A/N: Last chappie! Enjoy!
Chapter 3 - How to Fix What Never Happened
August 12th, 1999
I was still searching Britain on August 12th, 1999, so I quickly apparated to Grimmauld Place to pack some necessities. It felt weird being 19 again-my body moved more easily and I was quite a bit stronger.
I just packed some clothes and toiletries because I really needed to get moving. As I was locking my door, I realized that future Hermione never told me if she moved straight to Salem-we both assumed that I would arrive in a time before this ever happened.
I decided to try Salem, and hopefully she would be there. If not…well, I tried not to think like that. Shaking my head to clear the negative thoughts, I apparated straight to the International Flooport, which had quite long lines. There were only ten fireplaces in the London Flooport because it was built so long ago and there was no room to expand it later, and each fireplace had a good 30 people lined up. I had no clue how long Hermione was (was going to be? Merlin, this was confusing.) in labor with James, so I was pretty anxious. I paid my 9 Galleons, got in the shortest line, and hopped from foot to foot. And although I was dead nervous about getting there in time, I was excited.I'm going to be a father! I'm going to spend my life with Hermione!
I checked the time when I was the next person in line to leave-it was 8:15. I stepped into the flames and shouted "Boston, USA!" before I was whisked away. I apparated straight to Hermione's street and briskly walked up to her front door. Just before knocking, I paused. How far would Hermione go with this lie?
I was quite glad I had vented all of my anger at Future Hermione, because it's just not right to shout at a 9-month pregnant woman.
I knocked on the door and smiled, glad for this second chance. Hermione opened the door after quite a while, and I knew that she had been preparing herself to keep up the lie. I made it my goal not to look at her stomach, but I noticed just out of the corner of my eye that there was no bump-she must've used a Glamour Charm.
The young Hermione was even more beautiful than Future Hermione, because the smile lines hadn't faded and her eyes held only the tiniest bit of sadness. She was wearing a long skirt and a baby blue tank top.
Hermione plastered a fake smile on her face and said, "Hi, Harry."
I frowned at her and asked softly, almost to myself, "That's it? You leave with a one-sentence note and after nine months you smile and say, 'Hi, Harry'?" I wasn't actually angry with her-I just wanted to make her sweat a little.
Hermione's breathing quickened a bit. "Do you want to come in?"
I went in and sat on the sofa in the sitting room, where Hermione's half-eaten breakfast was sitting on the coffee table. I noticed that the furniture looked cheaper now than it did in the future. I also noticed that there were pictures of meeverywhere. On empty bookshelves, on the mantel, on the table-everywhere. Hermione came back with some biscuits and pumpkin juice.
I kicked back as Hermione sat stiffly in an armchair across from me. I looked at her over the rim of my cup of pumpkin juice as I took a swig, and she fidgeted under my close scrutiny. She spoke first. "How did you know where I was?"
"I asked around," I shot back. "Why'd you leave?"
I knew she had rehearsed for this, because she answered much too quickly. "Wanted a change of scenery. Try something new…you know?"
I furrowed my eyebrows and asked, "Then why didn't you tell me? I would've come with you, you know."
Sweat started beading on her forehead. "I…um…didn't want to tie you down, or make you feel obligated to come with me."
"But Iwantyou to tie me down." I smiled at her. "I love you."
She smiled her first real smile. "I love you, too. But you had just defeated Voldemort. I was going to come back soon-I just wanted to give you some time."
I looked around, observing the place, trying to hide my amazement at her lie. "All this furniture doesn't look temporary." I craned my head to look past her shoulder. "And is that a diaper station I see set up in the other room?" I asked.
She looked everywhere but my eyes and I grinned smugly as she searched for an answer. "Um…yes. It's for a friend's baby shower."
"Then why is it set up inyourhouse?"
Hermione's arm jerked and knocked her food on the ground. Her hand was shaking as she grabbed her wand and cleaned up the mess. "Oops…I-I should be more careful." She chuckled weakly.
"So. Why inyourhouse?" I looked at her quizzically.
She was on the brink of hyperventilation and more sweat collected on her forehead. "Um…I…I…I wanted to see how it looked before giving it to her." Her breathing eased a little.
I tilted my head and looked at her with concerned eyes. "Are you alright? You're sweating."
She swallowed and said, "Fine, just a little hot. You know what, Harry, I think maybe you should come back tomorrow. I'm kind of busy today."
"Busy with what?"
"…Work."
I arched an eyebrow. "It's Saturday."
"Housework," she blurted. "My house is messy."
I looked around-the house was immaculate. I sighed, and said, "Okay, Hermione. Housework is important. I'll be back tomorrow."
I went up to the door and Hermione followed. I put my hand on the knob and stopped, suppressing a chuckle when Hermione let out the tiniest of groans. I turned around to face her and asked, "Could you sit back down, please? I have something important to tell you."
She took a deep breath and nodded before going back to the sitting room and sitting down. I kneeled in front of her and took her hand in mine. "I know what you're doing, Hermione." Her eyes widened. "You're trying to give me freedom…to let me live my life." She relaxed a little, obviously confident that I still didn't know she was pregnant, and I gave her a quirky smile. "You never took into consideration whatIwant." I snuck my wand out of my back pocket as I whispered, "Hermione, love, all I want to do is grow old with you and raise a family with you, starting with the little guy you're going to have any day now.Finite Incantatem."
The glamour disappeared, and Hermione's swollen 9-month pregnant belly came into view. Hermione started crying and said, "Oh, Harry. I'm so s-"
"Shh, shh, shh, shh. I know, I know. You were thinking in my best interests. But my best interest isyou, and whatever is in our future. I love you, Hermione." I brought the back of her hand up to my mouth and kissed it.
"H-how did you know?"
I smiled at her. "Love, you are aterribleliar."
She let out a half-chuckle/half-sob, and I stood up, gently pulling her with me. She gazed up into my eyes with hers full of wonder, then wrapped me in a hug, burying her face in my chest. Her voice was muffled as she said, "I love you so much, Harry."
I cupped her chin in my fingers and gave her soft lips a gentle kiss. Just as I pulled away from her smiling lips, I heard what sounded like a liquid dripping onto the wood floor under our feet. I looked down and asked, "Hermione? What the hell is that?"
Hermione was still smiling dreamily and her eyes were still closed as she said, "That, Harry, would be my water breaking."
My eyes widened. "Oh, Merlin."
We stood in silence for a good minute with our arms still wrapped around each other until Hermione finally opened her eyes. "My hospital bag is next to the door. Can you drive?" It wasn't safe to apparate or floo while pregnant.
"Of course." I dashed to the door and held it open while Hermione hobbled out to her car. I grabbed the keys off the hook and the hospital bag before quickly locking up and racing to the car. I peeled out of there. "Where am I going?" I asked as I fought the disorientation of having to drive on the wrong side of the road.
"Make a right at the end of the street. Keep going straight for a while and you'll see a St. Mungo's branch."
I got onto the proper street and shot a quick smile to Hermione. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine. I'm glad you're here. I missed YOU!…Ow, that one hurt."
"I missed you too, love." A sudden idea popped into my head. "Hermione. I know that this isn't romantic at all and I don't have a ring right now, but will you marry me?" I quickly switched lanes to pass a slow-moving car.
Hermione's hand came to rest on my arm, and I pulled it off the wheel to intertwine my fingers with hers. I glanced over to see her smiling. A bit sweaty, but definitely smiling. "Yes, Harry. I'd love that." My heart soared." But I do expect a romantic proposal soon. I'll be sure to act surprised." She then squeezed my hand so hard that I was surprised my bones didn't shatter. Once she stopped trying to crush my hand, she breathed, "Ow." She gave my hand a soft, comforting squeeze-which seemed opposite what should've been happening-and said, "I love you, Harry."
I parked behind a hippogriff in the unloading zone, ran around the car, opened Hermione's door, and smiled. "I love you too, Hermione."
A healer rushed out and helped me get Hermione out of the car. She floated her along with a charm and asked me a series of questions about Hermione's health.
Within minutes we were set up in a room, Hermione lying down on a bed with me in a comfortable chair, holding her hand. It was only 9 AM, and I knew that James wouldn't come out until the 13th, so I braced myself for a long wait.
That had to have been the longest 20 hours of my life. It was nice, though, because Hermione was smiling most of the time, the only sign that she was giving birth was the slight contraction of her eyebrows and the tightening of her mouth-and, of course, the bone-crushing squeezing of my hand-each time she pushed.
So, at 5 AM on August 13th, 1999, a new baby was brought into the world. He was a cute little thing when he was all cleaned up. The doctor had his quill poised over the birth document and asked, "Name?"
I smiled and nodded at the sweaty, crazy-haired, bone-tired, most beautiful woman in the world lying in front of me. Without taking her eyes from mine, she said, "James. James Potter."
I guessed that I was in charge of the middle name. "James Alexander Potter." Alexander was Hermione's father's name.
Hermione gave my hand a last quick squeeze before taking out of mine for the first time in 20 hours. I pushed back the hair plastered to her forehead and gave it a quick kiss. She sighed happily when the healer-in-training handed James to her.
We looked down at him together, and Hermione suddenly turned her head and gave me a peck on the lips. "I love you, Harry."
I smiled as I thought of everything that had-and now hadn't-happened. "I love you too, Hermione. I love you too."
Epilogue - 15 Years Later
"Happy birthday, James!" James's 7-year-old sister, Miranda, shouted as she handed him the card she made.
Hermione was sitting on my lap with her head resting on my shoulder as we watched our eldest of 5 open his birthday presents. We were holding a small family party in our house in London with just me, Hermione, Hermione's parents, 13-year-old Lily, 10-year-old Sirius, 8-year-old Aurora, and little Miranda, who we called Mindy.
James ripped open his gift, which turned out to be new seeker gloves. He looked at the brand name and his face split into a massive grin. "No way."
"Yes way," I grinned right back at James. "QuidditchTech's newest seeker gloves, with a built in heating charm that activates if it senses that your hands are cold."
"Put them on, James," said Hermione a little too innocently.
James pulled open the left glove to put it on his hand, and seven tickets fell out of it. "Holy Merlin! England vs. Australia Quidditch World Cup Finals tickets!"
"Yep! In 3 days, all the way in Spain."
James mouthed 'wow' before putting on his seeker gloves, which fit perfectly. "Slytherin is so going down this year!"
We all laughed, even Hermione's parents. I tightened my grip on Hermione and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled radiantly at me, and I was hit with the image of the same smile, from the same beautiful face, on the same day, from Future Hermione, except that it wasn't the future anymore, and never had been. It was all just a memory.
A/N: The End!
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