our feet. We need to
think of the plans we still have: mine and Teddy’s. Unless…Scorpius, have you come up with one
yet?”

“No,” he replied simply. At the other’s semi-angry looks, he said, “I thought Jade’s plan was
going to work! I didn’t think I’d need to come up with one!”

“It doesn’t matter,” replied Raven, getting a bit frustrated. “We can’t use mine until Christmas
Break, so I guess we’re using Teddy’s.”

“Mine?” asked Teddy, a bit shocked.

“Of course, dummy,” replied Jade. “We’ll just write a letter telling our dad that we’re
concerned by the article and *just to make absolutely sure* that Hannah is in love with him,
he should try restricting her vault access for a while.”

“Yeah,” said Raven, hopes and spirits rising. “And when Hannah freaks out and throws a
hissy-fit, our dad will dump her butt on the streets for sure!”

“Sweet!” said Scorpius.

Three pairs of eyes turned towards him, and he sighed before running upstairs to fetch a quill,
some ink, and a piece of parchment, already knowing the drill.

---GMAC---

That night, Hermione lay on her back on her bed, thinking hard and staring up at the ceiling
unblinkingly. Her thoughts were like a raging storm and she was trying to make sense of them to no
avail. What was mostly getting in the way were her emotions, which had never been her strong suit.
Sure, she knew and sympathized what was going on in other people’s heads, but for some reason her
brain had trouble deciphering her own.

On the one hand, she was pleased that Hannah was exposed to the wizarding world for the fraud
she was. On the other hand, she was somewhat disgusted with herself for being pleased. She felt
jealousy when she had read that Harry was in love with Hannah and it still burned strong, bubbling
in her chest and stomach. She still felt that burning, passionate, undying love for Harry. And to
top it all off, she felt ashamed that she was relying on four eleven-year-olds to break up Harry’s
girlfriend…now fiancée.

She really felt that she was truly pathetic. She was a big girl—she didn’t need Raven and Jade
to get Hannah Abbot out of the picture. She would let them continue—they always needed a back-up
plan and it might be better if that worked first—but Hermione thought it was about time that she
get in the ring to win Harry’s heart.

Oh yeah. It was definitely just about time for a good-ol’ fashioned cat-fight.

---GMAC---

Hannah Abbot lay next to Harry, her back turned to him.

She sighed, wishing that Harry would leave her alone most of the time. Despite being
the-boy-who-won, he was *very* boring! All he wanted to talk about were the twins, or
Quidditch, or what they were going to have for dinner, or how her day was, or if she was still okay
after that news article. He just always seemed to be talking!

Hannah stifled a laugh as her thoughts drifted back to the news article. She thought that she
had been found out—that the gig was up—but she had been lucky that Harry had had several bad
experiences with Rita Skeeter in the past. He had come up to her and apologized profusely and
kissed her and promised to make it up to her.

And he had. He had asked for her hand in marriage that same night(*not that he had been
competent enough to even do it right,* Hannah thought to herself disgustedly while looking at
the glint of gold on her left hand. *This ring probably isn’t even worth 750 galleons!)*. Now
all his money was going to be hers for the rest of her life! She would get to be rich and laugh at
all the poor people like they had done to her!

Grinning like a maniac, Hannah turned her back to Harry and quickly fell asleep, dreaming that
she was swimming in a pool of galleons.

**A/N: So…um…yeah. Don’t really know what to say now but to please review! (Can you all let me
know if this chapter felt rushed to you? Because it did when I was writing it.)**

**And I don’t know why, but it seems that I somehow always end the chapter with a character
dreaming or going to bed. It’s weird, because it’s completely unintentional. Huh…whatever.**



9. Plan B
---------

**A/N: Here’s the next chapter!**

**Please Enjoy!**

**Chapter 9 – Plan B**

When Harry Potter woke up on Monday it was to an owl tapping his window with its beak. He
recognized the owl as Raven’s—a snowy named Rayne. Harry eagerly jumped out of bed and opened the
window, untying the letter from the owl that reminded him so much of Hedwig.

*Dad,*

*I know you told us not to worry about the article in the* Daily Prophet*, but we’re
still a bit concerned. We just want you to be happy, and Jade and I would feel much better if we
had undeniable proof of Hannah’s love for you.*

Harry sighed to himself. *Damn that Rita Skeeter.* Harry already knew Hannah loved him, but
he could see the girls not recognizing and understanding such a deep and complex emotion. Focusing
on the letter again, he continued reading.

*If she really loved you, I don’t think she’d mind if you restricted her access to the vaults
for just one month. Please Daddy, do this for us.*

*Love,
Raven and Jade.*

Running his hands through his hair, Harry pondered what he should do. He loved Hannah, and he
knew doing this would show a lack of confidence in her and upset her, especially now that they were
engaged. But Raven and Jade were his girls, the two girls he loved more than anything in the world,
and…he couldn’t deny them anything.

Sighing again, Harry took out a piece of paper and started writing.

*Dear Griphook,*

---GMAC---

“*He did what*?” Hannah shrieked in Griphook’s face. “How dare you say such a thing, you
filthy creature! My Harry would never keep me from his money!”

“Well,” said Griphook, a sneer on his face, “since you seem to be hard of hearing, I’ll show you
the letter he sent me which bears his signature and the Potter Family Seal.”

When Hannah snatched the letter from Griphook’s hands, her eyes widened in shock and her jaw
dropped. “H-how…HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME?!”

Hannah immediately apparated straight out of Gringotts and back to Potter Manor. She was
definitely going to have some words with Harry about this.

“Harry!” she called, a rough and manic edge to her voice. “Harry!”

Harry appeared before her, a nervous smile on his face. “Y-yes, darling?”

“What is this?” she demanded, brandishing the letter in front of his face.

“Er…a request to restrict your vault access,” said Harry, sweat forming on his brow.

Hannah was about to explode on him, but then remembered at the last second that she was supposed
to be in love with Harry, not his money. If she freaked out on him, he might see that she was only
in it for the money. It was times like these that she was glad she had liked acting in front of the
mirror when she was young.

She looked down and let tears collect in her eyes before looking up at her fiancé. “I thought
you didn’t believe Rita Skeeter? I thought you loved me,” she said with a sob. Harry reached a hand
out to comfort her but she backed away. “Aren’t we supposed to trust each other? Isn’t that what it
means to be in a relationship?”

“Yes,” said Harry, eager to explain his reasoning. “But Raven and Jade are worried about me and
want me to be happy. They don’t know you as well as I do and they just want to make sure that
you’re not just in it for the money. I *do* trust you sweetheart, I’m just doing this for the
girls’ sakes.”

*Damn brats,* Hannah thought to herself. *They know*. “I see,” Hannah said, letting
more tears come. It was time to see if she could get Harry to allow her to have access to the
vaults again. “You’re choosing them over me.”

“What?” asked Harry coldly, an edge of menace in his voice.

Hannah could feel the magic growing thicker around Harry. She had pushed him too far. “Er…I
mean…”

“I explained to you when we got into this relationship that I would do absolutely anything for
my girls and that they would always be first in my heart,” said Harry, his eyes glowing from the
magic. “You knew coming into this that if it came down to the wire, I would choose them over you.
If you’re telling me to just brush aside Raven and Jade…” Harry finished menacingly.

“No!” cried Hannah. “That’s not what I meant to say!” She could see all of her dreams (well, her
one dream of being rich) crumbling before her eyes. “I just meant that they’re young and they
probably don’t understand the depth of love we have for each other! If you’re doing it for them…”
Hannah cringed on the inside, “then I don’t care. If going a month without access to the vaults
will show them that I truly love you…then I’ll gladly do it,” she finished with a smile.

Harry’s threatening demeanor quickly dropped and his eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled
at her. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “And if you want me to show you how much I love you right
now…” he trailed off as he came up close to her.

And no matter how much Hannah disliked Harry, she couldn’t deny such a sexy man. She smiled
seductively at him, and he grabbed her hand and started pulling her through the house toward their
room.

His back was turned to her and she finally allowed herself to scowl. She was certain of a three
things: 1. Harry was incredibly scary when he was angry; 2. Raven and Jade were seriously annoying;
and 3. This coming month was going to be incredibly difficult.

---GMAC---

The next day, Raven and Jade received two letters, one with their dad’s handwriting and one with
Hannah’s handwriting. They decided to read their dad’s first.

*Raven and Jade,*

*I’m very sorry that the article upset you two so much. I did as you said and denied Hannah’s
access to the vault because I love you two very much and want you to like Hannah. She took the news
well—well, as well as one can—and she decided…well, I’ll let you two read the letter she sent you
so you can hear from her.*

*I love you two very much and I hope everything is going well at school!*

*Love,
Dad*

Raven and Jade looked at each other in utter disbelief before opening and reading Hannah’s
letter.

*Dear Raven and Jade,*

*First off, I wish to say that I miss you two very much and I hope you are having fun at
school.*

Both girls snorted simultaneously.

*I’m happy that you love your father so much and wish him to be happy, and I want you to know
that I will gladly abide to your wishes if it will show you two that I am truly in love with
him.*

*We both miss you and we can’t wait to see you when you come home for Christmas!*

*Hannah*

Raven tore up Hannah’s letter and threw it in the fire as Jade slumped back against the couch.
“I can’t believe that vile woman,” Raven said.

Jade had a more thoughtful look on her face. “It’s only day one, sis. If she makes it past two
weeks without completely freaking out, I’ll be truly impressed.”

Raven grinned at Jade evilly. “I just thought of something.”

“What?” asked Jade.

“I think you’re going to like it,” said Raven.

---GMAC---

Harry took one look at the paper the next morning and threw it across the table disgustedly.
There was a picture of Hannah on it, which could only mean that Rita Skeeter must’ve figured out
what had happened. “Son of a bitch! How did she figure it out this time?” he asked himself
rhetorically before sighing and picking up the paper again to see what it had to say.

**Trouble in Paradise?** *Rita Skeeter*

*When I, Rita Skeeter, award-winning journalist, was eating an ice-cream sundae at Florean
Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor in Diagon Alley yesterday, an interesting sight met my eyes. I was
shocked to see Hannah Abbot storming out of Gringotts, fury etched on her face.*

*And I, the ever-investigating reporter, decided to get the facts for her loyal readers. I
asked to see a goblin who shall remain unnamed. The goblin in question gladly gave me the
details.*

*”Hannah Abbot came to make a withdrawal today, but the bank had received a letter earlier
from Mr. Potter stating that she was to be restricted from having access to the vaults,” the goblin
informed me. “She then proceeded to throw a fit, calling me a filthy creature in the
process.”*

*Obviously Harry Potter was concerned by the article I had written about Hannah Abbot only
being with him for his money. It is good to know that I was able to help the hero of our world in
realizing that his now-fiancée was not truly in love with him.*

*Until next time, Rita Skeeter.*

Harry couldn’t believe it. First of all, the bank had given out classified information. But then
Harry thought to himself that they would never do that and that Skeeter must have used her Animagus
ability to look at the records, then faked a conversation with a goblin to cover her tracks and put
Hannah in the worst light possible.

Hannah came downstairs for breakfast still in her pajamas. She looked at Harry and asked, “What
are you so angry about, darling?”

Harry sighed and wordlessly handed the paper over to her. As she read it her eyes widened, and
if Harry hadn’t been chewing his cereal he would’ve heard her mutter, “That stupid goblin!”

Fortunately for her, he *was* chewing his cereal, so he didn’t understand what she said.
“What was that?” he asked.

When Hannah looked up at him again she looked like she was about to cry. “How could they?”

“It’s just the press making stuff up again. Don’t worry about it—I know you’d never say
something like that to a goblin.” He stood up and hugged her, then sighed. “Looks like I’ll have to
write another letter to Raven and Jade.”

---GMAC---

The two girls were currently sitting in Transfiguration Class, inwardly smirking. The plan had
gone even better than they hoped. All they had done was send a letter to Rita saying to check the
Potter Vault access list. They never expected her to go above and beyond, getting an interview from
an actual goblin. It must’ve been pretty angry at Hannah to spill the beans on something
confidential. They could definitely see Hannah calling the goblin a filthy creature.

After class, Hermione asked them to stay. “Are you two responsible for this news article again?”
she asked, no warmth in her voice.

It was times like these that Raven and Jade were glad their dad had taught them Occlumency. “No,
Professor Granger,” they said simultaneously.

“Why am I finding it hard to believe?” asked Hermione. “How else could Rita Skeeter have
known?”

“She must’ve seen Hannah like she said she did,” said Raven with no trouble keeping a straight
face. “All we did was ask our dad to restrict her vault access for a month. That way, when Hannah
snaps, our dad will see that she really doesn’t care about him. Honestly, Professor, we really
didn’t mean to get the press involved.”

Hermione sighed, then smiled at the two. “Alright, I believe you two. And between you two and
me, that’s actually a pretty good idea.”

“Thanks, Professor,” said Jade. “Now can we please be excused? Quidditch tryouts are this
weekend and we need to utilize the small amount of light that we have left.”

“Sure,” said Hermione. “I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch.” Raven and Jade had taken to eating
lunch with their Professor.

“Yep, bye!” said Raven, leaving the classroom with Jade.

The twins looked at each other a bit guiltily. They felt bad about lying to Hermione, but
really, there was no other way to win this war but to fight dirty. If she didn’t have the resolve
or guts to do it, then it was all up to Raven and Jade to get it done.

And they would get it done no matter what.

---GMAC---

Hermione sighed to herself as she got out a piece of parchment. She had been putting it off for
days, but she couldn’t hold back any longer. The longer she waited to get in the fight for Harry’s
heart, the closer it came to the wedding.

And once that happened, the chances of winning Harry’s heart were going to go from improbable to
impossible.

**A/N: Holy Merlin, I didn’t know I could be that evil. It’s actually quite fun. Poor
delusional Harry, I really feel bad for him. And did you see what I did there when he thought that
the girls wouldn’t understand love when in fact they understand it even better than he
does?**

**I hope you enjoyed it, and please review!**



10. Tougher Than They Thought
-----------------------------

**A/N: Here it is!**

**Chapter 10 - Tougher Than They Thought**

*Dear Harry,*

*I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to have lunch this Saturday in Hogsmeade? It really
has been too long and I want to see you again.*

*Love from,
Hermione*

Harry stared at the letter for a second, a frown on his face. It wasn’t like Hermione to be
nervous about asking her friend if he wanted to have lunch with her. She almost never got
nervous…unless tests were involved, of course.

Maybe the past three years had changed her more than he had first thought.

He really didn’t know how to respond to Hermione’s letter. On the one hand he missed his best
friend and ached to see her again. On the other hand he was afraid that having lunch with her would
confirm what he had desperately been trying to deny: that he was still in love with the
bushy-haired bookworm.

His desires beating down his doubt, Harry picked up a quill, dipped it in the ink bottle on his
desk, and wrote back:

*That would be great. The Three Broomsticks at noon? If you don’t reply I’ll assume your
response is a yes.*

*Harry*

It was about time Harry lived up to his Gryffindor heritage and faced his fears.

---GMAC---

Hermione had at first been ecstatic that Harry had been willing to come. She would finally get
to see him and spend some time with him, something she had been longing to do since the day she
learned he had disappeared.

But now, sitting in the Three Broomsticks at 11:55 on Saturday, Hermione couldn’t help but feel
apprehensive about the fact that she was going to be spending time with Harry again. What if she
said the wrong thing and botched it up? She didn’t want to go another three years without seeing
him again.

Collecting herself and trying to will her knees to stop shaking under the table, Hermione
glanced over at the door, where a shadow had fallen, to see Harry standing there, his eyes scanning
the room for her. When he spotted her, a small smile graced his lips and he weaved his way through
the tables to get to the one Hermione was at.

Now Hermione had to will her stomach to stop fluttering. It was better to keep a straight head
in a delicate and important situation such as this.

“Hi, Harry,” she said, smiling.

“How are you doing, Hermione?” Harry asked as he shrugged out of his coat and placed it on the
seat next to his.

“Not bad. You?” Hermione asked in return.

“I’m good, really good. You heard about my engagement with Hannah?” Harry asked.

*Crap*, Hermione thought to herself. Coming into this she had wanted to avoid all
discussion of Hannah as it would detract from her true intentions of asking him out to lunch.

“Yeah, I heard,” Hermione replied warmly while at the same time remaining neutral. It wouldn’t
do well to blatantly show her dislike of his fiancée.

“We’re going to have the wedding during Easter Break,” explained Harry. “You’re welcome to
come.”

“That sounds good,” lied Hermione. In actuality there was no way she would be attending his
wedding (unless she was the bride, of course). Either there would be no wedding because Harry would
be in love with her, or if there was a wedding that would mean that Hermione would’ve failed and
there was no way she was going to torture herself by watching the man she loved be wed to
another.

“What do you think is better: dress robes or suits and dresses?” asked Harry.

Hermione inwardly groaned. This was not going anywhere near how she had pictured it would. She
realized that if she wanted it to go the way she wanted it to, she would actually have to do
something to get there. “Actually, Harry, can we not talk about the wedding? I want to hear about
you alone, not you and Hannah.”

“What’s the matter? You’re not happy for me?” asked Harry, a touch of hurt in his voice.

“It’s not that Harry, it’s just…I’ve had a long week at work and I don’t really want to have to
think too hard,” Hermione lied again.

Harry nodded slowly. “Alright,” he finally said. “So what *do* you want to talk about?”

“Us,” Hermione replied.

“Us?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” said Hermione. “I know that you feel it, too. If we avoid the topic of what happened
three years ago we’ll never be able to go back to being our old selves. I miss what we had, Harry.
We have to talk about it and move on.” That was just the first step for Hermione’s plan to get more
than what they previously had. Once Harry felt comfortable around her again he might remember the
feelings he had for her. And if not…Hermione was prepared to give him a little push in the right
direction.

Harry’s face seemed emotionless. Then, finally, he let his guard down, his face showing
apprehensiveness, vulnerability, and a touch of fear, and sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” A ghost
of a smile flickered on his face. “As usual.”

Hermione met his eyes and sincerely said, “You never gave me the chance to truly apologize.”

“You don’t need to anymore,” said Harry, not meeting her eye. “I got over it a while ago.”

“No matter whether you are truly over it or not, apologies are necessary to mend relationships,”
said Hermione. “So I just want to say that I really am sorry for not returning your feelings. I
understand how hard it was to confess and how much harder it is to deal with rejection.”

“You do, do you?” asked Harry, a dark tone to his voice. “You know how hard it is to see the
person you love with someone else and be happy? You know how hard it is to piece together the
shattered remains of your heart and move on? You were only ever with Ron, Hermione. You never had
to put your neck on the chopping block. I don’t think you know anything.”

Hermione knew that this was just three years worth of bottled frustration and heartbreak coming
out, but the words hurt her all the same. Harry had never spoken to her like that before. And who
was he to speak about those things like he was the only one this had ever happened to? “Actually,
Harry,” replied Hermione strongly, “I know more than you think. I know exactly what it’s like to
see the person you love with someone else, and I know what it’s like to try to move on after having
your heart broken. Just because I’ve only been with Ron doesn’t mean that he’s the only man I’ve
ever loved.”

Harry stared defiantly at Hermione for a few seconds before breaking down and running a hand
through his hair in frustration. “I’m sorry, Hermione,” he said. “It’s not right for me to take out
everything on you just because you didn’t love me back.”

“It’s alright, Harry,” said Hermione, putting her hand on top of his. “I understand. No matter
how much you try to deny it, whether to yourself, me, or anybody else, I know that there’s a part
of you deep inside that hates me for what happened. But once you release that anger, then it can
truly be gone.”

“Actually, I think it’s already gone,” said Harry, smiling weakly at her. “I think I’m angrier
at myself.”

“Angry at yourself?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah,” said Harry. He moved his hand so it was on top of Hermione’s and gave it a gentle
squeeze. “I’m sorry for putting you in that situation. It must’ve been hard having to hurt me and I
know that by telling you how I felt I hurt you as well, especially when I disappeared for three
years. That’s why I’m angry at myself. I know that I hurt not only me, but you as well.”

*If only you knew the real reason why I’m hurting*, Hermione thought wryly to herself.
“It’s alright, Harry. I think it was good that you told me. Or else you would be living with regret
right now. And despite how much it hurt to be rejected, I know for a fact that regret is twenty
times worse.” *Because I live with it every day*.

Harry looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds. Then he smiled. “I guess you’re right.” He
chuckled and said, “And you were right about having to talk about it. I feel much better.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” said Hermione. “I feel better too.”

“Good,” said Harry. “Now, have you had any more trouble from my girls?”

“No,” said Hermione, laughing. “Actually, we eat lunch together most days.”

As lunch went on the two friends fell into their old ways and became more comfortable with each
other. They spent most of the afternoon together and only parted ways when Harry had to leave to
get ready for his date with Hannah. By that time it was like the past three years had never
happened and the two planned to get together for lunch again the next Saturday.

Things were progressing just as Hermione wanted. The easy part was over, and it was now time for
the hard part to begin.

---GMAC---

Raven and Jade smiled as at each other as they dismounted their brooms. They had both made it on
the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Chasers and had just finished their first practice.

Things had been looking up the past few weeks. Not only had they made the Gryffindor Quidditch
team, but Hermione and their dad had had lunch together for three weeks in a row.

There was only one blight on their high spirits and that was the fact that Hannah hadn’t cracked
yet. They thought for sure that there was no way she could’ve lasted a month. But now there were
only five days until the month was up and no letters of thanks had come from their dad stating that
they were right about Hannah and he and Hannah had broken up.

It seemed that it was time to develop a new plan.

---GMAC---

At dinner that night in a small restaurant in Spain overlooking the ocean, Hannah Abbot tried
hard not to fidget. Now that she had become accustomed to the taste of money and being rich, it was
hard going so long without it, especially when it was just barely out of her reach.

She ached for it, she craved it. She was addicted to it, and she was experiencing withdrawal
symptoms. She needed money now. She needed it now. She couldn’t take it any longer. She needed it
RIGHT NOW!

Everywhere she looked, she saw places she could be spending her money. Not only that, but she
had missed the deal of the year. One of her favorite shoe stores went out of business and they had
had a three-day-long grand closing sale. And she had missed it. Missed it because of those stupid
kids.

Oh, how she wished those two snot-nosed brats weren’t around to interfere. They couldn’t leave
her alone even when they were hundreds of miles away. And now, because of them, she was about to
lose any chance of being with Harry’s wallet for eternity.

Because she was going to freak out. The money was gone. She couldn’t spend it right now. And she
wouldn’t be able to for another five days. If she could just get her hands on a single bill, she
would be able to tough it out for the next few days. If she just had a single bill to touch, to
smell, to caress. But no, she had to be stupid and spend every last knut she had stored in the tin
under the bed. It had only been a meager 100 galleons. She had told herself to make sure it lasted,
but there had been that one skirt, and that one belt, and that one set of robes. And now it had
been two weeks, four days, seven hours and 27 minutes since she had last bought something—since she
had last felt the smooth gold surface of a galleon.

And she couldn’t take it anymore.

**A/N: I know, I know. But you’re going to have to wait. Next chapter begins the battle for
Harry’s heart and drama with Hannah ensues.**

**Please Review!**



11. A Lucky Break
-----------------

**A/N: A series of unfortunate events kept me from updating this story, the first and foremost
being that my laptop was out of commission for several weeks. You have my humblest apologies for
the delay, and I promise to make it up to you by updating regularly now that it seems it will be
possible.**

**Again, I’m very sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 11 – A Lucky Break**

Hannah had to clutch the arms of her chair to prevent her own arms from violently shaking. She
could feel sweat beading on her forehead and upper lip. The noise from the restaurant seemed to
bombard her, and she could feel a muscle in her eye begin to twitch. Her senses were on overdrive
and being assaulted. She was hyperventilating, she couldn't get enough air in her lungs.

*The money. Why did Harry have to take away the money?*

"Hannah?" asked Harry, looking at his fiancée with concern. "Hannah, are you
okay?"

"Am I okay?" asked Hannah. "Am I…okay?" She could feel laughs bubbling up
for no apparent reason. She let them out and they had a mad edge to them. "Of course I'm
not bloody okay! I feel horrible!"

Harry abruptly stood up and grabbed Hannah by the arm, pulling her up and dragging her toward
the exit after slapping some bills on the table. "Why didn't you say anything
earlier?"

"Where are you taking me?" demanded Hannah, trying to struggle out of Harry's
grip.

"We're going to St. Mungo's," he informed her. "Something is obviously
wrong with you."

Harry walked down an empty alley and apparated to St. Mungo's Hospital, taking Hannah with
him. They arrived right in the reception area. Luckily for them, it seemed to be a pretty slow
night, so they were taken to see a healer right away.

Hannah dreaded each step toward the room. Once the healer checked her out and discovered nothing
wrong with her, she would have to spill the beans to Harry. Either way, this looked like a dire
situation.

The healer came in, a tall, old, thin man with coke-bottle glasses, his pristine white robe
swishing around his legs as he walked. "Ah, Mr. Potter," he said, reaching his hand out
to shake hands with the-man-who-triumphed. "Healer Pinkstaff at your service."

Harry shook the man's hand quickly, saying, "Nice to meet you, sir. Can you please
check why my fiancée isn't feeling well?"

"Certainly," said Pinkstaff. He muttered a spell under his breath and moved his wand
around Hannah's body in a similar fashion to the way muggle airport security would scan someone
with a handheld metal detector. "It seems as though she only has a simple case of food
poisoning," said Pinkstaff with a smile. He waved his wand in the air, making a piece of paper
appear in the air which he snatched and handed to Harry. "Just take this to the receptionist
and she'll give you the proper potion to fix your fiancée up in a jiffy."

"Thank you very much," said Harry with a smile before exiting the room and heading
toward the reception area.

*That certainly explains the sweating*, Hannah thought numbly to herself as she followed
Harry. *But that's not all that's ailing me*.

"I'm sorry, Hannah," said Harry, running a hand through his hair in
frustration.

"Sorry?" she asked.

"You didn't want to go to the seafood shack yet I talked you into it anyway,"
Harry replied. "It's all my fault."

It was as though a divine power had saved Hannah. Here was her golden opportunity. "Well,
you can always make it up to me," she said with a grin at Harry, acting her part
perfectly.

"Anything," he said sincerely.

"Take me shopping tomorrow?" she asked hopefully, smiling at Harry and batting her
eyelids. It was sickening to her that she had to be nice and sweet to Harry. She knew that if Harry
took her shopping tomorrow, she could hold out for the last few days.

"You got it," he said.

They picked up the potion and Hannah drank it all before the couple apparated home, where they
decided to call it a night.

Hannah lay in bed thanking fate, knowing she had dodged a fatal bullet.

Raven and Jade woke up in misery several days later. Today marked the end of the month—Hannah
had made it without cracking. They couldn't believe it. They thought for sure that there was no
way Hannah could possibly make it.

This was going to be much harder than they thought.

They still had five weeks until Christmas Break, which would be the easiest time to break Hannah
and their dad up if only because of the fact that they would be right there to implement their
plan. In the meantime, they could put one or two more plans into motion before then—they had always
taken pride in the fact that they were overachievers.

The only problem was that they were fresh out of plans. They needed to regroup and restrategize,
which meant that another official meeting of the Marauders was in order.

So later that evening found the four huddled up again, faces showing signs of frustration.
"I can't believe she made it," said Teddy glumly.

"Dang it," said Scorpius angrily. "I thought for sure that…you know…wouldn't
make it!"

"We need a new plan," said Raven. "And we need one now."

"Hmmm," they all said in unison.

After one minute all four spoke simultaneously.

"Threaten her," said Raven.

"Trick her," said both Teddy and Jade before blushing and looking in opposite
directions.

"Kill her," said Scorpius with mad grin on his face.

Three pairs of eyes turned to Scorpius, looking at him like he was crazy. He shrugged.
"What? It seems like it could be pretty easy. Just pretend it was an accident."

The other three looked at each other. "Who votes that Scorpius isn't allowed to share
any more of his ideas?" said Raven.

Three hands were raised in response.

"I don't think it would work to threaten her," said Jade thoughtfully. "Daddy
did beat Voldemort. Also, we're trying to work for Daddy to be happy. I think he won't be
happy if Hannah is threatened and leaves him because of it. We have to make sure that Daddy breaks
up with Hannah because of what *she* did, or else he'll blame himself and get
depressed."

"Fine," huffed Raven. "I guess you're right. What are your ideas?" she
asked Teddy and Jade.

"I say we trick her into cheating on daddy and make sure he sees," said Jade. "I
mean, yeah, it'll hurt him, but in the end it'll still be her fault, not his."

"And just how do you plan on tricking her into cheating on him?" asked Raven
skeptically.

"Remember that one time we were bored and looking through the *Daily Prophet*?"
asked Jade. Raven gave her a look that said 'get to the point'. "We came across an ad
that said 'Wizard Gigolo Service'. Remember, we asked daddy what a gigolo was?"

Raven grinned. "I think I see where you're going with this."

Jade nodded, an identical grin on her face. "We order one under Hannah's name, sending
him to Potter Manor, and tell the man to destroy the letter. And even if she tells the man to
leave, he'll want his money, which means that in the end daddy will end up seeing the man no
matter what, because Hannah will have to fetch her purse from the room, where daddy will probably
be working. You know how much he dislikes the office."

"Then it'll be obvious that Hannah is cheating on your dad!" said Scorpius
excitedly.

"Exactly," said Jade.

"I like it," said Raven with a satisfied nod. "But before we implement it,
what's your plan, Teddy?"

"Mine was actually the same as Jade's," said Teddy with an apologetic smile.

"It looks like we're going with that, then," said Raven.

"Good," said Jade. "Once this works out, all we'll have to do is focus on
getting daddy and Professor Granger together."

Hermione sat at her and Harry's usual lunch table, smiling down at her hands as she waited
for him. She really had missed him the past three years and was really enjoying reconnecting with
him. It was always the best part of the week, even better than watching a student who had been
struggling with a certain concept or spell finally master it, understanding in their eyes.

Today was the day that she really began her bid for Harry's heart. Now that he felt at ease
around her, it was time to start moving in for the kill. She didn't have a lot of confidence in
her beauty, so she was very afraid, but she knew that she would later regret it if she never
tried.

Harry showed up a few minutes later, coming to the table with a look of confusion on his face.
"What's with the basket?" he asked.

"It's a picnic basket, silly," said Hermione teasingly. "I asked Rosmerta to
prepare us a picnic because it's such a gorgeous day."

"Good idea," said Harry. "Where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see," said Hermione, standing up and grabbing the picnic basket. She
grabbed Harry's hand and started dragging him out of the Three Broomsticks before he could
register the fact that he was holding her hand.

Just as Hermione had planned.

She slowed down after they had exited the Three Broomsticks, but made sure that he couldn't
let go of her hand. It felt so good in her own, so big and warm, like her own personal shield.

She ended up taking him into a clearing a couple hundred feet into the Forbidden Forest, using
her wand to transfigure a boulder into a picnic blanket.

Now that she was actually in the act of passively gaining Harry's attention, she found it
easier to continue. They were both wearing short sleeves, and she deliberately brushed her arm
against Harry's before sitting on the blanket, making him stop before shaking his head and
sitting down across from her.

She then waited until he started reaching for the basket before doing the same herself. Their
hands touched, Hermione's on top of Harry's, and Hermione intentionally let her hand rest
there.

But not for long though, as Harry quickly took his hand back, a blush staining his cheeks. He
cleared his throat a couple times as Hermione started handing him food, smiling as she did so.

This was all going perfectly.

As Hermione walked back to Hogwarts Castle after her 'date' with Harry, as it was
romantic enough to call it that, she smiled and thought about how well the last couple hours had
gone.

After the hand-touching incident, Harry had tried to mess with the romantic atmosphere by
talking about the wedding. Hermione told him to relax because it was just such a peaceful and
beautiful day, and he did so.

They listened to nature as they munched on the delicious chicken sandwiches Rosmerta had made
the pair, the chirping birds and rustling leaves just adding to the vibe that it was just the two
of them out there.

It was actually a pretty hot day, and as Harry and Hermione wanted to talk quietly without
disturbing the nature around them, they got up and sat against the same tree trunk, their sides
touching. Harry became a little awkward and nervous after that and Hermione hoped it was because of
the contact.

They ate a couple ice creams a little while later, laughing and reminiscing as they did so.
Harry seemed to grow a bit quiet and solemn as they did so—it seemed to Hermione that he was
reliving those good times in his head. A time when they were young and naïve despite the fact that
they were going up against the most powerful dark wizard of the past 300 years. A time when life
seemed so simple, without love mucking it all up.

Sighing to herself, Hermione opened the door to the entrance of the castle. What she saw when
she got inside shocked her.

Red hair, a speckled face, and a friendly smile. "Ron?"

**A/N: I know, I know. You all hate me. I really got you all good! You really thought that it
would be that easy? You don't even know what I have in store for you…*evil grin*.**

**Please Review!**



12. An Unexpected Meeting
-------------------------

**A/N: I hope you enjoy this one,**

**Chapter 12 – An Unexpected Meeting**

Ron Weasley sighed as he apparated to Hogsmeade. He couldn't believe that he had to do this
*again*. It was bad enough that it had taken over eight years to accomplish his goal the first
time. There was no telling how long it would take this time.

You see, as Ron grew up, he learned firsthand how unfair life could be. In school, he was poor,
unwanted, and the useless wheel of the trio. And then there was his 'friend' Harry Potter:
rich, famous, and a spoiled brat who got everything he wanted, like his Nimbus 2000 in his first
year. Not to mention the fact that he always got what Ron wanted. Ron was sick of it by fourth year
and only became Harry's 'friend' again after the dragon incident to get his revenge on
the 'boy-who-lived'.

*Ron had been sitting in the living room of the Burrow when Harry came in nervously. "Hey
Ron, do you mind if I ask you something?"*

"*What is it?" he asked.*

*Harry cleared his throat. "I was wondering, since you still haven't asked Hermione
out, if you would be okay with me asking her out?"*

"*What makes you say I like her?" Ron asked, disgusted at the thought of liking
Hermione.*

"*Well, you know…fourth year when you got jealous that Viktor Krum took her to the Yule
Ball and in sixth year when Cormac McLaggen ," said Harry.*

"*I don't…" Ron began, then realized that this was his golden opportunity. So he
sighed and pretended to look away embarrassedly, when in actuality he was hiding his grin from his
'friend'. "H-how did you know?"*

"*It was pretty obvious, mate," said Harry, grinning. Merlin, how Ron wished to
punch that stupid face in.*

"*I think I love her," said Ron sheepishly.*

*Harry's grin turned into a smile and he said, "I figured as much. I feel the exact
same."*

"*Can you give me until the end of the week to ask her, and if I don't then you
can?" asked Ron hopefully.*

*Harry grinned at who he thought was truly his friend. "No problem. You liked her first,
so I think it's only fair."*

"*Thanks, Harry," said Ron with actual sincerity. Now he could put his plan into
motion. If Harry wasn't there Ron would have laughed evilly.*

Ron had arrived at the castle while he was reliving that happy scene. He thought it would only
be a couple years until Harry left from heartbreak. It took a little longer than expected, but it
did indeed happen. Ron had thought for sure that Harry would leave the country or something, and
for a while it did seem that way. But now Harry was back, and back in Hermione's life,
according to his mum, who heard it from Lupin. And despite all the nonsense about Harry proposing
to Hannah Abbot, he knew where Harry's heart truly lie. And it was up to Ron to make sure that
Harry didn't get absolutely *everything* he wanted.

"Ron?" came Hermione's voice from the open castle doors.

"Hermione!" said Ron with a big grin on his face, holding open his arms.

Hermione gave him a tentative hug before quickly pulling back. "What are you doing
here?"

"Can we go somewhere private?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded her head, eyebrows furrowed, and stepped into the closest empty classroom.
"What is it?" she asked once the door was closed behind them.

"I was thinking…" said Ron. "Thinking about what we had together. I think…I think
we should give it another go."

"Ron," said Hermione softly. "What we had was…great while it lasted, but it just
wasn't meant to be. We're just…too different."

"Hermione, I've changed," said Ron a touch desperately. "I'm a better
man! I can treat you better than Harry!"

"What does Harry have to do with any of this?" Hermione asked.

"Come off it," said Ron. "We both know you never really loved me."

Hermione looked down at the floor in shame. "I did love you…at one point," she finally
said sadly.

"I was also there when he confessed to you," said Ron. "I heard
everything."

Hermione looked up in alarm, eyes wide. "Y-you did?"

"Yes," said Ron. "And I must say it's a good thing you rejected him. He
probably would have left you for some supermodel. And now…now he doesn't even love you anymore.
But I…I would never do that to you. I love you, Hermione, and I always will."

"I love you, Hermione, and I always will," said Ron with a smile on his face.

Hermione couldn't believe this was happening and was so confused. Ron loved her, and she
felt really sorry that she couldn't love him back. She didn't want to really be with him
because her heart only belonged to Harry, but he was right. Harry most likely didn't love her
anymore.

What should she say to Ron? She didn't know the right answer!

Calming herself, Hermione took a deep breath. Then the answer came to her.

"I'm sorry, Ron," said Hermione quietly. "I don't love you, and I think
you deserve someone who loves you back."

"I don't care if you love me or not! I just want to be with you," pleaded Ron.

"Ron, I…I don't think it's a good idea," said Hermione before walking past him
to the door.

When her hand was on the knob, Ron said, "You're trying to get Harry back, aren't
you? Well guess what, it's never going to happen. He's over you, you blew your chance.
I'm the best you're going to get. So be with *me* and give up on Harry!" he
demanded.

Hermione burst into tears and opened the door, fleeing to her room. Ron's words hurt like a
thousand little knives piercing her heart. And she didn't hate Ron for it. He was just trying
to save her, to help her. And he did so by telling her what was most likely the truth. Hermione
knew most of that deep down inside, but it was much worse and seemed so impossible to deny when
spoken by another.

Hermione cried the rest of the night until she finally cried herself to sleep. She knew she
shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. It just made it that much worse when she failed.

Hannah was walking through the manor on Sunday, intent on going downstairs to fix herself a
snack before she would leave for the day to go shopping. But she heard a noise on the opposite side
of the door of one of the guest rooms. Peeking her head in, she saw a pretty muscular and handsome
man completely naked, laying on the bed.

The man grinned at her and beckoned her over, and she strangely found her feet moving toward
him. His body looked delectable. But then a door slammed and snapped her out of her strange
chance.

This was wrong, she couldn't do this, especially not in the house! If Harry found out she
would lose all the money! "What are you doing in my house?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, is someone feeling submissive?" asked the man with a naughty tone to his voice,
standing up and stalking toward her. "Don't want the fiancé to find out?"

"No," said Hannah. "Seriously, what the hell are you doing in my house?"

"You're a very good actress," said the man. "But I can see the lust in your
eyes."

Hannah did admit to herself that this man was very good looking, but it really wasn't worth
all of Harry's money for one shag. So she screamed his name. "Harry! Help!"

"Pretending he's here now, are we?" asked the man seductively, pinning
Hannah's body to the wall with his own. "You're so naughty, I love it."

The door burst open to show Harry, emerald eyes blazing and wand drawn. The man's face
drained of all color and he stepped back from Hannah. "Y-you were serious?" he asked.

"What the hell are you doing to my fiancée?" Harry demanded angrily.

"Please don't hurt me," the man pleaded, going on his knees. "She sent me a
letter asking me to sneak in and so I did!"

"Who are you?" Harry asked dangerously.

"I'm Mark…Mark Roberts," the man said, now crying. He seriously thought he was
going to be maimed. After all, Harry Potter was seriously powerful…and currently angry as hell.
"Hannah…she asked me to come! I work for the Wizard Gigolo Service!"

"I didn't do it, Harry!" said Hannah, eyes wide. For once, something wasn't
actually her fault. "I would never do such a thing! And did it look like I was enjoying what
he was doing to me?"

"I believe you, darling," said Harry, his face softening a bit. He had sent out a
feeler using legilimency just to make sure she was telling the truth. He also discovered she was
absolutely terrified.

"How many times did she tell you to stop?" Harry demanded, eyes burning even more
fiercely.

"I don't know!" cried the man. "Three? I thought we were
role-playing!"

"Why did you come here?" asked Harry again.

"I already told you! She sent me a letter!" said the man.

Harry discovered he was also telling the truth. It was pretty obvious the letter was forged. He
sighed, lowering his wand. "Let me just say that maybe you should stick to clients that
aren't married or engaged. It's just the right…and safer…thing to do. Now leave."

"Y-yes sir," said the man, not believing his luck. "Thank you, sir!" he said
before picking up his clothes and apparating out.

Hannah let out the breath she had been holding, glad that she had survived unscathed again.
Someone was trying to break her and Harry up, and she knew exactly who it was. She just didn't
know they would go this far to do it.

The two troublemakers in question were sitting at the window with two other troublemakers, all
hoping an owl would arrive in any second. This plan was foolproof, and they just knew Harry would
break up with Hannah.

But evening turned to night and eventually they were too tired to stay awake. But they
weren't worried. They knew Harry would have to digest the information. The owl would definitely
arrive tomorrow.

But tomorrow came and went without any news about a break-up, and the four started to get
worried. It should have worked by now…right?

A letter arrived the next morning during breakfast, and Raven excitedly grabbed it and tore it
open before grimacing and passing it on to her sister.

*Hey girls,*

*I hope everything is going well at school! And you better not let Quidditch interfere with
your studying…trust me, I learned the hard way.*

*As a side note, do you two want to be our flower girls at the wedding? (Yes Raven, you'll
have to wear pink.)*

*Love,
Dad*

It was just a standard letter, and he even asked if they wanted to be participants in the
wedding. Which meant that the plan definitely did not work.

They didn't understand how it could've gone wrong. It was foolproof. Leave it up to
Hannah to mess up something so easy.

The girls were very surprised at how difficult this was proving to be. Maybe Hannah was smarter
than they had given her credit for.

"So what do we do now?" asked Jade quietly.

"I don't know," replied Raven. "I think we—"

An owl landed in front of her and hooted, cutting her off. It was Hannah's owl.

Looking at her sister curiously, she opened the letter.

*Dear Obnoxious Brats,…*

**A/N: Ooh, a cliffie, yay!**



13. Understanding
-----------------

**A/N: Thank you all for your amazing reviews! I love 'em all!**

**Chapter 13 - Understanding**

*Dear Obnoxious Brats,*

*Stay the hell out of my business concerning Harry. Yeah, I'm only in it for the money,
and I'm sick and tired of you two trying to get in between me and the loser-boy's money.
It's all mine, MINE! And you'll never get me away from it, no matter how hard you
try!*

*It's harder than you thought playing on the big girls' court, isn't it?*

*Rot in hell, you little pests.*

*Wishing you the worst,*

*Hannah*

Raven and Jade stared at each other in shock for a few seconds trying to comprehend what they
had just read. The problem was even worse than they thought—Hannah was onto them. And she had said
that they would never be able to wrest her away from their dad's money.

Then they both looked at the paper with wide eyes. They smiled at each other and started
laughing as it sank into them what had just happened. Hannah was dumber than they thought: she had
sent them bloody *proof* that she was only marrying Harry because she wanted his money! This
was their golden opportunity, what they had been waiting for! And they hadn't had to do
anything, Hannah had sent it to them!

"Raven?" asked Jade slowly, a grin on her face.

"Yeah?" said Raven, her face mirroring her twin's.

"She really is stupid, isn't she?" said Jade.

"Yes, Jade," replied Raven. "Yes, she really is."

Raven stood up to go show the letter to Hermione, but as soon as she had taken one step the
letter turned to ashes in her hands. The girls watched the ashes slowly fall out of Raven's
hands in shock. They looked up at each other, their spirits sinking quickly. They had had the proof
in their hands! They were seconds away from being rid of Hannah forever! This wasn't happening,
there was no way this was happening!

"Hey, losers," said Scorpius, sauntering over to the twins. "Why are you standing
there like idiots staring at Raven's hands?"

Jade gave a weak chuckle before collapsing on the floor. She had been holding her breath in
shock and passed out from lack of oxygen.

Raven made no move to help her sister—she just stared at her hands. She didn't watch as
Scorpius called for help, and Teddy came running up. She didn't watch as the two carried her
twin sister up to the hospital wing. She just blinked.

She couldn't believe how close they were, only to have failed. She was having an out-of-body
experience, taking in everything and nothing at once. It was like Hannah had played the pair of
them like a harp. She seemed to always be two steps ahead. Nothing they did worked, and not only
that but she had just crushed their spirits and resolve with seven sentences. It really was that
much worse having gotten their hopes up first.

She finally moved as the bell signaling the beginning of class rang, dragging her feet and
keeping her head down as tears welled in her eyes.

Meanwhile, up in the hospital wing Jade had just been woken by Madam Pomfrey. "Are you
alright, dear?" the woman asked.

Jade just nodded dumbly. "I-I'm fine. I just need…I need some water," she said
hollowly.

Madam Pomfrey filled Jade's water glass with a quick *aguamenti* and handed it to the
young girl, a worried look on her face. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Jade smiled at her, realizing that her previous response was insufficient. "I'm fine,
really. I must've stood with my knees locked for too long."

Madam Pomfrey retreated back to her office with a few concerned looks back at her patient and
closed the door. As soon as the door had closed, Jade squeezed her eyes shut to unsuccessfully try
to stop the tears from coming.

After school, Scorpius came up to Teddy, who was sitting on one of the couches in the common
room. He sat next to his friend and sighed, pulling his homework out of his bag and slamming it on
the table. "It sucks to see them like that," he said, his voice breaking the silence like
a gunshot in the night.

"Yeah," agreed Teddy, "it does."

They looked over at their female friends, who were sitting at a table across the common room,
looking glum. They were supposed to be trying to bust out some homework before Quidditch practice
started, but they didn't even have their school bags with them. Their mood seemed to be
affecting that corner of the common room, making all of the kids around them seem less happy.

"We have to do something," said Scorpius.

"Yeah, but what?" asked Teddy.

Scorpius took a minute to think about it, finally saying, "It looks like we'll have to
try implementing one last plan before Christmas Break all on our own. I think they're done for
at the moment."

Teddy slowly nodded, replying with, "They'll be ready to go again when the break
starts. There's no way they'd miss an opportunity like that."

Scorpius nodded determinedly, Teddy repeating the gesture.

Hannah smiled to herself as she paid for the new set of pin

k dress robes she had seen in the shop window of her favorite store. She wasn't smiling
because of the purchase…well, maybe a little bit of the smile was because of the purchase, but the
rest was for evil purposes.

Her little letter to the brats should've been good enough to keep them out of her hair for
at least a few weeks. There's nothing worse than getting your hopes up only to have them
crushed—Hannah had learned that one the hard away (but then again, doesn't everyone?).

She could imagine the piteous excuses for girls' faces right now. They would most certainly
start crying…hell, Jane-or-whatever-her-name-was might even pass out! It was simply marvelous!
Hannah loved the fact that she could show how smart and clever she was by successfully hurting two
eleven-year-olds. It was like picking on a pair of sixth-graders!

Grinning and just barely being able to stop herself from cackling evilly, Hannah made her way
back to the alley, Harry's money lining her pockets.

On Saturday, Harry went up to Hogsmeade as usual. He couldn't wait to spend another few
hours with Hermione—it was when he felt the most comfortable and sure of himself.

Not to mention the fact that he was still completely and utterly in love with the woman. That
definitely made seeing her that much better.

He couldn't deny it anymore—he really was still just as in love with her as he was the day
he confessed to her. It was just too bad she didn't love him back. He had Hannah for that.

He wasn't taking advantage of Hannah, definitely not! He was just in love with both of
them.

He didn't know if he should tell Hermione how he felt. If he did so and she found it
awkward, it would ruin their friendship for another few years…unless she blew it off and let him
off easy. That might make it easier and less awkward between them.

He sighed as he weighed the pros and cons in his head.

He ultimately decided he should tell her as soon as possible, especially considering the fact
that he just couldn't hold it in any longer—he just wanted to shout it for all to hear from a
mountain top! She deserved to know whether or not she returned his feelings. Not to mention the
fact that it would take a big weight off his chest.

He found himself smiling as he seated himself at their usual table in the Three Broomsticks. It
was ten minutes until their usual meeting time, and that ten minutes felt like ten years. And in
those ten years—plus another fifteen—nobody showed up but for an old man with a raggedy cloak.

Harry frequently checked his watch over the next few hours, the amount of butterbeer bottles on
his table steadily growing. At three hours after their usual meeting time Harry finally left, his
head hung low and his shoulders stooped. He walked up to the castle, fearing that he may find that
Hermione had been doing nothing and had just forgotten about their lunch. If that was the case then
they clearly didn't mean as much to her as they did to him.

Raising his hand to knock on her door, Harry took a deep breath.

Hermione's crying abruptly stopped as someone knocked on the door. She had been crying
because she was supposed to meet with Harry but was intentionally blowing him off, hoping that he
would stop trying to see her. She had succumbed to Ron's truthful words and found herself
unable to be in Harry's presence—it just hurt too much knowing that she would be that close to
him and not be able to have him…and knowing that it was all her fault.

But it seems that Harry had come up to find her, which she had not been counting on. She cleaned
up all evidence of her crying from her face and smiled as she opened the door to Harry, who
didn't seem all that happy that she had blown him off.

"Hi, Harry," she said, hating herself for doing this to the man she loved.
"What's up?"

Harry couldn't believe his ears. She had missed their lunch and had the gall to just
nonchalantly ask 'what's up?'

"So did you have an important meeting today or something?" Harry asked through
clenched teeth, already knowing the answer to his question.

"No, why?" she asked. "And what are you doing here?"

"W-what?" sputtered Harry. "What am *I* doing here? *You're* the
one who missed lunch!"

"Lunch?" asked Hermione, genuinely confused. "Is today Saturday? I'm so
sorry, Harry, I totally forgot!"

Harry looked down at Hermione's feet, hurt and pain welling in his eyes. "It's
alright, I-I'll see you later," he said before apparating through Hogwarts's
wards.

He got home and collapsed on the couch, pressing his hands into his eyes. How could he have been
so stupid? How could he have really hoped that Hermione would return his feelings? How could he
have even considered telling her his feelings when he was engaged to Hannah? Did he love Hermione
more than he loved Hannah, his fiancée?

He was so confused! And he was angry at himself for almost breaking his vow to Hannah, who loved
him with all her heart. He wasn't that type of man!

Taking a deep, calming breath, Harry assessed his options.

And came to a conclusion.

Taking out a pen and paper, he began writing to his girls.

Raven and Jade had just began returning to their normal selves when, one week before winter
break, they received a letter from their dad. His writing was written with sharp points and the
paper was indented to the point of ripping at some points, indicating that he may have been angry
when he had written it.

*Dear Raven and Jade,*

*I have great news to tell both of you! Hannah and I have decided to push up the wedding to
the end of winter break! Isn't that great?*

*I hope both of you are doing well and I can't wait to see you on Saturday!*

*Love,
Dad*

The twins looked at each other, not knowing what to feel. They knew they should have been
feeling depressed, alarmed, and angry, but they really only felt the depression and indifference.
They had been fighting a losing battle anyway—it was difficult trying to outwit an adult who had
much more life experience than the pair of them combined.

It seemed inevitable that this would happen in the end.

Raven laughed and tore up the letter, tossing the pieces up to let the wind carry them away.
Maybe then they could pretend they hadn't seen the contents.

"W-we have to do something," said Jade quietly, trying to grasp at straws and only
saying what she felt needed to be said so they could go to sleep with clear consciences. "We
can't just stand by and let this happen."

"We can and will," said Raven bitterly. "There's nothing more we can
do."

"What are you talking about?" asked Jade, surprised that her sister was giving up so
easily. It wasn't so odd that Jade would let something like this happen, but her sister
wouldn't give up until the very end, where she still only went kicking and screaming. Her
sister, who she was always looking at to show her the way and help guide her. Unfortunately, (and
she would never admit this to her sister) she needed Raven a lot more than Raven needed her.

"I'm saying it's done," Raven said, tears gathering in her eyes as she gazed
at her sister, who had tears building in her eyes too. "I'm saying we failed. We failed
our dad and we failed Professor Granger!" she shouted.

Jade's lower lip quivered and she swiped at the tears on her face. "W-well, I see
you've given up. I guess it's just me and the boys then. Because I'm going to do this
for daddy."

Raven took in a shaky breath, her lips also quivering. "You're not going to guilt me
into this. You're right, I've given up. We'll have to watch him with her for the rest
of our lives, knowing that she d-d-doesn't l-love him l-like Professor Granger
c-c-could."

"I can't believe you, Raven," whispered Jade. "You've always been the
outspoken one, the stubborn one, the fiery one out of the two of us. And you're going to leave
me to face this by myself?"

"I'm sorry Jade," Raven whispered back just as quietly. "But there's
really nothing we can do."

She reached out a hand toward Jade to comfort her, but it just got slapped away.
"Y-you…you're not my s-sister. I d-don't know you!"

And with that she turned and fled, crying harder with each of her sister's cries of her
name.

**A/N: Unfortunately, it gets even worse next chapter. Only a few chapters left I think, so I
really am building up to the climax here this time!**

**Please Review!**



14. It Somehow Gets Worse
-------------------------

**A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews!**

**Chapter 14 – It Somehow Gets Worse**

It had been a few days since Jade had spoken to her sister and it was absolutely killing her.
Never had she gone so long without spending time with her partner in crime. Scorpius (continuing in
his vein of uselessness) sided with Raven after learning of the marriage being pushed up, saying
that it was a lost cause.

At least she still had Teddy. Fortunately, his father was going to play the part of Harry's
best man, so he would be showing up at Potter Manor a day before the wedding. If she had not yet
accomplished her goal of breaking up her dad and Hannah, it would be good to have another schemer
with her.

She watched from afar on Platform 9 ¾ as her sister reached their dad first, giving him a big
hug. Fortunately, it seemed that Hannah wasn't there. Jade rolled her trunk over by her dad and
her sister, also giving him her tightest hug. It was so good to see her dad again, especially
considering the fact that she had never gone so long without seeing him.

"So, how was your last week of school?" Harry asked, his face in a big smile.

"Alright," the two girls mumbled in unison before huffing and turning away from each
other.

Harry's smile faltered. "What's the matter, you two?" he asked.

Jade stayed silent as Raven answered. "Don't want to talk about it," she
mumbled.

Harry studied both of them for a moment. "I see," he finally said thoughtfully.
"Just promise me you two will work through it by the end of the break, okay? I'd like to
see you two happy at least once before you go off again."

"We promise," the two said together again.

"All right," said Harry, holding out a hand to each girl. "Grab your stuff and
one of my hands."

The girls complied and Harry turned on the spot, apparating the three of them plus the
girls' stuff back home, where Raven and Jade both went to their rooms in silence.

Christmas came a week later and the girls still hadn't spoken to each other, and both of
Jade's attempts to break the engaged couple up failed miserably. She definitely wouldn't be
able to do this alone.

Hannah was the same as ever with them. When Harry was around, she only glared at them whenever
she was absolutely sure Harry couldn't see her. When Harry wasn't around, she spoke nastily
to them and addressed them as 'brats'.

Thus, both of them did their best to avoid her.

Christmas was the most fun Jade had had in weeks. Raven was smiling too, though they still
didn't speak to each other. Both girls received a new broomstick—the Firebolt 5—along with a
few books they had wanted.

And before Jade knew it, it was the day before the wedding and she had accomplished absolutely
nothing. Teddy arrived along with his parents at eleven in the morning, grinning at her devilishly
before looking suggestively towards Hannah.

Jade nodded firmly, giving Teddy the message that they did indeed need to make some plans.
Professor Granger arrived a few hours later to receive the grand tour from her dad. There was
definitely tension between them, and Jade could see the longing and love in both of their eyes.
They were both idiots. Her dad never looked at Hannah like that.

The wedding rehearsal got underway at around two in the evening, giving Jade and Teddy the
necessary space and time to plot. "So, what do you have?" Jade asked Teddy. Both of them
were in her room, Jade on her bed and Teddy on her desk chair.

Teddy shook his head sadly. "Nothing. I did have something earlier, but seeing the way
everything is going, I don't think it would work."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both of them thinking hard, when a knock suddenly
interrupted their thoughts. "It's open!" called Jade.

The door opened and Raven tentatively stepped inside. "C-can I come in?"

A small smile crept up Jade's lips. She knew the look in her sister's eye. Raven
definitely had a plan.

After the rehearsal, Harry was walking through the manor, whistling to himself happily.
Everything had gone great. He rounded the corner into a hallway and stopped dead as he caught sight
of Jade on the floor, crying and holding her head, from which blood was seeping.

"Jade!" Harry cried, whipping out his wand and dropping to his knees at her side.

Jade suddenly stopped crying, looking up at Harry and grinning. She took her 'bloody'
hand away from her head and licked it, showing that it was only ketchup. Harry only had just enough
time to get over his shock before his wand was snatched out of his hand and he was shoved into the
broom closet, the door being slammed and locked from the other side. He couldn't believe that
the girls would do something like this to him, and he decided to apparate out of the closet and
have a few words with them.

Only he found that he couldn't apparate. Which was odd, especially considering the fact that
he could apparate through Hogwarts's wards. Then he laughed to himself as he realized two
things. He couldn't apparate because he had put the strongest ward he could find on his house
to prevent the press from showing up the next day, and he had also been thoroughly tricked and
outsmarted by his daughters (though he didn't approve of them almost giving him a heart
attack).

Jade's crying resumed a few minutes later and he heard Hermione cry her name. There was a
second of silence and Harry tensed, ready to jump out of the closet door as soon as it opened. But
when it did open, Hermione was shoved right into him, sending them both into a pile on the floor
before the door was closed and locked again. "I can't believe they got you, too,"
Harry said as they both stood up, Harry flicking on the muggle lights he had had installed.

"But for what reason?" Hermione asked, confused.

"I don't know," said Harry. "Just a fun joke?"

"I don't think that's it," said Hermione, comprehension flashing in her eyes
for only a millisecond.

Then the awkwardness settled in. Here they were, both madly in love with each other though Harry
was to be married to another the next day and Hermione had blown him off for lunch the last time
they were supposed to meet.

They both sat down on opposite walls of the closet, which wasn't saying much as their knees
were only inches from touching each other. Harry met Hermione's eyes with an intense gaze,
which Hermione quickly broke. "Harry, I-I'm sorry I didn't show up for lunch that last
week. I was being an idiot."

Harry chuckled to himself, thinking that Hermione could never be an idiot even if she tried. And
now that it had been a few weeks, he found it easy to accept her apology. "It's alright.
I'm sure you had a good reason."

"You could say that," said Hermione.

The awkwardness settled back over them, and Harry fished for something to say. But Hermione
found something to say before he did. "So, you really love Hannah, don't you?" she
asked curiously.

"Of course," said Harry without hesitation. "Why wouldn't I?"

Hermione studied him for a moment before saying, "And she really loves you?"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Harry, the beginnings of a cold edge to his
voice.

"Nothing," said Hermione quickly. "Just curious."

Harry sighed, knowing what he wanted to ask next but not knowing if he should. It could
potentially damage their relationship. But Harry figured it would be better to live his life
without any regrets, and so decided to ask, "What made you choose Ron over me?"

Hermione looked down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. She decided that now was
finally the right time to tell him how she felt, especially considering the fact that he was going
to be wed the following day. Late was always better than never. "I never wanted Ron over
you," she finally admitted quietly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Harry. "You choosing Ron resulted in
us not speaking for three *years*, in case you don't remember."

"I may have chosen Ron over you, but I never wanted anyone as much as I wanted you,"
Hermione said as tears gathered in her eyes. "I loved you, Harry, more than you'll ever
know."

Harry felt his own eyes start to moisten. "Then why?" he asked, knowing that she would
know what he was asking.

"Because I was being a fool," admitted Hermione, wiping her face. "I realized the
day after you left that I had made a mistake, but I was too late to rectify it."

Harry lowered his head into his hands, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "All this
time, all this time I've lived in pain and all because you were too afraid to follow your
heart?"

Hermione looked down at her lap, her tears falling off her cheeks. "Yes," she
admitted. "But I'm not afraid anymore. I have nothing to lose. I still love you, Harry.
I'm still *in love* with you."

Harry sat in a shocked silence for a second, making sure he heard her correctly.
"H-Harry?" Hermione asked. "Please say something."

Harry kept staring at Hermione, then couldn't help himself as a laugh bubbled up his chest
and escaped his mouth. He started laughing, a bit of a mad edge tingeing it, and said, "Let me
get this straight. You loved me all along, you still love me, and you've waited until the day
before my wedding to tell me so?"

Hermione looked down, abashed, and weakly nodded her head. "You've got to be kidding
me," said Harry. "Well, sorry Hermione, but I got over you quite a while ago," he
lied. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, cringing at the pain in her heart. "I love Hannah now,
so you can just sit back and see how it feels to be the brokenhearted one this time," Harry
said, trying to sound mean but only sounding pained. He just couldn't be mean to her no matter
how hard her tried, and he instantly regretted the words that had come out of his mouth.

But Hermione didn't care how he sounded. She only cared about what he had just said.
"Too bad she doesn't love you back," Hermione said quietly and a bit smugly.
"You know she's only in it for the money, right?"

"I didn't really expect you to be the mean jealous type," said Harry scathingly,
this time finding it a little less hard to be mean. "And I never thought you'd be one to
actually believe Rita Skeeter."

Hermione stood up and Harry followed suit, both of them getting in each other's faces.
"I'm not being mean," said Hermione. "I'm just telling the truth. I love
you, Harry, and I know Hannah doesn't. And do you want to know how I know that?"

"How?" asked Harry sarcastically.

Hermione took in a deep breath and said, "Because I know your favorite color is brown, and
I know you prefer coffee over tea, and I know you fly with your left hand in front of your right
even though most righties fly opposite, and I know your favorite book as a kid was 'The
Hobbit', and I know you hate peanuts, and I know you like watching football…I know everything
about you Harry, and I could see myself spending the rest of my life with you…that's how I know
I love you. Does Hannah know any of those things?" she asked, looking up into his eyes
vulnerably.

Harry gazed into Hermione's eyes, seeing the truth in her words. And oh, how he desperately
wanted to embrace her and tell her loved her back. All of the things she had just said she knew
about him he had only told her once, and he had never even told her that he flew with his left hand
in front. She loved him, she really did. And Harry realized that Hannah definitely did not know him
anywhere near as well as Hermione did.

But they were getting married tomorrow, and he loved Hannah too, though not as much as Hermione.
And ditching her for another woman the day before their wedding wouldn't be fair to her. So he
stubbornly said, "Just because she doesn't know all of those things doesn't mean she
doesn't love me. It just means that I haven't spent as much time with her as I have with
you. Just face it, Hermione," he said, willing his voice not to break, "you're too
late."

Hermione looked back down, and when she looked back up her face was devoid of emotion. "I
hope your wedding goes well and you have a great life," she said monotonously before her face
flickered into a grimace and the door burst open, her bottled magic spilling out past the barriers
she had thrown up. "And when you pull your head out of your arse and realize that Hannah
doesn't love you, don't worry, I won't be waiting," she said, her voice
trembling.

Harry looked down to his left and Hermione let out one last, choked sob before running out of
the room.

Before running out of Harry's life.

**A/N: Okay, so that didn't exactly go as planned, but try as I might I couldn't get it
exactly the way I wanted it.**

**I hope you still enjoyed it though, and I hope you leave me a good review!**



15. I Only Want You To Know How Much I Love You
-----------------------------------------------

**A/N: Here it is, the final chapter (except for maybe an epilogue). Thanks for sticking with
me throughout the story and leaving me awesome reviews! I'll miss updating this every few days,
but make sure to look out for my next one!**

**Chapter 15 – I Only Want You to Know How Much I Love You**

Raven and Jade looked at each other teary-eyed as Hannah said, "I do."

They had seen their professor run out of the closet with tears running down her face, and their
dad had slowly sank down the wall onto his butt before quietly crying into his arms. It seemed that
their plan had failed miserably. Their dad was now literally only two simple words away from
marrying one of the biggest gold diggers on the planet.

"Do you, Harry Potter, take this woman, Hannah Abbot, to be your lawfully wedded
wife?"

Raven and Jade sucked in a breath, already grimacing.

It was his wedding day, the happiest day of his life. Harry couldn't believe he was standing
here in front of Hannah Abbot, holding her hands at the altar.

*Too bad she doesn't love you back,* Hermione's voice told him in his head.

The woman he was going to be spending the rest of his life with said, "I do."

*You know she's only in it for the money, right?*

Raven and Jade were crying in the front row, but they didn't seem to be happy tears.

*Do you want to know how I know I love you?*

"Do you, Harry Potter, take this woman, Hannah Abbot, to be your lawfully wedded
wife?"

*Because I know your favorite color is brown.*

Hermione's favorite color was green.

"Mr. Potter?"

*I could see myself spending the rest of my life with you.*

"Harry?" asked Hannah, looking up into his eyes. And Harry saw lust, and that look one
gets when they're so very close to getting what they want.

*That's how I know I love you.*

What if Hermione was right? Maybe it was just cold feet, but Harry wanted to be 100 percent sure
that he was marrying the true love of his life, and she truly loved him back. So…he used
legilimency.

*Those little brats, I beat them in the end*, he heard Hannah thinking to herself. *As
soon as he says the words, his fortune will be all mine! What an idiot. I can't wait for this
blasted thing to be over, my face is starting to hurt from smiling. Money, money, money. Why is
Harry looking at me like that? Is he…using…oh Merlin!*

Harry's hands fell out of Hannah's and he whipped out his wand, pointing it at her face,
which elicited gasps from the crowd.

"Harry, darling, w-what are you doing?" Hannah asked weakly.

"I don't know, *sweetheart*, why don't you tell everyone what I'm
doing?" Harry said, grinning maniacally.

"You're…er…pointing your wand at my face…at our wedding," she said, the forced
smile still on her face, though it was quickly turning into a grimace.

"So why don't you tell everyone *why I'm doing it?"* Harry said through
clenched teeth. "Based on your thoughts, it sounds a lot like *money*, doesn't
it?" More gasps came from the crowd.

Hannah looked down at her hands, which were shaking and clenched into fists. She had been so
close…so close! But she wasn't going to go down without dragging someone with her. "God
dammit, I'm in it for the god damn money! Are you happy? I hate you Harry Potter, I hate you so
much! You're annoying and pathetic, not to mention the fact that you're…you're…lousy in
bed!" She sucked in a deep breath, wishing she could’ve come up with a better line.. "All
you go on about are those two girls all the time. Well, here's a newsflash for you: they're
brats! They're spoiled little brats, and they've spent every second since they got into
school trying to break us up!" When she finished, she was huffing and puffing and the guests
were completely silent.

Harry glanced over at Raven and Jade, who were looking at their dad with wide eyes. Harry winked
at them and smirked. "Well, it seems they were smarter than I was, doesn't it? And since
most people who know me don't find me annoying and pathetic, I think I won't take your word
on that one. Unfortunately, you're the only woman I've slept with, so what you say about me
being lousy in bed may be true…but then again, you did say you hate me, so I think I'll pass on
that one, too," he said as he smiled at her. That smile quickly turned into a menacing look,
his green eyes flashing and his hair rustling as his magic built up. Soon it seemed as though a
strong wind was racing through the room, and Harry seemed to have petrified Hannah much like a
basilisk would. "Oh, and one more thing…don't you dare speak of my daughters that way.
They're ten…no, ten thousand!...times the people you'll ever *dream* about
being." By now, little sparks of magic were shooting away from Harry and hitting Hannah,
giving her little shocks. "If you value your life, you'll leave right now and never enter
my sight again."

There was complete silence as Harry and Hannah stared at each other before the front of
Hannah's dress at about hip level seemed to get wet on its own. "Three," said Harry.
"Two…"

Hannah bolted, running down the aisle and out of the doors.

And just like Hermione, out of Harry's life.

*And when you pull your head out of your arse and realize that Hannah doesn't love you,
don't worry, I won't be waiting.*

Raven and Jade grinned at each other and high-fived as Hannah ran from the room, their dad's
wand trained on her the whole time. It seemed as though their plan had worked better than they
thought.

Their dad came up to them and hugged them both, saying, "Thanks for looking out for me, you
two." They each kissed one of his cheeks, and he said, "I'll talk to you two right
after I take care of something."

"Go get her, daddy," said Jade, grinning up at Harry.

"Go…what?" asked Harry, blushing. "How did you two…?"

"We're *eleven*, dad," said Raven. "Not five."

Harry laughed and said, "I'll try to remember that," before running out of the
room faster than Hannah did.

Harry ran to just past the apparition wards before apparating straight to Hogwarts, just outside
of Hermione's room.

Who was he kidding? He had never stopped loving her, and no matter how many times he told
himself he loved Hannah, he really didn't.

And now he was here to rectify his mistake. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the
butterflies in his stomach.

He lightly knocked on the door and, getting no answer, opened it quietly in case Hermione was
sleeping for some reason. What he saw made his heart shatter into a million pieces. Ron was
snogging Hermione for all he was worth, crushing Hermione's body tight against his. Hermione
had her hands fisted in Ron's hair, her eyes shut in ecstasy.

Harry turned and ran, not paying attention to the desperate cries of his name from behind
him.

He knew what Hermione would say. He was too late, and she had warned him. She would tell him to
understand it from her point of view.

But Harry didn't want to understand any point of view. All he wanted to do was go outside,
throw up, then breathe in the fresh winter air.

He hated himself and he hated Hermione. He wished he had never met her.

*That's how I know I love you.*

**Approximately 5 Minutes Earlier**

Hermione was sitting on the side of her bed, unable to believe that Harry was getting married to
Hannah at that very moment. She was looking down at a picture of her and Harry in sixth year
smiling and hugging, silent tears blotting the photograph.

"What did I tell you?" asked a voice from the doorway.

Hermione sat in silence, unable to meet Ron's eye. Ron sighed and sat next her, rubbing her
back with his hand. "I told you he didn't really love you," he said.

Hermione clenched her hands into fists, crumpling the picture. "Do you really think
that's the right thing to say at a moment like this?"

"It's really the only thing," said Ron, shrugging. "And now that he's
married, how about giving me a chance?"

Hermione looked at Ron, shocked. "How dare you! He just got married today! You can't
just expect my heart to be healed that quickly!"

"I don't give a bloody damn about your heart," said Ro, temper rising. "All I
care is that you're with me. Whether you want to be or not," he said before pressing his
lips against hers with such force that she was sure they would bruise.

Ron pulled her tight against his body and she squeezed her eyes shut in disgust, pulling his
hair to try to get him off of her. His lips were chapped and rough, his hold on her painful.

As she battled against Ron, she heard a noise and opened her eyes just in time to catch sight of
Harry running out of the room.

This was bad.

It definitely looked like she and Ron were sharing a passionate kiss. He wouldn't stick
around to hear the truth. He would leave, and the longer she waited the less likely Harry would
believe her. And he had ascertained the truth and skipped out on his wedding to be with her! If
only…she could…get away…from Ron…!

With a burst of magic Ron was propelled backward, smashing into the wall on the opposite side of
the room. The force of the impact knocked him out.

"Harry!" Hermione cried, getting up and dashing in the same direction as him.

He didn't look back—he only started running faster.

"Harry!" she called again, already panting in effort. She wasn't a natural athlete
like Harry was.

She kept calling his name until he got outside. Hermione stopped at the doors and took careful
aim before firing a tripping jinx at Harry, sending him sprawling in the snow, and by the time he
had stood up again she had reached him, tackling him to ensure he didn't get away.

"Harry, please stop," said Hermione, gasping for breath.

"Oh, I know," said Harry, sneering. "It wasn't what it looked like," he
said mockingly.

"It wasn't!" exclaimed Hermione. "I was trying to pull him off of
me!"

"Right," said Harry, rolling his eyes. "I should've guessed."

"Stop being an arrogant prat, will you?" Hermione shouted in his face, tears
collecting in her eyes. "I didn't want him to kiss me, okay?" she said quietly before
beginning to cry, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Harry's arms tentatively made their way around her back, keeping her safe as his heart
twisted with guilt for being so mean to her just now. They were silent but for Hermione's soft
sobs until Harry spoke again a few minutes later. "You were right, Hermione," he said
quietly.

"When am I not?" she whispered back against his neck, still crying.

"That one time you were wrong," said Harry quietly, half a smirk on his face.

Hermione looked up at Harry, smiling through her tears even though her lips were still
quivering. "When have I *ever* been wrong, Harry James Potter?"

Harry smiled at her. "That time you said you wouldn't be waiting for me."

"Technically, I wasn't wrong. That would've only started once you got married to
Hannah," said Hermione, no longer crying but still smiling.

"No, instead I pointed my wand at her face when it was my turn to say 'I do',"
said Harry, grinning at her.

Hermione shook her head before the smile slowly slid off her face and she whispered,
"Harry. I think you're the most handsome and amazing guy a girl could know and I'm
completely and utterly in love with you."

"You totally copied that from me," said Harry, grinning at her again.

"What can I say?" said Hermione, batting her eyelashes at him. "It's a good
line."

"Please excuse me if I don't copy you copying me," said Harry, taking a second to
clear his throat afterwards. "Instead, I'll say this." A deep breath. "I love
you too, Hermione, I never stopped loving you, and most important of all…I'll never stop loving
you."

"Harry," breathed Hermione as she tilted her head and her lips parted.

"Hermione," whispered Harry, his lips a hair's width from meeting
Hermione's.

They fell together, their lips meeting, their love melding in a perfect kiss.

"I love you," breathed Harry against Hermione's lips.

"I love you too," she whispered back, smiling.

*I can see myself spending the rest of my life with you…that's how I know I love
you.*

**A/N: D'aww, they're in love!**

**I hope you found the ending to your liking, and if you didn't…well, I'm very sorry to
hear that.**

**I hope you enjoyed the story, and I'm pretty sure I'll be posting an epilogue in a
few days. Pretty Sure.**

**Please review and let me know your thoughts! (Reviews are my secret addiction)**



16. Epilogue: Always You
------------------------

**A/N: Here it is, the final installment of 'Give Me Another Chance'! And sorry, but no
revenge or any of that stuff (pure fluff!). But be ready for something along the lines of revenge
in the (eventual) sequel!**

**Epilogue: Always You**

**7 Months Later**

"Dad?" asked Raven as she watched him tie his tie.

"Yeah?" he said, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

He looked in the mirror and saw his girls smiling at him. "We like seeing you so
happy."

Harry smiled at them as he finished with his tie. "I'm happy that you're happy that
I'm happy."

Raven and Jade laughed, somehow creepily making it sound as though only one person was laughing.
"Are you nervous at all?" asked Jade after she had regained her composure.

"Me? Nervous?" asked Harry, shaking his head. "Nope. I've never been more
sure of anything in my life."

"You love her a lot, don't you?" asked Jade with wide eyes.

Harry smirked at them. "Let's just say that if you two don't watch out, she'll
give you a run for your money."

Raven grinned cheekily at him. "Ha ha, dad, very funny. But all three of us know that even
though Professor Granger is cool, you couldn't possibly love her as much as you love us because
we're the most awesome people in the world."

"That may be true," laughed Harry, "but one thing you *do* need working on
is your modesty."

Raven stuck up her nose haughtily. "What's the point of not acting like you're the
best when everyone knows you are?"

Harry laughed again, adjusting his suit jacket. "Well, girls, how do I look?"

"Great, daddy!" exclaimed Jade.

"She won't even know what hit her," said Jade.

Harry took one last glance at himself in the mirror and vainly tried to flatten his hair.
"You two better head out there," he said to his daughters.

"Right," they said in unison before turning around.

But before they could leave, Harry said, "Wait, Raven." Sure turned around, looking at
him questioningly. He grinned evilly. "You should wear pink more often, it definitely suits
your personality."

Raven blushed madly and fisted her pink dress. She gave her dad a withering glare, grabbed her
sister's arm, and marched out of the room.

Harry gave himself one more glance-over, smiled at his reflection in the mirror, and walked out
to the altar. He couldn't believe that he was really getting married, and to *Hermione*,
no less. Oh, the number of times he had dreamed of this day. It seemed like only yesterday that he
had seen her for the first time in three years, and here he was less than half an hour from being
wed to her...from being with her for the rest of their lives.

They had went on their first date a week after they had confessed their love to each other and
Harry proposed at the end of May. And now it was August 15th and they were getting married.

The music started up again and Raven and Jade came out, Jade enthusiastically tossing flowers
while Raven did it half-heartedly. Harry couldn't believe that he had actually gotten her to
wear pink.

Then came Hermione, holding onto her father's arm and giving Harry the small smile she only
gave him and him alone. Harry felt his vision swim as he almost fainted. Hermione looked absolutely
gorgeous in her strapless wedding gown. He was glad he put on extra deodorant, or else the sweat
collecting under his arms may have stained all the way through to his suit jacket. The sweat
collecting on his face actually did manage to force him to push his slipping glasses back up the
bridge of his nose. He was having trouble breathing as Hermione slowly walked up the aisle with her
dad, her smile growing with each step until, once she had reached Harry, she was absolutely
beaming.

She took her spot opposite him and raised one eyebrow, batting her eyelashes at him. He smiled
at her, took her hands, and whispered, "You look absolutely beautiful."

"Thanks," she said. "You look pretty dashing yourself."

Harry smiled at her, squeezing her hands softly. She returned the gesture, and the minister
began speaking. The ceremony passed in a blur, Harry pretty much running on autopilot until the
minister announced, "You may now kiss the bride."

Harry grinned and swooped down, pressing his lips against Hermione's. As usual, no matter
how ready for it she was, she gasped, and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her
mouth. The crowd went wild and Hermione blushed yet returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm. Once
they had broken apart, Hermione whispered, "Harry, I have some good news."

"Other than the fact that we just got married?" he teased her.

Hermione nodded. "You know how I've been feeling sick the last couple weeks?" she
asked Harry, biting her lip. Harry nodded, not having a clue where this was going.
"Well...er...I-I'm pregnant," she stammered, nervous despite how many times she
practiced saying it to herself in the mirror.

Harry's smile seemed to freeze on his face as he digested this information. "You
mean...the first night we actually did it?" he asked, referring of course to the first time
they made love, out in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest under a full moon. That was a good
night.

Hermione nodded, giving her husband a weak smile. He wasn't taking it as well as she thought
he would.

Harry let out one weak chuckle, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed, landing face
first in the grass.

Raven and Jade were nervous at first when their father went down, but were reassured when
Professor Granger responded to their questions with a roll of her eyes and a, "He's just
being melodramatic. He'll be fine. It's just something men do."

"When they get married?" inquired Jade.

"Not exactly...no," said Hermione, wishing to wait for Harry to be ready to discuss it
with them.

But they were smarter than she thought. "No, you dummy," said Raven, rolling her eyes
much like Professor Granger had just done. "Professor Granger is obviously pregnant."

Jade said, "Oh," while nodding her head as Hermione looked down at her midsection,
where she had cast a glamour charm to hide her barely-showing stomach. She didn't see how it
could be obvious to anyone.

"How did you know?" she asked her student.

"What other reason could there possibly be?" asked Raven, shrugging. "You two
just got married, so there's not much else that could happen between you two other than having
a child. And plus, do you see how he's smiling in his sleep?" Hermione looked over at
Harry, who really did have a smile on his face. "That means it's really good news. So,
marriage done plus the fact that it's really good news means that it can be nothing else than a
baby."

Hermione took a second to understand Raven's logic, then nodded, impressed. "Very
good," she said. "now how about we wake up your father?" She pointed her wand at
said father and said, "*Ennervate**."*

Harry woke up slowly, rubbing his eyes before gaining his bearings. He saw Hermione in her
wedding dress and seemed to finally understand what was going on, standing up and brushing off his
clothes. "Why was I asleep?" he asked curiously.

"Because I told you I was pregnant," said Hermione, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, right," said Harry, a smile growing on his face. "That's fantastic
news!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Hermione in a tight hug (not too tight, of
course). "Isn't that great, girls?" he asked after he had let go of his wife.

Jade nodded enthusiastically. "That's awesome!"

Raven scoffed. "Only if the baby is a girl. One foolish boy is enough for a family,
don't you think?"

Hermione smiled, glad that she had been accepted by Raven and Jade so easily. "I don't
know. Harry was actually more serious as a teenager than he is now."

Harry smiled sheepishly. "It's true. I found my inner child at the age of 23."

Hermione swayed her hips as she took one step up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"And I love you all the more for it," she whispered before kissing him.

Raven and Jade made mock-gagging sounds before turning and heading back into the crowd,
searching for Teddy and Scorpius.

They didn't need to worry about their dad anymore. He was in good hands.

**A/N: I know, that ending was kinda cheesy, lame, and overly-fluffy, but I believe that's
the way an ending should be...okay, maybe without the lame part.**

**Thank you all very much for reading and reviewing my story! Please leave me one last review
before you let yourself out!**