First the disclaimer, these characters are not mine or I would be much better off than I am.

Next the A/Note. This little tale is about what happened after the battle of Hogwarts. It is not an exciting tale full of fight scenes or blood and guts. It is just a slow fluffy bit about Harry and Hermione and what happened in my version of the Epilogue.

Away from magic.

It was just a little after five in the morning. Harry sat at the kitchen table of the Burrow sipping at a cup of tea he had made. As he sat there he was enjoying the peace he found when everyone was asleep. Thoughts of the funeral of Fred that had taken place two weeks before and the sadness that seemed to have invaded the Burrow and taken up residence for the foreseeable future since that day filled his mind for a short time. Just for a moment he thought of Ginny and how everyone was expecting him to get back together with her. A small grimace crossed his face as he remembered that he himself had thought that very thing, right up to the time he had seen Voldemort fall to his own spell. Something in that moment changed for him though he was not yet sure just what that was. As the various thoughts swirled around in his head he heard a slight creak on the stairs behind him. Someone was getting up.

Looking over his shoulder he saw Hermione as she stepped from the bottom step into the kitchen. By the time she had taken a seat across from him he had poured her a cup of tea, as usual he made it just as she liked it. As he passed it to her he quietly welcomed her with, "Good morning Hermione."

Hermione sat down and accepted the tea thanking him after she had taken the first refreshing sip. "Thanks Harry, and good morning to you." Once she had spoken she looked down at her tea slowly turning the cup in her hands. Harry knew it was a definative sign of worry with her. He almost reached out to take her hand but then decided to wait until she had voiced what ever had her upset.

Harry noted it almost as soon as she had spoken, something really serious was troubling the best friend he had, or ever had had. It reminded him that she had seemed to be getting more depressed with each day that passed and he decided it was time to find out what was bothering her. He took a breath readying him self to ask her while hoping she did not take offence at him being nosy. However before he could ask Hermione spoke.

"Harry… Harry we have been here with the Weasley's almost a month… I… I want to go home Harry. Take me home please Harry, take me home, come with me, I don't want to be alone."

Her question seemed so desperate, so sad. That she had asked him in such a way stirred something in him that he had been trying to identify for several months. Looking at the tears that were slowly falling from her eyes and the pleading look she was giving him had him admitting to himself that he wanted to be alone with her. He wanted to spend time with her just as he had during all those weeks that Ron had abandoned them. He wanted it to be just the two of them, without all the depressing sadness that filled the Burrow. He was not surprised that a place he had previously associated with happiness, could cause the strongest woman he had ever met to feel so depressed with the atmosphere that was always around the house now.

"Ok finish your tea, and then go pack. We will be leaving as soon as you are ready." He told her as he took hold of her left hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He smiled as her face seemed to light up at his words. He was already packed, as usual he had not bothered to unpack the few things he owned, he never did, no matter where he stayed or who he stayed with.

Hermione smiled and wiped away the remaining tears from her cheeks and lifted her cup. She relaxed with a quiet contented sigh, feeling much better she sipped at her tea. While drinking her tea she calculated how long it would take for her to pack her things away. 'It should take no more than a few minutes', she told her self, and then she silently chuckled at her self. 'Make that seconds Hermione Jane, you are a witch after all.' Finished with her tea she stood and took her cup over to the sink and rinsed it clean. Looking at Harry who was watching her with a soft gentle sort of look in his eye she said, "I'll just change and be back down soon." She then almost ran up the stairs.

Harry followed her at a slightly more sedate pace, making no noise as he made his way up to Ron's Room. Looking at where he had been sleeping, tucked up in the corner of the room on a camp bed, he looked at what he needed to pack. One book, it was all he had removed from his trunk in the past month other than his clothes. Putting the book he had tried to read to pass some time into his trunk he closed and locked it. Considering there was no closet or wardrobe in the room he could use, he basically lived out of his trunk. His clean clothes were to the right and the used ones to the left, the book was the only thing that was not already in his trunk. With a charm to lighten the trunk Harry left the room, he did not even take a look around.

He was glad to be getting away from the one who had once not so long ago been his best mate. Once again as he was thinking about Ron, a picture of Ron with utter hate in his eyes flashed through his mind. The day Ron deserted them, that was the day that their friendship had died as far as Harry was concerned. Ron had intended to kill Harry that day, it was there in those hate filled eyes. If Hermione had not cast her shield one of them would have died in that tent, of that he was quite certain. Shaking his head to rid him of the memories he made his way down to the kitchen.

Hermione was at the kitchen table trying to write a note to the Weasleys, trying but failing, she had no idea of what she should say. Harry looked over her shoulder and read what she had written. It was not much, it simply said 'Dear Weasley's…' Smiling at her he took the quill from her hand and with a wave of his right hand he vanished what she had put. He then started to write.

'Weasley's it's time we started to live our lives the way we want to. Celebrate the freedom we worked and fought for in our own way. See you around sometime. Thanks for helping us, Harry and Hermione.'

He pushed the note into the centre of the table and passed Hermione her quill back, which she quickly placed in her beaded bag. As soon as she had closed the bag Harry took hold of her left hand and led her out of the Burrow. It was a little before five thirty as the door closed behind them. With their hands clasped tightly together Harry was swinging their arms between them as they walked down the little dirt track that led away from the Burrow. He had no idea why but Harry had never felt quite so happy before. It was as if some spell or charm had been lifted from him. He thought it might be because they were getting away from the sad depressive atmosphere that had pervaded the entire Burrow for the entire time they had been there.

Hermione looked down at their entwined fingers and she could not resist a smile. Harry had taken hold of her hand as they left the Burrow kitchen, and led her down the dirt track to Ottery St Catchpole, they had turned right once they reached the proper tarmac road and they had not yet stopped walking. She glanced at her watch, it was exactly six am.

Harry noticed her checking the time and with a quiet sigh he stopped walking. "I've wanted to do that ever since the first time he deserted us at the beginning of the Tri-Wizard debacle." He said quietly while giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

Hermione looked at him a question in her eyes and he could not resist replying. "Take a peaceful walk, just you and me. No mad murderers, no screwy order guards, no vile relatives, or barmy headmasters. Just you, me and the open countryside." He said with a gentle smile that let her know that he was actually happy to be with her.

"Hold on tight, I'll take us to Ottery St Mary, it's not too far. We can catch a train or bus there to Oxford and maybe a bus or taxi from the station to your home." He told her as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

Hermione felt a sudden rush of warmth toward him as she copied him and wrapped an arm around him. Harry again amazed her as he apparated them to an alley in the small town centre. He was the only person she knew who did not have to do a half spin to disapparate, nor did he use his wand. In fact he did not need to move at all, he just did it without seeming to even concentrate.

As they walked out of the alley she did not say anything about the fact that he still had his arm around her, it felt comforting in a way she had not noticed before. Harry did not seem to be at all conscious of the fact that several people looked at them strangely as they walked along so close together, like two young lovers.

The train journey and then the taxi from the city centre to her home used up the last of their normal money, though Harry still had a small sack of Galleons. As they stood outside her house they could see that the death eaters had not paid the Granger home a visit, and she was a little surprised about it. Harry gave a small chuckle before he explained what he thought had happened. "Hermione, thanks to Ron everyone and his crazy aunt knew you sold up everything and sent your folks down under to hide them so why would the death eaters bother to attack an empty house?"

Hermione shrugged and led him up the path to the front door. As she looked in her bag for the keys Harry looked at the house. It was fairly large had to be at least six bedrooms he thought. Where they stood at the front door, they were standing between two large bay windows. Above the bay windows there were four large square windows. The one on each end of the wall were almost surrounded by Ivy that grew up covering the corners of the house.

With the door open Hermione invited him in and as he stepped into the hallway with her it dawned on him that he was happy to be there. It came as something of a shock to him, there had not been to many times in his life when he had felt as happy as he did standing there with Hermione looking around at the hall as she hung her coat. The times when he had been truly happy raced through his mind and he realised that he had only ever been really happy when she was with him. Something then clicked in his mind the thing he had been trying to identify, he knew what it was.

Staring at Hermione he could not help it as the words escaped his mouth in a rush. "I must be truly dumb, do you know that, a well and truly idiotic stupid oblivious fool to thick to be true. Why did I not realise it years ago… I Harry James Potter, from the cupboard under the stairs am in love with the best friend I have ever had…" Harry trailed off when he realised that the object of his love was actually listening to him berate him self.

"Harry?" Hermione questioned as she stared at her best friend who had just done something that no one else had ever done. He said he was in love with her.

Harry looked a little sheepishly at her before saying, "Well can you blame me. You are beautiful, intelligent, caring, gentle, giving, you are the one who was always there for me, kept me alive, and you are so very brave." He did not expect her to reciprocate so he simply asked "Can I still stay with you a while?"

Hermione was speechless to think that Harry thought so highly of her, that he also thought she was beautiful. So she just nodded her head as a huge smile broke out on her face. With a small hand gesture she led the way up the stairs. At the top of the stairs she turned right and walked to the first door, as she opened it she was still speechless she pointed to the door opposite.

As usual Harry knew what she was telling him and he opened the door across the hall from her room. Stepping in he found him self in what was obviously a guest room. There was a double bed, with white sheets and four dark blue pillows and the standard duvet that was also dark blue. The starkness of the white sheets went well with the contrasting darkness of the blue. Next to the bed stood a small white bedside cabinet that contained a drawer and a small cupboard. On the other side of the bed stood a standard lamp with a matching blue shade. The walls were all in a very light cream and obviously professionally done. There was a four shelf book case in dark blue that stood in the middle of the left wall and on the opposite wall there was an entertainment unit again in the blue colour. With TV, radio, and a disc player set up. He knew he would be very comfortable in this room for how ever long it would be before Hermione decided it was time to go fetch her parents.

He briefly wondered yet again why it was she had spent so much of her time in the magical world. She had a wonderful home that was like something he would buy and live in him self. He also once again wondered why he had seen so little of her parents and why she rarely spoke about them. Shrugging his shoulders he placed his trunk at the base of the bed and then left the room to look for her.

He met her as she stepped out of her room and before he could say anything about the room she spoke up. "We will need to do some food shopping; I will also have to get in touch with several companies to get everything put back on. Electric, gas, phone, I need to go to the bank to set up the direct debits. Looks like we are in for a busy day Harry."

"You have a normal bank account?" he asked then added "of course you do, what am I thinking. Well if you can give me your bank details I can go to Gringotts get some money to put in to your account as my share, while you go to your bank and sort the details." He said nodding his head.

"Won't it be rather risky going to Gringotts, I mean we did cause quite some damage last time we paid them a visit," she asked looking worried over him yet again.

Harry noticed the worried look and it registered in his mind that he had never seen her worry about Ron the way she worried about him. Shaking his head he let her know, "No we're fine with the Goblins, I had a letter from them couple of weeks ago. They explained that they had investigated what had happened. They know that Griphook led us down to the vaults then betrayed us and stole the sword from us. Seems he was planning on using it to start some sort of rebellion. Anyway the Goblin who wrote me praised us for our quick thinking and ingenious way of escaping a needless and bloody battle. Griphook was made to pay for the damage before he was punished so we are in the clear.

Hermione was going to ask why he had not told her about it before, but then she remembered that at the time she was busy being made miserable by being with Ron and the others. Harry had spent most of the past month on his own while he came to terms with just how many had died at Hogwarts. As she thought about it she realised she had not seen him smile or be happy since the last battle started, until earlier when she had asked him to bring her home, he had smiled then. That thought verified for her that what he had said earlier was true. Harry James Potter was in love with her.

"Well that's good to know, its one less thing we need to worry about. So you pop to Gringotts I'll get the utilities sorted, we can do the food shopping together later. Wait here I'll jot down my account details for you and you can leave from here. We can't be seen from outside here in the hall." She mumbled as she rushed back into her room to write the quick note for him.

They both left the hallway just a few minutes later. Harry was soundless as he vanished and Hermione made a very quiet popping sound that was even quieter than one of the house elves. She too would probably do it silently after a few more months.

Harry arrived on the top step of Gringotts, just to the right of the doors. He very quickly made his way inside the bank and hoped that no one had noticed him arrive. He hated how he and Hermione were hounded by the press when ever they had left the Burrow. Even Fred's funeral had been invaded by several news reporters after interviews. As it was he was quite lucky, it was still quite early and the Alley and bank were both deserted. He was quite surprised at just how welcome he was as several tellers tried to attract him to their station.

A very pleased looking Goblin looked down from his position and surprised Harry when he said quite pleasantly "Good morning Mr Potter sir how can we at Gringotts help you this morning?"

Having made for the closest one to him, he wished the Goblin good morning, and very politely asked if he could find out how much he had in his vault.

It took the Goblin just a few minutes to check through several ledgers before he looked at Harry. "In your personal vault you have 100,000 Galleons. Sir."

Harry took in a sucked breath and silently repeated the amount to him self. "Is it possible to have some of my money transferred to a Muggle bank, or would I need to make a withdrawal here and visit the Muggle bank my self?"

The Goblin answered without hesitation as he said "We can do the transaction, it will cost three galleons, which bank do you wish the deposit made to and how much would you like to deposit?"

"Er fifty thousand galleons, and I have the details here," Harry nodded passing the note up to the Goblin.

"Right sir, the transfer will take place sometime during the next four hours, is there anything else that I can do for you?"

Harry gave what appeared to be a grim smile, which seemed to please the Goblin. "No that's all I really have time for today."

"Mr Potter, the Potter vault keeper, Goblin Olddorf would like to talk to you about your family account, is it possible to spare him an hour or so of your time today?" the Goblin asked sounding as if he knew the answer would be a negative.

Harry had no idea who Olddorf was or anything about a family vault and he was about to say yes when he thought of Hermione. "I'm sorry sir, but today I have a rather a busy schedule, Hermione and I, we are setting up home you see and we have to contact the services plus shopping etc, I hope Goblin Olddorf will understand. I will of course revisit the bank at the earliest opportunity."

"As you wish sir, I wish you good luck with your shopping, not a pastime I enjoy my self." The Goblin said as he handed Harry the note back. "Oh please pass on our thanks to Miss Granger for her part in saving the magical world and the Goblin peoples business."

Harry nodded to the Goblin and then made his way out of the bank. Standing again to the right of the doors Harry once again silently vanished. Over at Fortiscue's ice cream parlour, a hidden Rita Skeeter cursed her bad luck when her target vanished. She had no idea where he was staying and she was not a good enough witch to follow him.

'Soon Potter, I will get my interview soon.' She thought as she left the still empty shop in disapointment. Her tip had been right about Potter being at the bank, she cursed as she thought she should not have assumed he was going to do some shopping. She really had no idea that after all the lies she had told about him, Harry considered her an enemy and would not say a word to her, even if there were just the two of them left alive in the world. She also had no idea just how dangerous Miss Hermione Jane Granger could be to her future health the next time they met if she continued to print lies about Harry and herself.

Harry arrived back at the hallway of the house and after a quick glance around he made his way back down the stairs in search of the kitchen. Having found it he pulled out his wand, checked if any of the neighbours could see him before he cast a quick cleaning spell he had learned from Mrs Weasley. Within seconds a years worth of accumulated dust was gone and each surface was spotlessly clean. Searching the Cupboards he found a still sealed box of tea bags and thankfully a carton of dried milk.

When Hermione returned almost ninety minutes later she found Harry snoozing at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. He had his head resting on the bar next to a half full cup of cold tea. Looking at him as he gave a quiet snore she could not help whispering "I love you too Harry." Taking a few minutes just watching him she noticed he was not fidgeting or moaning, he was not crying out like he had done so often in the past and she could not help but wonder why he seemed so at peace where he was.

Shaking her self she reminded her self that they had some shopping to do, she also made a note to her self that they would need to either eat out until everything was turned back on, or they would have to stick to fish and chips. Not exactly a diet she would like to stick to for too many days. Walking toward him to wake him she thought of her other problem. Whether to travel to Australia to find her parents or not? I'll talk to Harry about it she decided.

Giving Harry's shoulder a gentle shake to wake him she was quite surprised when he looked at her bleary eyed and said with a slight rasp to his voice, "Oh hello love, you're back."

"I've sorted the services out, though how long it will take them to get the house back to normal I don't know. BT said the phone should be back on within twenty four hours, the Electric and Gas, I just couldn't get a time from them, it was as if it was some sort of national secret they dare not reveal. Anyway we need to go and get some shopping done, so stir yourself and let's get the job done." Very quietly she growled "I hate to shop for food."

Being as they had no car Hermione led Harry to the nearest bus stop. They had to run the last few yards as a bus pulled up at the stop ahead of them. Hermione was quite grateful that the bus had stopped to let an old lady off. The time it took her to climb down off the single step allowed them to reach the stop just in time to climb aboard. The trip to the out of town shopping centre took them almost fifteen minutes with the traffic. Leaving the bus Hermione took hold of Harry's hand and headed for an ATM so that she could check how much money she had left and to withdraw some for the shopping. 'I don't think I have all that much left' she thought as she sorted out her debit card.

The first thing she did was to choose a print out to let her know how much was left in her account so she did not get into debt. She was expecting a few hundred of her own, and maybe a small amount from Harry. She hoped there would be enough to tide them over until they could find jobs. She stood staring at the print out for quite some time until Harry asked what was wrong. "Harry, just how much did you put into my account?" she asked still staring at the small piece of white paper.

"Not much, just asked them to transfer fifty thousand, do we need more do you think?" he answered a little worry in his voice.

"I take it you mean galleons? Harry that's 250,000 pounds."

"Yeah about that, figured we would need some new clothes as well as other stuff. you know stuff for the house things like that." He said innocently.

Hermione looked at him for a few seconds before something made sense to her. "You have never been shopping before have you? Those lousy relatives of yours never spent a penny on you did they? Harry when we get home it will be time for you to tell me just what your life was like growing up."

Walking around the vast hypermarket Hermione was surprised by all the herbs, meat stocks, and sauces that Harry placed in their trolley. By the time they had bought all the food that they would need to feed the British army, or at least that was the way it seemed to Hermione, they had two trolleys both overloaded and both trolleys had a tendency to go where they wanted to go and not where they were supposed to go. Harry did not bat an eye when the girl at the till told them the total. Hermione handed over her debit card and then stood and waited as the girl finished serving them. She then started to help Harry as he started to place everything into bags. Walking out of the store Harry stared at all the shopping, it was not quite as bad as Hermione thought as a lot of it was fresh stuff. Still there was quite an amount. Harry had also insisted that they buy a small camping stove to use until everything at the house was back up and working.

"Hermione love, I think we will need some cash. We should get a taxi back to your place. It's going to be no fun getting on and off a bus with all this." He said quietly.

Hermione heard him call her love and almost missed the rest of what he said. 'That's twice he's called me love today, and both times he seems to have been unaware of it, we need to talk about our relationship because I am quickly coming to realise just what he means to me.' "Right taxi, well the taxi rank is over there along side where the ATM's are. I will get some cash while you sort out the taxi."

On reaching home they found that the electric was already on and between them they went around the house setting all the electric clocks on the appliances. Harry was a little relieved that he would not need to use the camping cooker to cook on, as the cooker in the kitchen was electric.

That evening Hermione was quite surprised by Harry when he cooked her a dinner fit for a queen. He even made her, her favourite sweet for after dinner, and he made it all from scratch, there was not a single pre-made thing on the table. They sat together after dinner; both of them stretched out on the soft luxurious couch and watched TV together. Neither wanted to be apart and yet both were tired and ready for bed, it had been a very long day for both of them.

As the ten o clock news started on the TV Harry mumbled that he couldn't keep his eyes open and was off to bed. Hermione picked up the remote from between them and with a press of a button the TV shut down. "I'm ready for bed as well," she told him yet she did not move. It was fifteen minutes later when Harry finally managed to get to his feet and holding his hand out to her they walked hand in hand up the stairs. They stood and said goodnight to each other in the hallway and then both tiredly made their way into their rooms.

Tired as he was Harry was having trouble sleeping. He was finding sleeping in the comfortable bed was just as difficult as sleeping in that worn out lumpy camp bed at the Weasley's, yet he had no idea what the problem was. He had been tossing and turning for almost an hour when he heard the door open. Looking up in the darkness that his eyes were becoming used to, he saw Hermione walk toward the bed. After checking which side of the bed was free she walked around it and looked down at Harry who was looking up at her with a puzzled expression on his face.

"I finally figured out why I have been unable to sleep lately." Hermione said as she lifted the covers and climbed into the bed with him.

"You have? is it a cure all for everyone because I have not slept well since that day before the battle?" Harry asked wondering what she would do the minute she discovered he slept in the nude now they were in a house and not using a tent. Him being nude she could not have seen in the darkness so she would be surprised for sure.

"It's quite simple now that I think about it." She told him, "I have slept in that tent listening to you breathing for the past ten months; now I need to hear you so I can sleep in peace."

"Oh that simple eh?" Harry joked as he turned to face her and closed his eyes. He was going to watch for her reaction, but then changed his mind, he was too tired to care. Almost as soon as his eyes closed he felt her hand rest on his bare hip. Moments later he was drifting off to sleep as Hermione gently rubbed her hand up from his hip to his ribs, and then back down as far as his thighs.

Without a word she rolled over so that her back was facing him and scooted back until she was pressing firmly into his lap. She then whispered "Night love." Without any mention of him being stark naked beneath the sheets.

Both of them were asleep within a couple of minutes. Harry had his arm firmly wrapped around her, his hand holding her side. Hermione had a smile on her face as she fell asleep. She had not expected Harry to be naked, nor was she expecting to feel the thing that was pressing into her bum cheeks and lower back. For a short while she wondered what might have happened if she was not wearing her nightie and knickers.

It was lunchtime when Harry began to stir from his sleep, as soon as he began to move Hermione woke up. She was surprised to find herself with her head resting on Harry's chest; her left hand was resting on his so obviously erect penis. While Harry had one of his arms wrapped around her back and holding her to him. She wondered what to do as she felt and heard Harry waking up. For a moment she almost panicked and jumped from the bed but she decided she was far too comfortable to bother moving even a single muscle. So she remained where she was, turned her head to look up into his face as he opened his eyes.

Harry did not open his eyes straight away instead his grip around her tightened a little. "You know, I should be terrified right about now. I mean I have never been in bed with a beautiful woman before. Also I have never had a woman of any description touch me where your hand is at this moment, but I'm not terrified. In fact it feels right to me, as if this is where I belong. I slept like a baby without a trace of a bad dream for the first time since I can remember. I love you Hermione Granger, and no I am not saying that so we can do something more than we are, I am simply stating a fact. It might be a fact that took me seven years to realise but it is still a fact none the less. But right now I need to know…" he paused a few seconds before he continued "Where exactly is the loo, because I want a pee."

Hermione had never felt any happier than she was right then, and she wondered why it had taken them both so long to figure it out. Resting her head more comfortably on his chest she whispered. "It's left out the door, first on the left, don't be too long because you are not the only one wants a pee."

What happened next she would have never expected in a million years, not with how shy Harry usually was around girls. She got comfortable ready to watch him struggle into his trousers while still in bed. Instead Harry simply lifted the covers and slipped out of the bed. He walked around the bed completely naked and then out of the door. Hermione's face was glowing red as she watched him but she could not take her eyes off him as he proved beyond doubt that he was all man. She was still in the bed when he came back into the room some minutes later and climbed back in bed beside her, still as naked as the day he was born.

Hermione waited till he was settled and then she went to the bathroom. She did as Harry had done and carried out her normal morning ablutions, she then removed her pyjamas, and with her face a bright red she too went back to bed. it was a move that almost had his eyes pop out as he watched her. They spent the entire day just lying in bed together, just enjoying being so close. It was like they were proving to each other that there were no secrets between them. That their trust in each other was total. There was nothing other than holding each other, though she knew for certain that Harry's body was quite ready and waiting for more, he could not hide something that obvious from her. As the day passed they both revealed things about their childhood. Harry told the story of his life with the magic hating Dursleys, and all the cruelty he suffered. He ended up telling her that he had learned from the Dursleys a valuable lesson in exactly how not to treat someone. Hermione told him of her loneliness growing up without friends because she was too intelligent. At seven pm Harry gave her a gentle squeeze. "We should get up, it's time for food. We will need a drink as well." He told her quietly.

Without arguing with him Hermione pushed the covers down the bed and slowly sat up before she swung around and stood up. "You know Hermione; you are one hell of a beautiful and sexy woman." Harry told her as he climbed from the bed and stood beside her.

"We will need to get some clothes on, don't want the neighbours seeing us naked do we." She whispered as if those neigbours could hear if she spoke to loud.

They had both just finished dressing when Harry could resist no longer and he pulled her into a really hot and very passionate kiss. They kissed several times as they went down the stairs. Harry thought how odd it seemed, to have spent an entire day lying stark naked in a bed with a naked woman and really enjoyed doing nothing more than cuddle.

Down in the kitchen Harry cooked them a quick dinner while Hermione made them a pot of tea. As they sat eating Hermione brought up her parents. "Harry, I want to ask you about something, but first let me ask, would you be willing to go and live with the Dursleys?"

Harry looked at her as if the question was stupid and he did not even need to answer it as she nodded. "Just as I thought. Now what I want to do is ask your advice about my parents. But where to start," she mused and sat in thought for several minutes until she was ready.

"Let me start by telling you how come I spent so much time at the Burrow or at twelve Grimmauld place. You see my parents were not very happy with me being a witch. They thought all magic was from the devil. They put up with it for a time, that's why you only got to see them in Diagon the once. They refused to ever go there again after that visit and meeting Malfoy. They were not even to happy about picking me up at Kings Cross after they met that blond fool. Each year when either Dumbledore or the Weasleys sent a note asking if I could join them my parents actually did my packing for me so that they could get rid of me. Their attitude was one of the reasons I did that memory charm on them, sent them off not having an evil witch for a daughter, so that they could be happily free of the stigma. My Problem now is, do I go all the way to Australia and undo the memory charm, knowing that there is a big chance they will not want to return here. Or do I leave them where they are happy in their ignorance. What would you do if you were me."

Harry looked at her for a while as he thought over what she had said. After several minutes of silence he said, "I think I already answered that question, I mean the reason I won't go back to the Dursleys is because they did not want me. It sounds to me as if your folks are like the Dursley's, but without the extra abuse. I think personally I would leave them where they are."

Hermione let out a sigh, "I think I had already made up my mind, I just needed someone to agree with me." She said quietly "Harry I want to ask you another question now and I want you to think carefully before you answer."

Harry looked her straight in the eyes, "Ok, ask away."

Hermione suddenly looked really nervous and looked down at the table which had Harry a little worried. "Harry, will you move in with me, will you live with me like as a couple, you know live together. Oh and I should try to explain about Ron."

"No need to if you are going to tell me about that kiss, I know he caught you off guard and he was the one who kissed you. I could tell because I saw you looking at his cheek as you pulled him into the hug." Harry said before he then looked down at his shoes for a minute or so. "Now as for moving in with you, I will if you will marry me. I want a family Hermione love, I want some children of my own whom I can love and cherish, who I can give all the love I never received growing up. My only problem with that is I only want to marry you, I don't want to be with anyone else."

Hermione stared into his eyes only to see the truth in what he said, he wanted to marry her, he really did, he wanted a family with her. She could see no reason to turn him down. In fact she felt elated that he wanted her as his wife. She had realised how much she loved him, that was why she had asked him to move in with her. It was why she wanted him to be with her living as a couple. She just did not think he would want to get married, well not for years yet.

Taking a deep breath she looked straight at him. "Yes Harry love, I'll marry you. We even have a house to bring up our children in." She said waving around at the room. "For tax reasons, dad had the house put in my name. That's why I did not sell it when I sold off their practice. Legally it belongs to me."

As they talked about their wedding, Hermione did not ask for much. She wanted a quiet wedding without the Weasleys involved or invited. She told him that Molly gave her the creeps how she kept saying that they were like her own children, even though she hardly knew either of them at all. When she said that Harry was a little put out at first until he remembered how Molly had knitted him a jumper and she had only known him for about two minutes when they met at Kings Cross. He then worked it out, just how much time he had spent at the Burrow. When he boiled it down to hours actually spent with Molly, he found he had actually spent more hours with Sirius and he had admitted quite some time ago that he barely knew his godfather, as they had had to little time together to get to know each other. By the time he was finished thinking about it, he had to agree with her it was rather creepy that a woman with more children than she could afford, should want to claim two relative strangers as her own as well.

That night after watching some TV again, they both went to bed together, and they were both naked again. Both of them might have rushed everything else but they did not rush the sexual side of their developing relationship. Again they snuggled together, and there was just a little gentle fondling as they kissed a few times. It was a little odd that they woke in exactly the same positions the next morning, and Hermione gave a little chuckle as he twitched under her hand.

Instead of staying in bed Hermione had them getting up and going shopping as they were both in desperate need of some new clothes. Most of her underwear was worn and some of her knickers were beginning to get thin and fray due to all the none to gentle hand washing they had been subjected too over the past year.

Harry had never had any really decent clothes other than his school uniform and that had worn out only half way through their almost year long search of Britain. His shoes were stuck together with spellotape, and his underwear was all far too large for him, he figured he was the only Gryffindor who had to hold his boxers up with string. He was quite happy to allow his future wife to clothe him and he quite enjoyed spending time giving her his advice as she tried on different dresses and things. What they did not buy was what the magical people would call clothes. Harry thought of the robes wizards wore as dresses and nothing had changed his mind about that since Hagrid bought him his first school robes all those years ago.

Slowly day by day their encounters in the bedroom got a little bit more advanced, a little more adventurous. Their kissing got a little more prolonged and more passionate. They started to go out on dates around Oxford and rediscovered how they had fitted so well together during Ron's absence in their forth year at Hogwarts. They could now recognise what people had seen in their behaviour toward each other, enough to believe that they were together as a couple as Skeeter said in her nasty articles.

That weekend they both rose early and disapparated to Diagon Alley where they rented out two post owls so that they could send out two invitations. They met Luna and Neville at the three Broomsticks and after renting a private room for the day, together with their two friends they arranged their wedding ceremony. It was done quietly with no Weasley interference.

Hermione had all the female help she needed from her best female friend Luna, who answered her short note immediately it arrived. Harry had sent an owl and asked Neville Longbottom if he would stand as his best man. And if he was willing to meet him at Rosemerta's place. He also asked Neville if he could quietly get in touch with both Dean and Seamus, to see if they would accept an invite. Hermione had Luna ask their favourite teacher if she would attend and Minerva Had been truly pleased when Hermione asked her to take her mothers place during the ceremony.

Harry and Hermione got married with a quiet little ceremony at the ministry just two weeks after they left the Burrow. Luna thought it was highly amusing as she told everyone at the small after party that the Weasley's had been searching all over magical Britain in search of the two missing members of their family. Apparently not one of the remaining order members would help or tell them anything because of Molly's overbearing attitude. Apparently Minerva McGonagall had finally had enough one evening and in front of the whole gathering told Molly Weasley to stop telling people such enormous lies because neither Harry nor Hermione were in any way what so ever related with her family or to the Prewett family, that the teens had their own families to worry about.

Unusually not a single person in the ministry who knew about the upcoming Potter wedding had said a word to anyone. Harry thought it must have been the first time in history that a secret could and had been kept within the ministry. Speaking to the new minister after he had officiated at the wedding Harry and Hermione discovered that Kingsley was having real problems getting any changes made to how the magical world worked. He mentioned that he was also having trouble getting the Wizengamot to actually try and to convict any of the former death eaters, though he had outright refused to have them freed as the wizengamot wanted.

Their wedding night was the night that Harry and Hermione finally allowed them selves to indulge their suppressed desires. Hermione lay watching the sun coming up as they finally started to drift into sleep. She honestly admitted to Harry that she had never expected something could be so filled with such pleasure. "Harry my love, our love making has far exceeded my expectations. I hope that nothing ever comes between us."

Two days after their wedding Harry sent an open letter to the prophet news paper. In the letter he let it be known that if after all that the muggleborns of Britain had suffered, the hundreds who had been murdered, after all those people died to rid the world of such evil, the Wizengamot did not execute each and every death eater for their vile crimes, then the Wizengamot it self would have its own dark lord centred on them and them alone. Harry promised to wipe them off the face of the world. He made his demonstration of what he was capable of, after sending an invite for the Wizengamot to watch the Shrieking shack on the Sunday morning from the safety of Hogsmeade.

With a simple home made bomb and a cheap electrical detonator, at ten am Sunday Harry standing in Hogsmeade under his invisibility cloak pressed a little red button and the Shrieking shack vanished in a huge explosion. Auror's who had searched the shack half an hour prior to the explosion had not been able to find any trace of anything remotely dangerous in the building and made their reports to that effect. Of course they knew nothing of the trapdoor or the tunnel underneath the ramshackle old place where the bomb was placed. Still right on time the shack exploded with the force of several dozens of wizards all firing a bombarda together. The trials and executions of the vile murderers and rapists began on Monday morning at nine am, not long after the entire Auror force had refused to arrest Harry Potter.

The wizarding world's main problem that came from that confrontation was the disappearance of both Harry and Hermione from the magical world. No one looked for Hermione's old home as they all thought she had sold it to pay for her folks to move to Australia.

As the Wizengamot were gathering on the Monday, Harry and Hermione Potter entered Gringotts bank to discuss with the Potter account keeper` why he wanted to see Harry. When he told Harry it was about his accounts and his investments Harry had to admit that he had no idea what Goblin Olddorf was talking about. Together the Potters learned that Harry had several accounts, which thanks to his mother were all doing rather well. They had his mothers Evans account, that she had started when she started Hogwarts. It had started small but due to his mothers wise investments it was doing very well, earning enough in interest for a small family to live quite comfortably on.

They had his father's personnel account that had not been touched since 1981. Hermione asked if that account could be added to the Evans account, which would increase the investment and thus profit of the Evans account by quite an amount. They also had the Potter family account which was rather large but which was not actually making much in the way of profit. Harry asked that quite a few of the existing investments be taken out and reinvested into Muggle communication companies and into several Computing companies like Microsoft. Their last account was the one that Sirius had left to Harry and it was doing almost as well as the Evans account. By the time they left the bank they had arranged for fifty thousand galleons to be placed into Hermione's account each year which they would class as their annual income, only touching the other accounts to see they were making a profit, or when they needed extra money for something big like a new home.

It was two very tired young people who arrived home from Gringotts that evening. After sharing a bath and having a meal they both made their way to bed. The night reminded them both of their first night sleeping together, as all they had the energy for was cuddling. And they quickly fell asleep. The next night as they lay in bed after a day doing a little shopping and taking walks in the park, their conversation turned to children.

"Harry love when do you want to have a child, do you have any plans or ideas about it?" Hermione asked quietly as they lay enjoying the after glow of being joined together in love.

"Not given it much thought other than like I said before. I would like some of my own with you." Harry answered waiting to see what his wife had planned.

"Hmmm, a lot of people these days plan when to have their young… I think I would prefer to leave that one thing to chance. My protection runs out at the end of this month and I don't think I will be taking my next dose, well not this year anyway. Will you be ok with that?" she asked smiling at him knowing what he would say.

"Its fine by me love, I shall just do my husbandly duty and try my hardest to stand up and help you as often as I physically can." Harry said with an added chuckle.

Hermione Jane Potter was soon pregnant and they were quite surprised to learn that she was expecting twins. Like her mother before her Hermione went through her pregnancy in the Muggle world and unlike her mother she had no problems at all. She gave birth to two healthy identical daughters on June fifth.

Ten years later The Potters were visited by two people they had never expected to see again. Helen and Richard Granger had been caught up in some attempted robbery by two Wizards and their memory change had been discovered and reversed by the Australian Auror's. Moving back to England they had made a nostalgic trip to their old home where through their attitude they had lost their only child to a world they could not enter.

The two Grangers had stood watching as three girls and a younger boy played in the garden of what had been their home. They were shocked when the two older girls asked who they were and why they were watching their house. The shock came as they told the girls their names. Rose the older by three minutes had said quite seriously, "How odd, my mum's maiden name was Granger."

Richard Granger asked if they might speak with their mum. Instead of allowing them into the garden one of the girls ran into the house and fetched her mum. Hermione had stood on the foot path not quite believing that her parents were standing at the gate. Tears were shed, apologies made, introductions carried out and over the following weeks the family was slowly reunited. The four Potter children had grand parents for the first time and Hermione once again had her folks back.

Things were far better for the Granger family the second time around. Helen doted on her grandchildren as did Richard. Helen found them a house to buy in the next street and spent many happy days entertaining her grand children right up until she died aged eighty seven. Richard had died of heart failure just after his sixtieth birthday.

Harry was never sure whether his in laws had accepted his children because they did not live in the magical world and did all their schooling in what the Grangers called normal schools, or whether they really did have a change of heart. Hermione was just happy to be accepted by her parents once again.

The only Potter boy Philip took over the family investments and did an amazing job of expanding the Potter fortune. The twin girls Rose and Iris both went on to become archaeologists both married a Muggle. The youngest daughter Lily became a heart surgeon and made quite a name for her self. She married an American wizard who had studied Muggle medicine and also became a heart specialist. Both of them surreptitiously used their magic to help their patients when they could.

Philip eventually married the daughter of Luna and Neville Longbottom the only two magicals who ever knew where Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had 'run off to'. Philip had five sons which ensured the continuation of the Potter name in the world of magic.

Both Harry and Hermione lived long and mostly happy lives. Harry had become a photographer and strange as it was Hermione became a clothes designer and made quite a name for her self. She even managed to get into the Guinness book of records as the oldest woman alive at 136 years old. She left Harry behind when she left on the next great adventure a little before her 137th birthday. Harry died less than a month after when he went to join his wife on that adventure. Both of them had left the world surrounded by their family and the many Muggle friends they had made during their long lives.

The Potter family went on and each generation handed down tales to the next generation of Harry and Hermione the two Potters that changed the world for the better. The tales of Harry and Hermione would one day become known world wide, known in the Muggle world as fiction and in the magical world as fact that would go down in history books as such.

The end.

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