Chapter 1559 - Ch: 44-46

Chapter Forty Four

Reposting Guy's Notes - Hello everyone. Nehit has asked me to continue posting these updates for the time being, seeing as he is hospitalised at the moment, having had an accident a week past. I have agreed. So, I will continue to post this till the last chapter but I might not be as regular as he was. He has a better work ethic than I do. anyways here's the chapter.Original Author Notes -

A/N: Now comes another instance in "Vox Corporis" where I will have to ask you, as the reader, to allow me a mistake (much like the clear lack of prefects for fifth year). Harkening back to a previous A/N, I'm an American and I have never actually been to the London Zoo. After I'd written this following scene I went online to see if I could find a map of the exhibits of the London Zoo; instead all I found out was that they do not allow pets. But I'd already written Kimmy into the London Zoo parts, and she rather needs to be there, so you'll just have to go along with me on this one and accept, for this story, that they allow pets at the London Zoo if they are leashed.

When Miranda pushed into Harry's bedroom at seven-thirty in the morning on Saturday, she knew beforehand that the young wizard would be sound asleep. The kids had only been home a week, but it had been quite enough time for Harry to start sleeping in practically until noon. When Miranda came home for lunch, more times than not, Harry was still in pajamas, but there, as ever, making lunch and being an utter delight to both Miranda and Hermione. And the wonderful moods Hermione and Harry were both always in since coming home for Christmas holiday… as far as Miranda was concerned, Hermione picking Harry to be her boyfriend had been a wise move. Not that she expected less from her brilliant daughter.

Miranda went to Harry's bedside and looked down at him. She smiled. Hishair was a right fright, the sheets a tangle around him, his arms flung out and taking up a huge portion of the bed. His face looked untroubled. He was really rather adorable when he slept.

Miranda was tempted, for a moment, to watch him a while, just as she had watched Hermione sleep when her daughter had been very little.

But they had a lot of things to do today, and the sooner they started the better.

"Harry," Miranda said gently and reached down to shake Harry's shoulder.

Harry stirred, his face screwed at the jostling, and he rolled away from her, mumbling groggily as he did so, "Few more min'us, Mione."

Miranda chuckled. "Wrong Granger, honey."

Harry's eyes snapped opened, he rolled onto his back, and looked up blearily at Miranda standing over him. It took about two seconds for everything to register. "Missus Granger… sorry." He rubbed at one eye and yawned wide. "Ut time's it?"

"Seven-thirty."

Harry looked aghast but he didn't say anything.

Miranda laughed. "Come on, dear, get your bum out of bed and meet us in the living room for a family meeting."

Harry blinked at her a moment, first bewildered, then stunned, then serious. He nodded and began to disentangle himself from his covers. "I'll be right there."

Miranda left him to it, exiting his room and returning to the living room. When she got there she remained standing and turned to look at the other occupants in the room. Hermione and Jake were already awake and awaiting the start of the busy day. They knew this routine all too well, but they would have to introduce Harry to the ins and outs. Miranda thought it was kind of fun to think of bringing someone new into this particular fold of the Granger family. Expectant, Hermione was in the armchair with Crookshanks curled in her lap. Jake was sitting on one side of the couch, Kimmy perched on the back of the piece of furniture like a squatting castle gargoyle… a cute gargoyle in holly-covered boxer shorts.

Miranda smirked at the house elf. Since Hermione was four years old Miranda and Jake had known there was something different, special, abouttheir little girl. For their daughter's sake, the acceptance of magic had become commonplace in their household. But for the longest time that had amounted to receiving the occasional owl post, having a copy of the Daily Prophet on their kitchen table in the morning next to the regular newspaper, and making trips to the ever-wondrous Diagon Alley. The recent addition of Harry into their lives had brought with it newfound understanding of just what it meant for Hermione to be part of another world, the wizarding world. They had a shape-shifting house elf as their guest, and they'd had to concern themselves with the potential for Harry to 'lose control' of his magic.

Hermione never did; they hadn't known it was possible for magic to just get out of hand.

It was an eye-opener, to be sure, and it made Miranda and Jake reevaluate just what their daughter's abilities meant beyond merely going to a special school for magically gifted children. In the end, it all came down to the simple fact Hermione that loved the world of magic, and she was as much a part of it as though she'd been born to a witch and wizard instead of plain, boring Miranda and Jake Granger. She wouldn't give it up anytime soon. It was irreplaceable in her mind and heart.

The world of magic was where she'd found Harry.

Miranda broke from her ruminations when Harry came shuffling into the living room.

He'd tamed his hair to a small degree, and he didn't look near as foggy with his glasses on, but he still looked as though he'd like to crawl right back into bed. When he came into the living room his eyes went first to Hermione.

Hermione looked over at him and smiled. Harry smiled back, then took a moment to consider the seating options. After a pause, he went over and sat down on the couch next to Jake and almost directly in front of Kimmy. Kimmy, as though unable to restrain herself given the prime opportunity, reached up and began to worry at Harry's hair, trying to comb it down to some semblance of presentable with her fingers.

Harry suffered it gracefully, but Hermione burst out laughing. Crookshanks startled awake and looked over at the cause for the disruption.

Kimmy gave Harry's wild hair a final pat and grinned sheepishly as she dropped her hands back to the couch.

"Thanks, Kimmy," Harry said politely, then looked around at the gathered Grangers. "So… what's going on?"

"Well," Miranda began, eager to jump right into the thick of it, "since you'll be joining us, there are certain things you must know to properly participate in aGranger Family Christmas."

Harry's eyebrows rose and he glanced fleetingly at Hermione.

"Tradition one is today; the shopping outing.

"Since Hermione's away at school all year, we don't expect her to have had any chance to shop for presents coming up on Christmas holiday. So every year, after she has come home for the holiday, one day is devoted entirely to shopping."

Harry looked like he might be ill.

Jake laughed, seeing the same reaction on the boy's face that Miranda did, and pounded Harry on the back. "Cheer up, son, it's not as bad as it sounds. In fact, this year might be the most painless yet, for me, anyway, thanks to you."

"Umm… okay."

Miranda tried not to smile and betray her amusement at Harry's expense. "It's really not so terrible, Harry. Jake and I tended to our shopping before Hermione came home, so it'll only be an excursion for you and Hermione to see to your Christmas shopping.

"Normally, this is how it works. We take turns teaming with Hermione. One of us takes her shopping for the other parent while the one who's being shopped for wiles away their time at the London Zoo. For example, usually I take Hermione to the stores first, and while she's shopping for Jake, Jake's at the zoo. At lunch we meet up, have a bite to eat, then swap. Jake will take Hermione out shopping for me, and I'll have a wander about of the zoo.

When we're finished we meet back up, pack up, and head home.

"Now, since there are four of us this year instead of three it'll take a bit more shuffling, but what I thought most practical would be for Hermione and I to team up first off, and you and Jake can go to the zoo. At lunch we'll swap.

You and Jake can go around to the stores and Hermione and I will visit the zoo."

Jake leaned slightly in toward Harry, "Believe me, Harry, that's the best you could hope for. By the time lunch rolls around, Miranda's worked her initial shopping frenzy out of her system and is much quicker about it."

Miranda smiled, a little embarrassed that Jake knew her so terribly well.

"That's true. Most years, that means we're ready to go back home by four.

But what I suggest is that we meet back up at three, trade partners, Hermione will go with Jake and Harry with me, and all four of us will go out shopping. By that time I expect that you and Hermione might already have certain things in mind from having gone shopping in the stores earlier, so I imagine it will be a real quick shop-and-dash affair once we've swapped partners. Now, naturally it wouldn't do for us to meet up in the stores and ruin any surprises, so I've worked out a system where we can be at different ends of London at certain times so we won't run into each other." She turned to pull out a chart she'd drawn up yesterday.

When Miranda stopped to look at her audience, she noticed three very different reactions.

Hermione looked eager to see the schedule and commit it to memory. Jake was smiling that gentle, loving smile he tended toward when Miranda went into organizing guru mode. Harry was trying not to smile like he wanted to laugh, he really was, but he wasn't doing very well.

Miranda puzzled over that. "Harry?"

Harry surrendered to smiling in pure amusement. "Nothing, just… you sound like Hermione when she's setting up our study schedules coming up on exams."

Hermione grinned, ducked her head, and blushed at the same time. Harry had turned his eyes to her and the light in his gaze was glittering brightly. Jake guffawed. "Well, you had to know Hermione must have gotten it from somewhere."

Hermione looked over at her father and Harry, and when she was met with nothing but affection from the boys on the couch her coloring started to return to normal.

Miranda finally chuckled. "I am a bit of a details person, I'll admit that. But some things you have to plan, else wise it all turns into a mess and then you're just in all manner of trouble."

Hermione nodded absolute agreement and reached out for the shopping schedule in her mother's possession. Miranda handed it over and next grabbed up a bag of adhesive Christmas bows of various colors.

"Now, this is very important… you need to know the bow color-coding for the gifts."

Harry laughed at once at that. "You color-coded Christmas?"

Miranda put one hand on her hip playfully at the question. "Yes. Why?"

Harry shook his head but his gaze went to Hermione again.

Miranda had a guess as to what Harry was thinking. "Well, silly as you may think it sounds, it's actually very important.

"Three days before Christmas we'll be going to my mum's. We celebrate Christmas day there with her. But my dear mother, though I love her, doesn't know about Hermione being a witch. So we have to take care with any presents that might be magical in nature. So, here's how the color- coding system works. Any gift that is magical, or close enough to magic that it would make my mum look askance at it, you put a silver bow on the gift.

For the most part, the silver bows should do. When the present has a silver bow on it, we all know to open it so that my mum isn't in a position to lean over and have a peek."

Harry frowned. "But… doesn't she ask? I mean, I… I'll grant I don't know too much about Christmas, but when I'd stay over Christmas at Hogwarts and I'd open presents with Ron he always asked what I'd got."

"Ah, that's where the second part of the silver-bow beauty lies. Sometimes you can hide the true nature of the gift. Like last year, we gave Hermione a book on famous witches in history. Couldn't very well have my mother seeing that, so we took the cover off a book in our library… what was it, sweetie?"

"The Best of Gregor Mendel," Hermione giggled.

Miranda laughed. "That's right… we made out as though Hermione was thinking of majoring in biology when she went to university.

"We took that book cover, wrapped it around the book on witches, and there you go, perfect disguise. And since the gift had a silver bow, you know you're to play along with whatever the gift would appear to be on the surface. But, should it not be something so easily masked, then what we do is dip into the jumper collection."

"Huh?"

Hermione laughed at Harry's confusion and explained herself. "We have a collection of jumpers in the closet, still with the tags on them and everything, that we bought ages ago. All colors and patterns and sizes. If the silver-bow present is something that can't be put off as a muggle gift, then you lay a jumper over it and the receiver act as though the present was the jumper, not the magical thing underneath."

Miranda nodded. "My mum is always going off to the kitchen to check on pies and the like, so when she's gone we usually have a look at the real present."

Harry nodded slowly, face a play of concentration. "Okay, I think I get it."

"If not, I wrote up the rules for you, just so you don't get confused while you're wrapping," Miranda produced her handwritten page of guidelines for gift-wrapping and gave it to Harry.

Harry glanced down at the list briefly and looked up."Gold?"

"Ah, yes," Jake threw in, "the most important bow color of the color-coding system.

"If the present is something that should not be opened in Berti's presence at all, say it's something that's apt to jump out of the box the moment you open it, then you place a gold bow on the box. More often than not, we don't even take those to Berti's. Rather, they're opened here at home."

"All right," Harry said, "sounds easy enough."

"Now, Harry," Miranda turned serious… well, even more serious than the present color-coding system demanded. "We'll be heading out today and shopping in teams to allow you the opportunity to shop for anyone you might care to, including Jake and me, but by no means does that mean we expect you to get either of us anything.

You really don't have to, so please don't think you're obligated."

"All right, I understand."

"Good. Then get dressed everyone, so we can get a start on the day." Everyone started to rise when Miranda remembered something else. "Oh! One last thing… Kimmy?"

"Yes, Missus Granger?"

Miranda cringed to even have to say it. "I… I know you have to stay with Harry, for his protection and everything… the only problem… well, the London Zoo has a strict policy that all pets that visitors bring have to be on a leash."

Kimmy didn't react at first, just stared at Miranda with an unreadable expression. Then she frowned and gave a shrug of her bony shoulders. "Well, if Kimmy must, Kimmy must."

Hermione turned to Kimmy. "I'm very sorry. We'll make it up to you, Kimmy, I promise."

Kimmy jumped down from the couch and headed toward the hall, where she'd taken up her old closet quarters. "Kimmy thinks many boxers will be deserved for this, many and pretty," she said over her shoulder as she turned the corner.

Miranda had a feeling that they would all be picking up boxers on this day's outing.

Jake and Harry bid farewell to Miranda and Hermione at the front gates of the London Zoo. Other zoo visitors were coming and going through the entrance behind them as the four split up for the first portion of the day. Kimmy, in her dog guise, was on a leash as required and standing at Harry's feet like a good little dog would. She didn't really look that upset about the whole leash affair, as far as Jake could tell, but then Harry was being very careful to hold the end of the leash in little more than a two-finger grip. Miranda was in a splendid mood, and Hermione gave Harry a hug before the women hurried off to hit the stores.

Jake put a hand on Harry's shoulder and steered him toward the entrance, where he paid for them to go inside. The lady who took their money gave Kimmy a critical eye and then looked up at Harry.

"You keep that dog on its leash, young man."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And have a great day at the London Zoo."

It was a chilly sort of day, with gray skies and a brisk wind pulling at their clothes. Most of the zoo patrons were bundled up snuggly, and those that weren't were seeking out windbreaks. Somewhere to their left an elephant trumpeted, and the birdsong here was different, thanks to the aviaries close to the front entrance.

"Well, then, Harry, where would you like to start?" Jake asked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets for warmth.

Harry looked around as though out of his depth being tasked to decide. "I don't know, wherever you want to go is fine."

"Come now, you must have some preference. Do you have any favoriteanimals?"

Harry paused a beat. "I like lions."

"Ah, yes, king of beasts and all that. Very manly. I'm partial to the monkeys myself."

Harry cracked a smile. Jake was happy to see the kid loosen up a bit. It would make the day go much more smoothly. Miranda had suggested that this day, his time alone with Harry, might be well-spent getting to know the boy better. Jake didn't think he was on bad terms with Harry, but he couldn't deny that Miranda was much closer to the boy than he was. He tended to trust Miranda's judgment on a great many things, and if she thought Harry was a decent fellow he was apt to go with that. After he and Harry had cleared up the whole issue about Hermione, that issue being that Harry had best not hurt her or there'd be hell to pay, Jake was fine with his standing with the young wizard. But Miranda wanted them to be better acquainted.

She suggested it would mean the world to Hermione. For that, Jake would give it his best.

"Well, we should have plenty of time to see both the lions and the monkeys before lunch, so no worries there. Let's go." Jake started them in the direction of the lion exhibit, as he was quite familiar with the layout of the London Zoo. Harry fell in step beside him with Kimmy quick on the boy's heels.

"So, have you ever been to the zoo before, Harry?"

"Once… with my aunt, uncle, and cousin."

"Did you have a good time?"

Harry began to smile. "Better than my cousin did."

"Oh, well doesn't that just reek of mischief. What did you do, throw his jacket in the panda cage?"

Harry laughed."No." He looked up suspiciously at Jake. "What would make you suggest that?"

"I might have been a bit of a prankster in my youth. Not to implicate myself in such a dastardly deed, mind you, but I can tell you that jackets fly better wrapped around a stone. Though the pandas like them less that way."

Harry chuckled.

"So, what happened to your cousin to ruin his day at the zoo?"

"Well, we were in the reptile house when I was eleven and… uh, did Missus Granger tell you about my… snake thing?"

"That you can talk to them? She mentioned it."

Harry nodded. "It was right before I got my letter from Hogwarts, we were at the zoo for Dudley's birthday. They didn't want to take me, they never took me anywhere, but no one would watch me so they were stuck with me for the day. I didn't know anything about my abilities then; I didn't even know I was a wizard.

"Dudley and I were in the reptile house and he was heckling this python. When Dudley walked off I was just standing there talking to the snake and he…talked back."

"If you didn't know you could do that, it must have been kind of scary to have a snake start chatting with you."

"Yeah, well… not half so scary as my uncle's temper later. He wasn't very happy about what happened to Dudley."

"Then get on with it, what happened to this cousin of yours?" Jake asked curiously, for now willing to side-step the atrocious uncle aspect of the story.

"When the snake woke up to talk to me, Dudley ran over to look and knocked me down. I got mad and the glass on the snake's cage just… disappeared.

Dudley fell in with the snake and about had a fit." Jake chuckled.

Harry chuckled as well at the memory. "The snake got out and the glass reappeared, trapping Dudley inside the exhibit."

"Oh!" Jake suddenly remembered. "I recall a news broadcast about an escaped python turning the zoo into a madhouse a few years back. That was you?"

Harry nodded sheepishly.

"My boy, you're a better prankster than I ever aspired to be."

"Uncle Vernon didn't think it was funny."

Jake grunted. "Harry, don't take offense, but my impression of your aunt and uncle is they have a sorely lacking sense of humor toward everything."

"I'm not about to take offense to something that's true. But Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon have always been that way, at least where I was concerned."

Jake withdrew a hand from his pocket to touch Harry's shoulder. "Son… I want to tell you something. When I was nine, my father died."

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"Yes, well, it was very hard to lose him. You know how that is.

"My mother remarried when I was twelve and my step-father… let's just say, there was no love lost between us. He wasn't a bad bloke, but I wasn't fit to have someone replace my father. I gave him and my mum the worst time; I don't speak to them much now because of all the bad blood that I left between us.

"What I mean to say with all this is… I know how hard it can be not to feel you have a proper home or family."

Harry took a few measured breaths as they walked slowly along the walkways between animal cages. "But… now…" Harry said haltingly.

"Now, I have what I'd longed for most ever since I lost my father. Home and family. Miri and Hermione are my light and joy and all that other mushy, girly stuff that Miranda would be better able to explain than I could." For a second Harry smirked. "Just because you didn't have it as a kid doesn't mean you never will."

Harry glanced at Jake's face. "I… that's good to know." Harry nodded to himself, lost in thought.

"That's… good."

It took a good bit of guts for Jake to ask his next question, but after talking with Miranda before the kids came home it had gotten in his craw and he wanted an answer to put it to rest. "Have you thought of having a family one day, Harry?" He took his hand from Harry's shoulder because the boy should only have to handle so much pressure on such a loaded question.

Harry flushed slightly. "Yes… I mean, just this last year I have. I thought about it for the first time during this last term, that is."

"Hmmm… the timing of this wouldn't have anything to do with my Hermione, now would it?"

Harry stammered and colored further. "Uh… well… I…"

"I'll take that for a 'yes'."

Harry was rather red by now. Jake decided red in the face was better than deathly pale, the latter of which Jake had seen more of when it came to Harry. Harry was still stumbling over his words."I don't… I mean, we don't… we've not actually talked about that. We don't talk about the future."

"You don't?" Jake was genuinely surprised at that. When he was dating Miranda, they'd turned to discussing their future fairly early on in the relationship, and it had seemed so dangerously romantic to a pair of kids in their early twenties.

Harry had that look on his face again, the one that catapulted him beyond the body of a teenager and landed his soul squarely in one belonging to a much older man. Harry didn't look once at Jake as he said, "I… I don't usually think about it, but when I do think about it… I think that chances are I'll be dead."

Jake stopped short. Harry overreached him by a pace and had to stop and turn around… though he still didn't meet the older man's eyes. Harry shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, one pocket trailing Kimmy's leash like an electrical cord, and he shrugged as though it were nothing as he continued, "Hermione says I'm scarred. About my parents and all."

"She said that?" It seemed a bit too cold to come from his baby girl.

Harry briefly met his eyes and smirked. "Well, not exactly like that, but that's the short of it. And since it's coming from Hermione, then it's probably right."

Jake slowly continued walking, to keep them moving because movement seemed safer than stillness, and Harry took up silently at his side again. After a time the boy said, "When I… whenever I thought about having a… a family… I thought that I shouldn't think about it."

Jake turned that over in his head for a few moments. "Well, seems to me that it should be the exact opposite."

Harry looked up at Jake in question.

"Losing your parents like you did, like I lost my dad, well, that's notsomething you get over anytime soon. And it can make death seem… you know, more a neighbor than some chap you hear about at an office party that you're not likely to ever meet. It gets to you, but… maybe that's why you should think about family. Something good to look forward to, you know? A reason to turn that nasty death fellow away at the door when he comes across the yard for a spot of tea."

Harry was pensive and quiet a long time. When he spoke again, it was faintly and haltingly, as though honestly afraid of what he was about to say. "What if… what if I do… let myself think about it… and I start to need it too much?"

Just then, Jake thought he might have some idea of why Miranda had grown so dearly fond of this boy.

"It seems to me, Harry, that you need family just as much as it takes to carry you through your very worst days. And that doesn't really strike me as 'too much'."

The boy didn't have a reply to that, but he looked rocked to his foundation at the thought.

In their silent trek, the pair of them drifted over to the railing in front of a wolf exhibit. By unspoken consent, they stopped to gaze at the canines a while. There were three of them outside of the den, but the lot of them were lying about half-asleep like dogs on their master's rug. One deigned to turn an ear in their direction when they stopped, but beyond that they were uninterested in their spectators. Jake had the sense that Harry wasn't paying much attention to the wolves, anyway.

"Mister Granger?"

"Yes?"

Harry was picking at the paint on the rail nervously, reluctant to look up at him. Come to think of it, Jake hadn't seen too much of the boy's eyes since entering the zoo, so apt was he to look away from Jake's gaze. But then, they had been having some pretty uncomfortable, personal conversation.

Harry pressed his lips tightly together then scowled. Eventually, he put words to his dancing expressions. "Do you think someone could need family… and want it… but be… incapable of having it?"

Jake frowned. He wasn't sure what Harry meant. Miranda was so much better at deciphering these kinds of conversations than he. "In what sense?"

If he was any tenser, Harry would be harder from head to toe than the metal rail under his fingers. "I mean… maybe, I've thought, it's just impossible for some people to have families."

Jake turned to face Harry when a thought hit him between the eyes. He was almost too embarrassed to go on. "Err… Harry… are we talking about babies and… performance deficiencies?"

"No!" Harry yelped and went flaming red in the face again. He rubbed a hand through his hair anxiously and looked fit to run off. Kimmy turned her eyes up to them curiously for their new turn in conversation.

For his part, Jake was feeling horrendously uncomfortable, but he knew Harry had no one else to have these conversations with. 'For Hermione,' he told himself in order to rally his courage.

"Because you know, uh… Harry… there are other options. There are doctors, and, uh… procedures… and you know, a lot of couples adopt."

Harry rubbed his face with his hands and groaned, completely mortified. After a while he brought his hands down, wrapped his fingers deliberately around the rail like was thinking of jumping into the wolf pen, and seemed to take a few minutes to compose himself.

When it looked like Harry was back from the edge of committing suicide by wolf attack Jake ventured, "Right, then, if that's not what you meant, what did you mean?" He offered up a baffled shrug.

Harry dropped his gaze to the ground and his grip on the rail turned fierce. He would surely start shaking, and Jake was growing worried. And then Harry spoke.

"I'm scared I'd be a terrible father."

The only sounds were those outside the two men at the rail of the wolf exhibit. Harry was practically frozen, clutching the rail like it was a lifeline. At first, Jake was certain he must have misheard, but he knew he really hadn't. It took a moment for him to fully come to grips with what Harry had truly said. Jake stared openly at Harry, not sure what to say.

To his relief, it was Harry who spoke first after the bombshell. "What do I know about dads?" He shook his head. "I never want to be like my Uncle Vernon. I couldn't be like Ron's dad if I tried." At last, Harry glanced up at Jake. "You're the closest…" Harry trailed and looked away.

It might have been fair to say that, right then, Jake became fond of Harry. Not the degree to which Miranda adored the boy, but on its way. The first step Miranda had hoped to see. The very reason, in fact, that she'd told him the zoo had best stay a part of their holiday tradition when it might have been just as easily left out this year. Miranda was constantly amazing him.

"I might not be quite the genius my wife is… or my daughter," Jake said, and at the last Harry's rigid exterior cracked a bit to permit a flicker of a smile.

"But I don't think you need to worry about that, Harry."

Harry glanced cautiously toward Jake from the corner of his eye.

"First off, you're still fifteen. You're not going to be thinking about having children anytime soon." Funny, how that came out more of an order than an observation. "And you might be surprised how years will change you. You'll be shocked when you're eighteen and look back on how daft you were at fifteen."

Harry almost smiled again.

"Second… a good father comes from a good man. And being a good man doesn't come from how you were raised, because that can be overcome if it was an absolute wreck. Not easily, but it can be. Being a good man comes from you. You may still be a teenager, but you've won my daughter and my wife, and they're not women easily beguiled by dishonesty. I have to think if you've got them in your corner then you're a better man already than you think you are.

"When I was younger, your age even, I wasn't always what people would call a good man. I wasn't bad, but I wasn't exactly good, either. It took Miranda to make me want to be a good man. Some days, I think she even managed."

Harry actually smiled that time, a little thinly but it was better than stony inscrutability.

"And then there's that," Jake added. "The right girl can make you a better person than you ever thought you could be." Jake stopped to study Harry a moment, then asked pointedly, "Shall we stop bandying words about and just come out and say that in all this we're talking about Hermione?"

Harry met Jake's gaze steadily and gave a small nod.

Jake nodded in return and took a moment to get past the aversive reaction to thinking of Harry and Hermione going about making these fabled babies for which Harry was so scared of being a bad father. It made him queasy andheartsick. 'Think of Hermione's smile when she's with Harry,' Jake prompted himself to give him fortitude, but that seemed to ache as much as it helped.

"Right… well, then, back to that 'being a good father' business…" Jake stopped and leaned his elbows on the rail. He glanced at Harry beside him and couldn't help himself; he had to ask. "Were you just speaking abstractly, or have you actually thought of having children with Hermione?"

Harry gave a careful nod.

Jake could barely imagine thinking of those things at fifteen. He'd been more interested in… well, other, less virtuous things at fifteen and even the years that followed. Actually, he hadn't considered fatherhood until Miranda was the one to possibly give it to him. He was growing a little uneasy with the parallels he kept finding between himself and Miranda and Harry and Hermione. Should that be feasible at fifteen? Could anyone be fit to find their match in those tumultuous teenager years?

"Now, look, Harry. You're young. So is Hermione. Maybe things won't work out that way. People change as they grow up, and it doesn't mean either of you will have done anything wrong if it ends up that you two grow apart.

"But for the sake of argument let's say you don't and things do go in that direction. If you're going to ask questions about being a father, best not forget the mother." Jake wasn't fit to take these kinds of talks, it would give him a coronary. When they did the autopsy, they'd have to conclude that giving up daddy's little girl was the cause of death, and that would just be really humiliating to have all the guys from work know something so… unmanly, had done in Jake Granger. Hard to come back from things like that.

"Might be I'm biased to think my daughter can do no wrong, but I'm certain Hermione's going to be a great mum someday."

Harry smiled faintly. "She will be."

He sounded as confident of that as Jake, and the elder Granger couldn't say if that made him like Harry better or not.

"Well, then you'll have her to help you. You won't be alone."

Harry swallowed and his breathing changed. He gripped the rail again and dipped his chin fractionally toward his chest, as though bracing against a stiff wind. 'He can't comprehend the idea of someone always being there,' Jake realized. Miranda was right… how could the poor boy's family have been this cruel to him? He deserved better. Jake might not be ready to say Harrydeserved Hermione, but better than he'd been dealt.

"And I'll tell you something else, Harry. You can't really prepare for how much you're going to love your children. It's just not possible, not even in that world of magic of yours. It'll just about knock your feet out from under you, no matter how ready you think you are. If love's half the battle in parenting, then you start off that first day with the war already half-won."

Harry was looking very closely at Jake then, a strange calm in his expression.

Jake tapped a finger against Harry's forearm. "And don't you forget me and Miranda. You think we won't want to be all involved with our grandkids? You best believe we'll be there. We'll be there right from the first diaper change, probably giving you all kinds of advice and tips when you don't ask for them until you'd love us to just shut up and leave you be."

Harry smiled tentatively, but he did look as though he felt a fair bit better about the whole matter.

"And I suspect you don't give yourself enough credit. From what I've seen of you so far, I'd hazard to say you'll be a pretty good dad."

Harry looked like he couldn't choose between laughing, dancing, or crying (the last of which made Jake feel a tad flighty; Miranda was so much better at this stuff). Jake had never seen Harry so… on the cusp of deliriously happy. Jake had to think the fact that being told he'd be a good father, when he was merely fifteen, could have such a profound effect on him said quite a lot about the kind of person Harry was. Jake also had to think he probably should have listened to Miranda sooner.

"I'll try to be, I'll really try," Harry said, almost under his breath, like a promise he was terrified to make for fear he wouldn't be able to follow through on his word.

With his wife in mind, with Hermione's beaming smile on his thoughts, Jake caught Harry around the shoulders with one arm and drew him into a hug. The boy tensed for just a moment before he was returning the hug.

"You'll do just fine, son," Jake said as he gave the boy's back a few resounding thumps.

"Thank you, Mister Granger," Harry said into his shoulder in a strained voice.

Jake stepped away from the young man and said, "Harry, after the conversation we just had, I think I'd rather you call me Jake."

Harry smiled at him. "Okay. Thanks, Jake."

Jake was feeling pretty good, all things considered, and he hadn't keeled over from a heart-attack, which was better than he'd thought for the outcome of that particular talk. Just then he cocked his head and regarded Harry as the boy stood before him. "Harry… Hermione doesn't know about any of this, does she?" Harry had said that the two of them never talked about the future. How could she know the things Harry had been thinking if it was part of a subject they never discussed? It seemed… unfair, somehow, that Harry could think about the possibility of children and not share that with Hermione. Jake could only imagine how those kinds of dreams would warm his daughter's heart, difficult though it was for Jake to admit that to himself.

Harry's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No, sir. Jake."

Jake shook his head. It just seemed a pity, but Jake wasn't quite ready to play match-maker like Miranda may have were she in his shoes. "Well, I'm not about to go telling you what to do, but for what it's worth… I think knowing you've given serious thought to the two of you having kids would make her really happy."

Harry looked wary but thoughtful.

"Bugger it all," Jake said abruptly with a theatrical shake of his shoulders, as though given the willies by something especially repugnant. "That was all horribly effeminate of us. If the girls ask, we spent the entire time talking about Quidditch and football."

Harry chuckled. "Right."

"Right. Come on, then, we were on the way to the lions, I believe." With that, the two men, with a Chihuahua accompanying them, resumed their trek toward the lion exhibit.

Chapter Forty Five

As they walked between the cages of the animal exhibits at the London Zoo, Harry still felt vaguely shell-shocked from his conversation with Hermione's father. He still couldn't really believe he'd said most of the things he did.

They'd been talking about Dudley and the escaped python a lifetime ago, and then suddenly it became a conversation about family… and Harry confessing his fears, fears he'd not even permitted himself to fully dissect, to the older man. Harry couldn't rightly say how it had happened, but there was no denying the things he'd said. It was like he'd been slipped veritaserum and all these things just came out. Things he'd never even told Hermione.

His heart had been hammering the entire time, but it had been easier to talk to Jake about those forbidden thoughts than Harry would have suspected.

And some of the things Jake said… they actually made Harry feel better.

Truthfully, he hadn't expected the acceptance he found in Jake when they started talking. It was a pretty sensitive subject, after all, and doubly so to have it be Jake the one with whom it was taken up.

It felt as though a burden Harry hadn't known he was carrying had been lifted when Jake hugged him like Miranda did. It was a little awkward maybe, but the only other people who'd ever hugged him were Hermione and Miranda. In that company, hugs held special meaning for Harry. Only people who really cared bothered to hug the likes of Harry Potter. To believe for even a moment that Jake might care a fraction of the same amount that

Hermione and Miranda did… it made him feel strange things. But good strange.

And nothing catastrophic had happened when he gave voice to those frightening thoughts that had been plaguing him ever since that day in Divination. The first seed in his thoughts to plant to notion of fatherhood in his head, the baby from his vision. In a way, he'd told Jake. Not specifically, but in all manner that it mattered. And Jake hadn't hated him on the spot for it. At the time, Harry had felt it one of the more terrifying things he'd ever done to say those things to Jake, but it had turned out much better than he'd thought.

Crazy as it sounded for a powerful wizard like Harry Potter, he'd been rather scared of Jake Granger for reasons that continually mystified Harry. But now it seemed that had been supremely silly. Jake wasn't mean or dangerous.

Actually, he was a very nice guy.

Harry was feeling pretty good, though admittedly a bit lost in his own head, when Jake touched his shoulder. He didn't even tense at the man's touch as much as he used to. "Here we are."

Harry blinked and looked up to see they were in front of the lion exhibit.

Harry and Jake stepped up to the railing and looked in past the crisscrossed wire walls at the animals within. The habitat was set up with a stone wall with a cave-like entrance at the back, a rock 'patio' of sorts laid out before the cave opening (in which the watering pool was situated), and elsewhere in the enclosure grass and a few scattered trees.

There were two lionesses lying about outside on the stone ground. One was sprawled entirely on her side, sound asleep. The second, a few feet away from the first, was perched up on her elbows and would have seemed more alert than her companion, but her head was drooping and her eyes were shut. That didn't mean they were unimpressive to look upon, even dozing. They were sleek and tawny, packed with potential brawn and power even at rest, with stout necks bare of manes. Harry looked closely at them through the fencing. They were nice enough, but Harry thought Hermione was far prettier.

"Oh, damn," Jake commented as he stood at the rail next to Harry. "Just figures the male wouldn't be out. Probably inside sacked on the couch watching the telly. The boy lions are the really interesting ones to look at, don't you think?"

Harry shrugged. "I like the lionesses better."

"Huh… well, your lucky day more so than mine, it would seem."

Harry stared intently at the lionesses. It was the first real lion he'd ever seen; one that wasn't a transformed figure of his girlfriend. He wondered how much these creatures were like Hermione when she was in her lioness form. Were they just as playful? Affectionate with each other? Tactile?

Intense? Formidable? As he studied the cats, he thought of Hermione when she looked very much the same as the lionesses before him. At some point, he stopped blinking in his concentration. He thought about the way Hermione's tail twitched and her brown eyes shone brightly with playfulness when they were romping in the forest. From the position of her body and the look in her eyes he could tell when she was thinking of pouncing on him. He thought of the way her muscles moved, graceful and strong, her body a regal, incredible weapon, from her fangs to her back claws. And yet even with that deadly capacity, he was reminded of the way she could be so gentle when she rubbed up against him, raked her head against his shoulder or along the underside of his throat. He thought of the roughness of her tongue when she licked his face, and how his whiskers would fairly hum like a struck tuning fork with the merest touch of her. He remembered her scent when she was the cat, as vividly as if she were standing next to him, and it was much sweeter and more pleasing than the scent of the lionesses before him. He could smell them well enough to know the difference in these lionesses and his lioness.

As though startled by the same unheard sound, both lionesses woke. The one dozing abruptly opened her golden eyes, perked up her ears, and turned her head. The lioness on her side rose up to mirror her sister's posture, her own head turning at once. Shortly, Harry had both cats staring directly at him with amber gazes. It might have been a discomfiting experience to be on the receiving end of such steady big cat stares, but Harry was used to having a lioness focused solely on him. And he had a powerful cat of his own to meet the intensity of the plains hunters.

One lioness rose and took a few steps toward him and stopped, her stare never once breaking from his. Harry noticed every detail, every measured move and every deliberate tick of the lioness's body. Even in body language, the tiniest details separated Harry's lioness from these two. It was as glaring as meeting a stranger on the street and knowing them from a friend. The shape and manner and shade might be very much the same, but like night and day all the same in all the innumerable differences.

The lioness standing and facing him lowered her head fractionally, and itleveled an even more pointed stare on Harry. It was a measuring look, fit for a sudden interloper.

Harry's eyes snapped away from the lioness to the back of the enclosure when a shadow emerged from the cave opening. A big male lion with a full apricot mane stepped purposefully toward his females. Near the lioness still lying on the stone, the male lion stopped in his tracks. His head and eyes turned to Harry and the two locked gazes.

This was different. Harry might know lionesses, but he'd not met a lion before. His senses jumped to a new level of alertness… and a strange thread of tense readiness set him just barely on edge.

The male lion paced toward the boundary of the cage, came boldly closer than the lioness had without so much as a second's hesitation, and stopped just shy of the fence. He was standing directly in front of Harry. It was close enough for Harry to be inundated with the male's smell. It was coarser to the nose, muskier and thicker, and not nearly so sun-kissed pleasant as the females'. His advantage of raw physical power over the females was not lost on Harry. The golden eyes were challenging where the females' had been curious and wary. It made the hair on the back of Harry's neck bristle.

'But these lionesses are not my lioness,' he thought in a remarkably clear, logical voice. Hermione would have been quite proud of that calm sensibility, in fact. The two lionesses were strangers with strangers' faces and strangers' smells. Really, this male lion had no cause or need to think Harry any manner of challenge to him.

As though the lion could sense that in the same moment Harry did, the male's stare tempered. His look turned curious, as though only just realizing that this entire time he'd been staring at a human boy. The standing lioness, as though taking some kind of cue from the change in her mate's stance, came closer to stand at his shoulder and take a closer look at Harry.

Harry couldn't say how long he may have stood there watching the lions with singular intensity were it not for a tugging at his pant leg. Harry's gaze broke entirely from the lion and lioness as he glanced down at the tugging.

And the jaguar backed off, curiosity satisfied.

As Harry looked down at Kimmy, his pant leg in her teeth as she yanked for his attention, it was the first time he realized that he'd touched the jaguar at all. It took him off guard. He'd not consciously sought the cat inside him, but it had come forward and lent its abilities to him while he'd not beenpaying attention. He was looking down at Kimmy, but his mind was still boggling over how the jaguar had just crept into him without him knowing it was waking.

"Whoa."

Harry turned at the sound of Jake's voice. The man was watching the animals in the cage. Harry glanced at the cats as well. The lioness had turned and walked back to where her sister was lying. When the bolder of the two lionesses reached the lioness that had remained behind during the near-incident, they rubbed their heads together in greeting. The standing lioness flopped down next to the other, their bodies in close contact. She looked over her shoulder at the male, who was still near the fence watching Harry. When the boy returned his eyes to the large cat, the male studied Harry a moment, his whiskers twitched as he sniffed the air, then he dropped his eyes in end to their stand-off and turned back to rejoin his lionesses.

"Harry…"

Harry looked back toward Jake, filled with trepidation to discover how Hermione's father was going to react to what had just happened. Jake turned from watching the cats to looking around at the other zoo visitors to see if any of them had noticed anything unordinary. When he seemed assured they hadn't, he looked down at Harry and leaned closer so he could lower his voice. "Do you talk to lions, too?"

Harry shook his head and searched for something to say to try and explain what Jake had seen. "Uh… maybe they can sense magic."

That made Jake's face screw. "Oh… strange, it's never happened with Hermione. But then, she does have regular parents, so maybe… well, do you think we ought to get out of here before anything… 'conspicuous' happens?"

"No, I… it'll be all right. I'll keep a tighter rein on it," 'and keep a closer watch over the jaguar around the big cat exhibits,' Harry added internally.

From the expression that was still fixed upon on his face, Jake looked a bit concerned about the wisdom of sticking around the zoo after the lions, but in the end he trusted Harry's assessment of his own magic. "All right, then, we'll stay. But if you think it's about to become a problem you let me know and we'll kip out of here right quick. We can wait for the girls outside, maybe even have a walk around London until it's time to meet them for lunch."

Harry nodded and glanced down at Kimmy. She was looking back up at him, understanding in her green eyes. She'd be on the look-out for any slips, too, just as she'd saved him from this one. But hopefully, now that Harry knew the jaguar could stalk up on him, he'd see it coming.

"Come on." Jake motioned for Harry to follow him and the two men, plus dog, left the lion exhibit behind. "Since we're staying I want to stop over and look in on the primates. There's a chimp that's become something of a mate to me over the years."

Miranda did hope that things were going well with Jake and Harry. While she and Hermione were out and about so Hermione could do her Christmas shopping, the younger of the two Granger women had spoken of nothing

else. Harry this, Harry that. And she'd been smiling radiantly the entire time.

Really, it wasn't so different from when Hermione had been eleven years old and home for the holiday. She'd taken an early liking to Harry Potter that had only intensified through the years. Miranda was thrilled to see her daughter so alive, so vibrant and excited about something with emotional substance. School had always been her passion, but it was safe. Because it was safe, it could only provide Hermione's spirit with so much enrichment and growth. This relationship with Harry… it offered more than academia ever could. The proof of that was in Hermione's eyes and her smile.

But Miranda hoped things went well with Jake and Harry. Jake had thought that being cordial with the boy was enough, and for any other boy it may have been. But not Harry. Miranda had figured out that if there was any ambiguity in a relationship, Harry was prone to assume the worst. So long as Jake was only maintaining friendly terms with Harry, the young man would think Jake disliked him. Miranda knew her husband; he wasn't the disliking sort. She knew he'd come around to the idea of having Harry in Hermione's life… now Harry needed to learn that.

When Miranda and Hermione returned to the London Zoo to meet up with the boys, the sight from down the street looked promising. Jake and Harry were sitting on the jutting lower portion of the stone façade of the zoo's brick exterior fencing. Kimmy was napping, or to outward appearances seemed to be napping, at Harry's feet while the two men carried on. They were chatting and just as the girls came within hearing range Jake laughed. Miranda couldn't help but smile hopefully.

As they drew closer Hermione could no longer contain herself and broke into an eager jog that set her wild hair to flying in the winter air.

"Hey, Dad, hey, Harry! What's so funny?" Hermione shoved down next to Harry on the stone, their slim bodies sharing what might have served as space for one. Kimmy looked up and gave a merry bark at Hermione's arrival. Jake was still chuckling and Harry turned a terribly luminous smile on Hermione.

"Hey, Mione."

Miranda caught up with her family and stood quietly to hear just what had been so amusing.

"I was just telling Jake about that time you and Ron were out by the Shrieking Shack and I terrorized Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle."

Miranda's eyebrows rose. He'd been telling 'Jake', had he?

Hermione laughed."Their faces were priceless. But they were asking for it, those bloody gits."

"Never imagined my daughter to take up with such a pack of rebels," Jake remarked with a chuckle.

"Misfits," Harry and Hermione corrected in unison.

Jake guffawed and looked up at Miranda. "You hear these two?"

"Yes, I hear them," Miranda said kindly, "did you boys have fun at the zoo?" "We did."

Hermione turned to address Harry. "Dad dragged you to see the monkeys, didn't he?"

While Harry smiled, Jake quipped, "As long as old Rupert's still throwing fruit and pissing off trees I'll keep visiting the chimpanzee exhibit. That old ape's a right good laugh."

"For those who are easily amused," Miranda parried with a sweet smile. Jake touched his chest, as though mortally wounded.

"Aside from that foul old chimp, what else did you two do today?"

Harry and Jake exchanged a look, then Jake answered, "Talked sports. Right, Harry?"

"Right, Jake."

"Uh huh…" Miranda hadn't been married to Jake for roughly twenty years without being able to tell when he was lying. But if the two of them were smiling and conspiring together like mates, then she'd not take exception to their little intrigue. Most likely it had been some unflattering man- conversation about women. While the cat's away, as the old saying went.

"Well, I don't know about you three, but I'm famished. Let's go grab some lunch."

"Yet another brilliant idea, Miri, I could have eaten some of that rubbish Rupert was hurling at his admirers, I'm so hungry." The three of them stood up and Jake led the way toward the car. Hermione had wasted no time in taking Harry's free hand, and the two of them were walking side by side, but Miranda caught Harry by the elbow as she took up alongside him, Kimmy trotting along between them. "Harry? May I speak with you?"

Hermione gave Harry a smile, let go of his hand, and hurried ahead to walk beside her father. Kimmy hurried over to the side of Harry that Hermione had vacated, giving Miranda room to walk less careful of her feet. Harry turned his eyes to Miranda questioningly, and he looked really, honestly comfortable with her.

"I noticed you calling Jake by his name instead of 'Mister Granger' just now. How did that come about?"

"Umm… he asked me to?"

Miranda, privately, was very pleased. Outwardly, she pursed her lips. "Well, that just won't do."

A flicker of doubt and worry clouded Harry's eyes and lined his expression.

"I'll not be 'Missus Granger' while Jake gets to go by his given name. You will call me Miranda, won't you, dear?"

Harry gave a relieved smile. "Yes, of course… uh, Miranda."

Miranda smiled. "There's a good boy. Now, tell me about this Shrieking Shack business."

Chapter Forty Six

Berti didn't abide much by CD players, nor the discs that went in them. Henry had been the one who loved music. It was he who had accumulated their collection of music. That was one of the many little things that still caught at Berti when she wasn't prepared for it, walking by his stack of CDs and seeing the film of dust on them. It seemed all of yesterday and a lifetime ago. Six years. Six compared to so many when he'd been there.

She'd grieved and continued living. The loss of Henry was a hollow in her soul, but she had children and grandchildren… she had life to live yet. In general, every day was easier than the day before. But the CDs still got to her now and then, like his empty side of the bed made it fresh every morning, and the pastures empty of all but lonely old Antigone screamed his absence.

But at Christmas, Berti brushed off the dust on player and discs to put in Hermione's favorite Christmas albums. It was tradition, and affinity for tradition and order had passed nearly undiluted from Henry to Miranda to Hermione. Now most of these holiday staples were for precious Hermione, as Christmas naturally bequeathed itself to children. Every year the house was filled with music before Hermione came through the door, greeted by her most beloved Christmas songs and her grandmother's open arms.

Music was ousting the ghosts of a quiet house, and Berti began to wander past the frost-framed front windows, watching for Miranda and Jake's car. So far, she had looked out only on the snow-covered grounds that spread out from Agincourt.

And finally, on one pass, she saw the familiar car coming down the road. Berti smiled and went to the door. The snow suggested it would be colder than it truly was, for at the moment there was no wind to carry the crisp winter through the threads of the most tightly-woven garments. Berti was warm enough merely donning an old cardigan over her regular clothing. She stepped out on to the porch and was waiting where she always did as the car pulled up in front of the house.

As always, Hermione was the first one out of the car and rushing up to meet her on the porch. Every time it took Berti's breath, just how beautiful Miranda's daughter was. Hermione grew lovelier every day. She had everything that made Miranda a treasure, the best parts of Jake, and then a few amazing things all her own. Not a child anymore, though… there was no kidding herself that Hermione had not become a young woman. A beautiful, vibrant woman.

"Gram!" Hermione called, all smiles and bright eyes and wonderfully wild hair and rosy cheeks from the cold, as she rushed up the steps and threw her arms around Berti.

Berti caught the girl in a reciprocal embrace and squeezed. "Happy Christmas, Hermione."

"Happy Christmas, Gram." Hermione stepped back and beamed up at her. Berti touched Hermione's cheek then turned her eyes to the car as the rest of the family piled out. Miranda waved and grinned and Jake twisted at the waist to crack his back after the drive. And lastly, a certain dark-haired boy from last summer got out of the backseat of the car and stretched.

Interesting.

"Mum," Miranda said as she scaled the shallow steps porch to give Berti a hug. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, dear. Delighted you could make it. Jake! Get up here to get what's coming to you this instant."

Jake chuckled and obeyed. When he had joined them on the porch Berti gave Jake just what he was due… a good hug. "It's good to see you again, Berti. You look well."

"Well enough, well enough. I take it things are good with you?"

"Can't complain. But things will be even better once I've had a cup of your tea."

"Well, don't you worry about that; it's on the stove even now keeping warm for you." Berti caught movement from the corner of her eye and looked past Jake to see that Harry had quietly approached and now stood at the foot of the steps, doing his best not to intrude. That elusive little dog of his was next to him but looking one direction then another, maybe listening for something furry to chase.

Berti glanced at Hermione, still close to her right side. The girl was very aware of Harry on the fringe of the family reunion. It didn't take a genius.

"I see you've come back, Harry." "Um, yes, ma'am."

Then there was a tugging on her cardigan, and Berti hardly needed to look to know it was Hermione seeking her attention; the girl had done the same since she was tall enough to reach Berti's shirt… and before that, it was a skirt or pant leg. She looked down and Hermione's face was upturned to meet her gaze, her expression bright as the sun reflecting off untouched snow. "Harry's my boyfriend now, Gram."

"Oh, really? Boyfriend, you say." Berti looked slyly back to the boy in question. Harry blushed and looked away bashfully. Miranda had been right on all counts about this Harry boy, he was adorably shy. But it would seem not too shy to have the sense to ask Hermione to honor him with her affections.

"If that's the case, then best get up here, young man," Berti said mock- sternly.

Harry did as told and when he'd come close enough Berti caught him up in a hug. "Dreadfully sorry, Harry, but once you take to kissing one of my girls you're required to submit to hugs."

Harry stammered unintelligibly as he relented to the old woman's brief embrace. When he was released Jake put his hand on the boy's shoulder in a show of solidarity. "She's right on that count, son, I've been privileged to rate Berti hugs from the time I first started dating Miranda."

"You're a real sweet talker, Jake. Now, come on in out of the cold, all of you. You can bring in your luggage and packages after you've warmed yourselves."

"I need to go get Crookshanks," Hermione stated at the invitation to go inside, "he's still in the backseat of the car."

"I'll get him," Harry offered.

"You'll have to carry him; he hates to get his feet wet in the snow."

"I know. I'll just be a second." Harry turned back to the car and trudged through the layer of snow coating the ground to retrieve the cat. The Chihuahua bounded along beside him, up to her belly in the snow but undeterred.

"Your cat approves of Harry?" Berti mused aloud, "Well, that's a sure sign of a good match. This Harry bloke may be a keeper when it's all said and done."

"Gram," Hermione said with an eye roll, but she was smiling even as she would seem to scold her grandmother.

"What? Animals are good judges of character, honey, it's a known fact. And naturally, his dog adores you."

Hermione smiled sweetly, that same kind of smile Miranda used to brandish when she and Benedick were sneaking treats from the kitchen. "His pet likes me."

"But of course she does. Good judges of character. Come on, enough standing about out here, let's go inside. We'll have a spot of tea to warm the lot of you up after your trip. We'll leave the door open for Harry."

Berti, Miranda, Jake, and Hermione trooped into the house and congregated in the kitchen, drawn just as much by the aroma of tea as Berti's herding gestures. Berti was pouring tea while the Granger family found seats at the table. Just as Berti was passing out steaming cups Harry came in with the fluffy ginger cat in his arms. The dog was nowhere to be seen, but Berti had noticed last summer that the dog had a habit of disappearing, seemingly into thin air for as stealthy as she was about it, only to reappear later none the worse for wear. The missing dog didn't give her any cause to worry.

"Here," Harry moved over to where Hermione was sitting and passed the cat to her. Crookshanks curled contently on Hermione's lap, looking relieved to be in out of the cold.

"Thanks, Harry. I saved you a seat." And she certainly had, the one right next to hers, in fact. Harry smiled and sat down.

When everyone had a drink Berti sat down with her family. She wrapped her hands appreciatively around the warm porcelain and took a sip from her cup, steamy vapors curling past her face and drifting up her nose. The first taste on her tongue was full of memories. It tasted like Christmas. She only spiced it this way at Christmas, had every year since the first year she'd been married to Henry and tea had been very nearly the most they could afford to spend on Christmas treats. Those had been some of the best years, until the children were born.

"Mmmm…" Jake hummed appreciatively as he drank the steaming beverage.

"This alone was worth the trip. You're a magician, Berti."

Harry made an odd face at that, but Berti had fielded that particular Jake Granger compliment before. "And a fairy and a gnome and Saint Nick's wife, too, while I'm at it. Why not?"

"Why not?" Hermione replied with a giggle, and Harry was smiling again. The boy caught on fast, that much could be said for him. But then, Berti didn't figure Hermione to go for a dunderhead.

Miranda looked around the kitchen after enjoying a taste or two of the family traditional holiday drink. "So I take it Ben won't be able to make it this year."

"Unfortunately, no," Berti answered. "He and his wife are spending the holidays with her parents again this year."

"It's been a long time since he's come home for Christmas…" Miranda said a bit sadly of her brother's absence. Once, Miranda and Benedick had been very close, thick as thieves, as Henry liked to say. It was a sad thing to see an ocean distancing the siblings.

Berti nodded grimly that Miranda would point out right off her missing brother. She'd noticed that, too. "Yes, and I'd hoped they might fly in this year since it has been so long since he's been here to spend Christmas with us. But flying the five of them across the pond for the holiday wouldn't be easy or particularly affordable. He called the other day, apologized for not being able to come, and I told him I understand. He promised he'll try to make it next year." For all the likelihood that held of coming to pass. She could see on her daughter's face that Miranda's was entertaining similar thoughts. Berti didn't especially care for dreary talk on such a happy holiday. Time to change to the direction of the conversation. "But just as well the Americanized branch of the Richardson family couldn't be here, because where would we put everyone? Miri, you and Jake will be in your old room, same as every year. Hermione, you can bed down in Uncle Ben's room…" she turned to the newest addition to the family Christmas. "Harry, would it trouble you terribly to sleep on the couch?"

"Not at all. That'll be just fine, Missus Richardson."

"Wonderful. It's settled then. And ugh," Berti made a bitter face, "'Missus Richardson'… so dreadfully formal, and at Christmastime in my own house, too. Must be something we can do about that. That kind of formality might have been well and good for a summer visit, before you were dating our sweet Hermione, but that just won't do for Christmas with your girlfriend's family."

Back was the blush she'd gotten used to seeing on the poor boy during his and Hermione's summer stay whenever she gave him a good teasing. Jake had never been so prone to turn shades of scarlet like Harry was, and Berti knew, she'd tried.

Miranda laughed. "We've had Harry take to calling Jake and me by our given names. That's gone over pretty well. He's almost past slipping up and calling us 'Mister and Missus Granger', too." Miranda looked to Harry with a playful smile. Harry again blushed slightly but smiled in kind.

"Hmmm… there's a thought. Roberta. Berti." She shook her head after a moment thinking over that possibility. "Oh, that's a bit strange given the age gap." Then she had the solution. Quite simple, really. "Looks as though you'll just have to call me Gram like Hermione does, Harry."

Harry's eyes widened and his lips parted, as though stuck on a trapped word that wouldn't form.

"Think you can manage it?" Berti asked.

Harry closed his mouth, swallowed, and nodded, "Sure… if you really want me to."

"I think it's the best choice. You know, I'm of that grandmotherly age, and it would seem queer to have Hermione call me one thing and you another, don't you agree?" Berti turned the idea over in her head a few times to test out the edges. "Yes, I think that will work. Young people in my house should call me Gram, I think."

Jake pouted. "Then why haven't you asked me to call you Gram?"

It was a blatant tease, and it made everyone laugh. Even Harry chuckled and shared an amused look with Hermione.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, Jake, but you're not that young."

"You wound me, Berti," Jake returned, but it was all in fun, and it seemed to put Harry at ease. Berti had a good laugh, just as much for having a full and merry house again as for Jake's familiar funning. She did so love Christmas.

When she had her composure fully back, Berti asked, "Would anyone care for some biscuits to go with their tea?" Then Berti watched. It was a holiday ballet, though the star dancer didn't realize she had center stage. Berti saw Miranda cut a very amused, knowing look toward her daughter in silent anticipation. Miranda knew this Christmas waltz, too.

As if on cue, Hermione fidgeted in her seat. It was the start, the first of step of the dance. It made the elder woman smile. Berti cherished her predictable, adorable little granddaughter, positively cherished her.

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip, picked up her mug only to set it down without drinking, and darted her eyes from one parent to the other. She finally could stand it no longer. "Don't you think we should go pick out a tree before it gets too late in the day?"

Jake hid a smile behind his hand.

"Just… wouldn't want all the good ones to be gone and be stuck with the tatty, browned ones."

Hermione appealed to the others at the table with a plaintive expression, one that no one in the room could deny, so far as Berti knew. She couldn't be certain about Harry, but she had a feeling.

"Oh, no," Jake countered, "that wouldn't do at all." Hermione brightened hopefully.

Miranda finally gave in and laughed. "You don't even want a bite of lunch before heading back out?"

Hermione's expression set in a determined scowl, though she made a concerted effort to sound reasonable rather than insistent. "I suppose we could. But we did have a big breakfast… I'm not even really hungry yet, honestly."

Miranda looked across at Jake, her husband's eyes glittering because he knew this tradition, too, and she gave him a surrendering smile and head tick of assent.

"Okay, okay," Jake held up his hands, "you've talked me into it. Far be it from me to ruin Christmas by dooming the lot of us to a tatty, brown tree."

Hermione grinned and was up out of her seat in a flash. Crookshanks, practically dumped on the floor when his mistress stood abruptly, landed lightly on the floor on all four paws, yowled in protest, and padded off, offended to the height of his feline haughtiness.

"Would you like to come tree-hunting with us, Harry?" Jake asked as he got up from the table, at a much calmer pace than his daughter.

"Oh! Do, Harry, it's so much fun!"

"Yeah, all right." Harry smiled up at Hermione and she eagerly tugged on his arm. The boy looked fit to consent to any manner of outing if it was with Hermione. She could probably have suggested dumpster-diving and gotten just as willing partner in the young man. Harry's little dog turned up, at just the right moment as usual, and waited patiently with tail wagging. Seemed there would be four of them going on this little sojourn. Harry did take that dog everywhere, and the perky little animal knew that like it was a right.

"Still room in the car for more," Jake offered.

Berti chuckled. "I'll leave this very important mission in Hermione's very capable hands, I think. She has my utmost confidence."

Hermione beamed proudly, looking every bit the entrusted protégé of a great master going it solo for the first time.

"Miri?"

"You three go on ahead; I'll stay with Mum and get lunch started. You may not be hungry now, but by the time you get back I'll wager you will be."

With Hermione at the head of the trio, pulling Harry after her in her enthusiasm with the Chihuahua hot on their heels as Jake brought up the rear, the group of tree-seekers left mother and daughter alone in the kitchen.

In the ensuing quiet of the house, Berti looked to her daughter. Miranda was smiling gently to herself, her eyes on the place her family had just been. "Pence for them?" Berti prompted.

Miranda just barely shook her head. "Just thinking."

About how Christmas brings out the boy in your husband. About your daughter fit to burst with glee and merriment for this special holiday as if there were not a care in the world beyond the perfect tree. How there are moments when everything can seem perfect. How time stopped for Christmas and held that moment in time for days, magical and enchanted with lights and trees and family. That smile on Miranda's lips had been Berti's once; she knew the wonders of Christmas from a wife and mother's perspective all too well.

Berti reached out and patted Miranda's arm. "We best get to that lunch; no doubt the kids will be ravenous by the time Hermione's found the perfect Christmas tree."

Miranda chuckled and stood to help her mother with the meal.

Harry had wended through many a forest with Hermione, but none quite like this. He'd never been to a Christmas tree lot before, though Hermione seemed to know them like a native forest sprite. He stepped between the rows and clusters of pine trees and breathed in deeply. It smelled of the woods, but without the lacings of other tree species or the hint of fauna making their homes in the branches. Also missing in this artificial forest was the carpet of shed foliage underfoot, or the sense of perfect anarchy to where the trees chose to rise tall and strong from the ground. This was a new woodland, and it was pleasant in its own unique way. He thought Hedwig might have liked to see this kind of man's forest if he hadn't sent her to Ron's for the duration of their time at Berti's.

The jaguar inside him stirred. The promise of a forest called to it, but Harry banished the cat back to the secret places within him where the animal dwelled. It obeyed, but not before Harry was touched with its untamed fire. It woke enough for the manmade forest to awaken him to the desire for real trees stretching before him with ground untrod by human feet beneath his paws.

"Oh, no, this won't do, too scrawny. Where are the Douglases? Or even the Alpines, they're usually fuller, though the branches are a tad flimsier.

Fullness before hardness, I say. Oh, this way. Come on, Harry." She pulled him after her by the hand. Hermione was like a creature in her natural habitat. She might not be able to touch the lioness the way he did the jaguar, but watching her made him wonder how it wouldn't be possible for her to manage. She was looking every which way, her eyes alert for what she sought, like a predator seeking prey. A heightened sense of energy emanated from her, and there was a coiled feeling of potential kinetics thrumming around her like an aura. She could leap into action any moment, swift and sure. Vitality was bleeding from her as she turned her head left then right, her hair a flowing, moving thing of gold and chestnut. She looked very much the way Harry felt when he was something between man and cat.

The jaguar didn't move to push at him this time, didn't attempt to take over any part of him, but he knew it was listening in the darkness, attentive and waiting… waiting.

Kimmy was hurrying between clumps of pine trees, sniffing at lower branches and weaving between clean-cut trunks after Hermione and Harry. The man running the lot hadn't been entirely thrilled with a dog accompanying his customers, but he seemed more agreement when he learned Kimmy was a girl. Apparently, he didn't want a dog hiking a leg on his wares.

They were approaching a band of tree brethren that looked the same to Harry's eyes as all the others Hermione had dismissed, but when they came closer Hermione exclaimed, "Much better! One of these will be the one, I know it." Seemed Harry was moving along too slowly for Hermione's liking, for she let go of his hand and hurried ahead.

Harry smiled and hung back. It was just as good to stand back and watch Hermione.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder, and by now Harry was used to the feel of it; he knew by the way the fingers curled around his shoulder, for it was the same every time, who had come up behind him. He looked back at Jake to find Hermione's father smiling too as he watched Hermione inspect each tree closely.

"Go along with whatever she says when she asks your opinion on a tree, Harry. Best thing that can be done when she gets worked up like this."

Harry chuckled. "I have met her, you know."

Jake laughed and pounded Harry on the back."So you have. Oh dear, looks as though she's moving on to phase two. I'm going to throw you to the wolves here and let you take one for the team, my boy, lord knows I've given more and then some to that cause every year since she was old enough to point and say 'that one'. I'll be by the Frasers, Hermione won't go near them. Good luck." Jake ducked away and disappeared into the greenery.

"Harry!"

Harry turned back to Hermione. She was standing in front of a tree, eyes narrowed and brow crinkled in concentration. She had her hands on her hips and her lips pursed in deep contemplation. She glanced briefly at him. "Come here and tell me what you think of this one. Where'd Dad go?"

"To look at Frasers," Harry answered as he came closer.

Hermione grunted. "Really, those ugly old things? No matter, I'll get your opinion. Do you think this one's full enough?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Well… could be fuller."

Hermione nodded, her eyes still looking critically at the tree. "Yes, you're right. Look around for a fuller one, but the height's good, don't you think?"

"Yep. That tall, just fuller."

Hermione smiled at him, radiant and worth any manner of tree trash-talking for not being full enough. "Isn't this great?"

"Yes." That much, at least, wasn't a lie, though it had little to do with the trees.

Hermione rounded the cluster of Douglases, and as Harry watched her vanish behind the thick green branches the jaguar compelled him with a suddenly stronger presence 'give chase, pursue her'. It was the forest setting, it was getting to him.

With a suddenly wicked thought, Harry hurried after Hermione. Before rounding the trees around which she'd disappeared, he stopped and crept forward. He peered through pine needles at her tilting her head back to examine the height of another specimen. Harry smiled devilishly. The jaguar's tail was twitching in anticipation of the pounce.

Harry rushed up behind Hermione and grabbed her around the waist. She gasped in surprise and spun around. When she registered it was Harry, she scolded, "Harry!" but when she got a look at the glint in his eye, her demeanor changed on a dime. She went supple in his hold, her expression turned coquettish, and she smiled crookedly as she asked, "what's gotten into you?" Though she didn't sound like she minded.

Harry smiled, still the playful panther, and pulled her closer as he backed her up to better conceal them in the trees. Hermione's eyes lit up and her pupils widened.

"Crazy idea just struck me," he whispered gruffly. He dipped down to teasingly, tenderly bite her on the jaw. He couldn't help himself, really.

"I hadn't noticed. Or did you mean something crazier than this?" she asked as she wound her arms around his neck.

Harry brought his lips to her ear and his voice was barely on his breath as he said, "Let's meet in Avalon tonight. I'm feeling… catty."

Hermione made a funny noise, something of a giggle and a deep sigh at once, and it made Harry's blood sing and his skin prickle. "We'll have to be careful…" she nuzzled her nose against his throat. "If we got caught…"

"You mean for being underage?" Harry asked lowly.

Hermione barely shook her head, distracted by his proximity. "No, not that, it's won't… that won't get us in trouble with the ministry, I mean…" Harry was fingering the rivets on her jeans as one might idly turn a coin over their knuckles, and it seemed to get Hermione thoroughly out of sorts while she tried to talk. "I mean my parents… my grandmum… we have to be careful."

"We can be careful," Harry assured as he finally stole a kiss. At first Hermione moaned into his mouth, then it turned into a sound of protest. She pushed at his chest, and after a second Harry had to think she actually meant it and pulled away. "Harry," she said breathily, "my Dad could catch us. Best save this for later."

"I'll hold you to that," Harry said as he dropped his hands from her.

Hermione threw a last, burning look at him."Do," she replied, then brushed at her hair and turned back to the trees to find the right one for the family Christmas. Harry found himself liking this tree-hunting business more and more.

Hermione gave each tree in their current cluster the eye like a general inspecting her troops. Harry tagged along, the dutiful corporal, promptly agreeing with everything Hermione said. He even got good at knowing when she asked him something she really wanted him to disagree with. It was in the wrinkle of her nose and the lilt of her voice. It was kind of fun, actually, like a game they'd never played before. And when Hermione's nose wascrinkled and her voice all wrong, it could be a really good laugh to see just how many ways one could insult a tree's virtues. It felt glorious to make Hermione laugh, almost the way it had felt the first time he picked up his wand at Ollivander's before the start of his first year at Hogwarts.

The unbidden thought of Ollivander put a bit of damper a on Harry's joviality, and the next tree to come under their fire got away lightly. The best Harry could do was call it a son of a birch.

By the time Jake rejoined them, eyeing Hermione's disposition as he approached like one might an unknown box sent care of the Weasley twins, Harry and Hermione were down to choosing between two trees. He noted that the two were standing together as they went back and forth on the two choices and absently holding hands.

"How's it coming, honey?" Jake asked as he came upon the pair.

Hermione turned her head to her father. "It's between these two; Harry and I like them the best. We just can't decide. Which do you think?" When Jake glanced at Harry the younger man gave an almost imperceptible tick of his head to the left.

"Oh, I'd say that one of the left there."

Hermione grinned. "Yes, I think so, too. They're nearly identical, but that one's just got more character."

"Wonderful, it's decided then. I'll just go find the tree lot owner and take care of the details. Unless you wanted to look at the Frasers before you made your absolute final selection?"

"Honestly, Dad."

"Right, what was I thinking? I'll be right back. And you'll be helping me get this bugger on the top of the car, Harry." Jake walked off to find the tree lot worker.

Harry looked at their future Christmas tree standing tall and wide, leaned in toward Hermione, and whispered, "This would be a lot easier to do using magic."

"And take all the fun out of it?" Hermione countered.

"Pulled muscles and pine needle scratches fall short of my 'fun stuff' list,actually."

"Oh, but pulled muscles are best cured with a good massage."

Harry mulled that over a moment. "Excellent."

"And Gram is a fantastic masseuse, could have done it professionally if she'd had the notion."

Harry scowled at Hermione, who finally broke and laughed. Kimmy emerged from the thicket of tree trunks nearby and barked excitedly, tail wagging and tongue lolling as she panted. In her own canine way, she looked to be laughing, too.

Jake came back to find the girls in a state and Harry looking bemused.

"What's going on? Did I miss something?"

"Boyfriend mistreatment," Harry answered in a faux dour tone of voice.

"Ah, damn. You'll have to give me the highlights in the car," Jake said to Hermione. That only made Hermione laugh harder. Jake couldn't hold back a smile, just for Hermione's laughter. Harry rolled his eyes, lost out and smiled as well, and moved forward to help Jake with the tree.

Fair to say it was probably the best time Harry had ever had getting picked on. It felt strangely… homey. Like he was almost a part of an actual family. Part of him was scared, but the other part of him liked it. A lot.