The Hogwarts Express arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Students hurried from the train, eager to begin their Christmas holidays at home. The Potter boys were in the middle of their own friends. James was with his Gryffindor gang. Albus was at the centre of a smaller Slytherin cadre. Harry could see Scorpius Malfoy next to Al. Harry gave an involuntary shudder. He resolved to be as supportive as he could be and not say anything negative.
A tall, slim man approached from Harry’s right. Harry turned to greet Draco Malfoy.
Harry: “Draco.”
Draco: “Potter.”
Harry: “Really Draco, you can do better than that. It’s been a long time since we exchanged Jelly-Legs jinxes in the Potions corridor.”
Draco: “Very well, Harry.”
Harry: “Scorpius seems to be doing well.”
Draco: “He is. Hmmm! The Elder Wand was very well done. I confess that I did hear the rumours. I didn’t want to be in the same room as you. I might have been spattered by your blood. If you didn’t finish it the way you did there would be endless trouble.”
Harry: “There are people who don’t believe any of it.”
Draco: “I have heard them. They say that there was no such thing as the Elder Wand. Then in the next sentence, they say that you faked breaking it and that you have it hidden somewhere.”
Harry: “A wizarding world skill; claiming that two contradictory ideas are true at the same time.”
Draco: “Ha!”
Harry: “Will you be at the Greengrass New Year Ball?”
Draco: “I wouldn’t miss it.”
Harry: “See you there. My best to Astoria.”
Scorpius and Draco moved to the floo.
Al greeted Lily who had been hanging on Harry’s hand.
“Hugo!” Lily shouted at her cousin who had just appeared from the crowd.
Hugo rushed over and hugged Lily.
Rose followed Hugo.
Hermione followed Rose.
Hermione stopped on her side of the talking bunch of cousins.
Hermione: “Hello Harry.”
Harry: “Hi! How are you, Hermione? How was Hogwarts?”
Hermione: “Different; I mean, it is so different being on the staff. I love it. I love teaching. I don’t want to do anything else now that I have started.”
Harry: “You are looking well, I mean, you seem to be happier… Er…”
Hermione: “I am well. I am much happier. There are a lot of things that I have to tell you, Harry.”
Harry: “Really! Oh! I mean, sure! Yes, I would love to catch up. What are you doing over the Christmas break?”
Hermione: “We are staying with Bill and Fleur. They have a big thing happening. The Delacours are coming over from France, which includes Gabrielle and her husband and children. Christmas Day will be at Bill and Fleur’s place. Mr and Mrs Weasley and the other Weasleys are going to Romania for Christmas. They are meeting Charlie’s wife and her family over there.
Do you have anything planned?”
Harry: “Oh! I have been a bit busy, and I haven’t arranged anything.”
Hermione: “I’ll ask Fleur to invite you all. She will love to have you there.”
Lily: “Yay!”
Hugo: “Yay!”
Harry: “Great! Thanks very much!”
Hermione: “I should get these guys to Bill and Fleur’s.”
Harry; “Oh! Sure! See you at Christmas.”
Harry automatically reached out and touched Hermione’s fingers. He felt a shock like static electricity.
Harry winced, “Ow!”
Hermione laughed and waved as she walked to the floo with Rose and Hugo.
--ooOOoo—
The fallout from the Wizarding Marriage Ritual disaster filled The Daily Prophet and every wizarding magazine. Press releases from the Minister for Magic sounded reassuring but Harry knew that they didn’t have a clue about what had happened.
He paid for an advertisement in The Daily Prophet. His message was simple.
“Forget the Wizarding Marriage Ritual.
Look at marriages conducted by civil celebrants and in churches.
They are all still on the magical Roll of Marriages.
The Druidic Handfasting marriages have all survived whatever it was that happened.
There is a lesson here.
Forget the Wizarding Marriage Ritual.
Ministry for Magic celebrants can be registered as mundane government civil celebrants.
Problem solved.”
--ooOOoo—
Christmas Day at Bill and Fleur’s was delightful. There was none of the tension that was a constant background vibe at The Burrow.
Papa and Apolline Delacour took great delight in reminding Bill and Fleur that they were still married. Their wedding celebration had been conducted by a Catholic priest in a chapel in “La Belle France”.
Bill finally gave in to the teasing and agreed to have his and Fleur’s second marriage ceremony in the same chapel on the Delacour estate. Their three children would accompany the bride down the aisle.
Gabrielle, Fleur and Apolline had frequent, intense discussions in French. They kept their eyes away from Hermione and Harry which was a giveaway that they were the subjects of discussion.
--ooOOoo—
After Christmas dinner, the children sat on the floor and played board games with some of the adults. Harry and Hermione sat together on a couch and enjoyed each other's company.
Harry: “Hermione, do you think that Rose and Hugo could spend some time at the manor during the summer break.”
Hermione: “Yes, certainly. They adore you and Lily and Hugo seem to be closer than ever. I would like you to become their father figure.”
Harry: “Ron was their father.”
Hermione: “No, he wasn’t.”
Harry: “Umm… can you explain that?”
Hermione: “When we were first married, Ron insisted on starting a family straight away. I was given no choice. Ron gave me the order and I obeyed. However, no babies came.
I went to St Mungo’s Women’s Clinic and was examined. I was fertile and ready to conceive. The healers gave Ron a check-up. He did not have enough sperm cells and the sperm cells that he did have were inactive. He was not able to have children.
That was when I met Healer Brown. He counselled us both to help us overcome our disappointment. We could not adopt a baby as Ron wanted me to be pregnant. He wanted his family to see me carrying a baby. Healer Brown told us of one thing that we could do to get around the problem. Wizards generally reject this as it casts aspersions on their manhood. Healer Brown advised us to send me to a Fertility Clinic to receive sperm from a donor. Wizards usually reject the whole idea, so the Fertility Clinic had to be in the mundane world.
Ron went silent. I hoped that he would behave as though he had adopted the children. Healer Brown tried to get him to accept my babies as if they were children to be adopted. Adoption isn’t a bad thing. Sirius adopted you, Harry. Ron never spoke about his disappointment. The only thing he said was that I was not to mention this to anyone and that I was not to talk to him about it.
We needed to have children to satisfy Molly. Ron was Molly’s little boy, and he didn’t want her to think that he couldn’t make her proud.
I went to the Fertility Clinic, and I selected the father. He was tall, slim and a redhead. He was an athlete. He represented his country at the Olympic Games in middle distance running. He didn’t win a medal. He was also a medical doctor and a scientist.
Rose was born and Molly claimed that she was a perfect image of Ginny. I got the same donor for Hugo. Rose and Hugo both have red hair, they are brother and sister, but they aren’t Weasley’s.
Ron ignored the children and went to the Chudley Cannon’s Supporters Club Bar, for the rest of his life. Ron made a fuss over Rose and Hugo in public but at home, he ignored them.
Rose wanted to know why her father ignored her. I told her and Hugo the truth. Ron was not their father. I told them that their natural father was a man from another country who donated his sperm.
I told them about the Fertility Clinic. I told them how their natural father was doing what he did to help women who wanted to have babies but who couldn’t, for whatever reason.
Ronald could have become their real father by acting as though he had adopted them, but he didn’t. He never told me why. I could guess what his reasons were, but I didn’t say anything. I was not permitted to say anything.”
--ooOOoo--
Supper was over and more games were being played.
Harry looked at Hermione. She smiled and walked to the doors leading to the library.
Harry followed.
Behind their backs, Fleur gestured to her family to stay in the sitting room.
Hermione waited until she was sure that they were not followed.
Hermione: “Before you say anything, Harry. I want to thank you for everything that you have done for me and the children. I know that you saved our house for us. I’m sure that I don’t know all of it, but I know enough.”
Harry: “It was the least that I could do, Hermione. You saved my life. I owe you more.”
Hermione: “Do you know what they did to me?”
Harry: “I know what Dumbledore and Snape did to me. I’m guessing that they did the same to you. You seem to have been hit much harder than I was.”
Hermione: “I was a lot of trouble, apparently. I was throwing off the enchantments. Dumbledore detected that and placed new stronger ones on me. Do you want to hear my story?”
Harry: “Yes, please! I want to hear all of it.”
They sat on a couch.
Hermione began her story. She told of the Greengrass spy network and how they had repeatedly saved Harry and Hermione.
She talked about the cleaning of 12 Grimmauld Place.
She explained how the real trouble started when she discovered Regulus Black’s notebook. She told of how Dumbledore had taken the notebook from her and how her life had been controlled from that time on.
She told of her life with Bilious. Their marriage was empty. There was nothing between them. Hermione obeyed the magical compulsion. She had no choice. Hermione’s life was filled with her children. They became islands of sanity for her.
Then the Chudley Town Council work gang set her free. She was free to become completely crazy.
Hermione shook her head. “This is something that I just found out. Healer Brown who helped me through my craziness is Lavender Brown’s uncle. He told me that Lavender was in awe of me all through our years at Hogwarts. I thought that she looked down on me for being a plain, skinny swot. She told him that I was smart, skilful and magically much stronger than her. I still struggle to believe that.”
Harry looked away. “I always thought that you were whole leagues above me. I thought that you would laugh at me if I asked you out.”
Hermione stared at Harry; her mouth was hanging open. “HARRY! Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to yell.”
Hermione leaned into Harry and put both her arms around him. Her head rested on his shoulder.
“Harry, darling! In our second year, when I was petrified and stuck in the infirmary for all that time, you used to come and sit with me and talk to me. You didn’t know that sometimes I was awake, and I could hear you. You did that all the time. You didn’t say anything brilliant or amazing. You were there for me. By the time I was unpetrified, I was completely smitten with you.”
Hermione hugged Harry.
“My smitten state increased all the time. You seemed to be oblivious. Then I gave that notebook to Dumbledore. Then my life went to pieces.”
Hermione sniffed.
“Sorry! I’m weeping on your shoulder. I don’t want to let you go.”
Harry slid an arm around Hermione. “Hermione, I should have said this a long time ago. Will you marry me?”
Hermione giggled. “It’s a bit sudden isn’t it.”
Harry sighed. “Sudden? No! I don’t think so. It’s been on my mind on and off for twenty-three years. The sudden, mysterious disappearance of the Wizarding Marriage Ritual has given me another chance and I don’t want to waste it.”
Hermione gave another watery giggle. “That was me.”
“Huh?”
Hermione whispered. “I switched the Wizarding Marriage Ritual off. I will need a long time to explain it. I have a much more important thing to say.”
Hermione took a breath.
“YES! YES! YES!”
Hermione’s lips found Harry’s and stayed there. It wasn’t a passionate or romantic kiss. They were both out of practice.
A little sound came from the doorway. Hermione’s hand detached from Harry and waved whoever it was away.
--ooOOoo—
Hugo hurried back into the sitting room. He went to the cousins who were playing a game of gobstones.
Hugo: “Stop! Listen! Your Daddy and our Mummy are kissing. Kissing like they are boyfriend and girlfriend.”
James: “Good!”
Al: “That’s cool.”
Lily: “Does that mean that you will be moving to the Manor?”
Rose: “I’m hoping that we will.”
Hugo: “I know the room that I want, and I want to keep my room here, and my room at Hogwarts.”
Louis: “She’s a professor. She’s not allowed to kiss a parent.”
Dominique: “They aren’t at Hogwarts now. They are our Aunty Hermione and Uncle Harry.”
Louis: “Is that allowed? Aren’t they related?”
James: “No. They are not related. They were in-laws but now they aren’t married. I don’t understand why Dad isn’t married, but he isn’t.”
Rose: “When you are alone with them next, tell them to hurry up. We want this settled.”
They all nodded. The game restarted.
When the game finished, James and Al went to Rose.
Al: “Does our dad know about your dad not being your dad?”
Rose: “Mum said that she was going to tell him. Mum always does what she says she will do. Don’t worry. Your dad won’t mind.”
James: “No, he won’t. He really likes your mum. So do I.”
Rose smiled.
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH3tTnkVwTk
