Disclaimer

Harry Potter and all associated characters, locations and what not belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever she sells the rights to. I have borrowed these characters, locations and what not in order to mess around with them. In some cases I have lifted a piece of dialogue or scene directly from the books as a touchstone. I do not own anything except the plot and I am not making any money from this endeavor. This applies to the whole story.

AN:

Hey everyone,

This piece was written for a Halloween competition organised by the facebook group Harmony & Co. The specific rules are on that group's page and if you want to read the rest of the submissions they are on Archive of Our Own, just search for the collection Double, Double, Toil and Trouble.

Anyway, the prompt I answered was "Harry thinks it's work, Hermione thinks it's a date". With that, let's get right into it: Happy (late) Halloween!

Hermione detested the way the cutlery rattled on the cafeteria tray. It was tinny. There was no rhythm to it. The pitch was difficult to define, but managed to cut through conversation.

In fact she didn't like eating in the cafeteria at all. The experience grated at her. She could feel the stares of the other ministry workers digging into her skin. The food was bland. The clamour of conversation clashed with that damnable rattling of cutlery on cheap wood and made it hard to think.

There was only one reason that Hermione had agreed to eat her lunch in that chaos; maybe two. The first was that spending one hour a week where anyone who felt the need to gawk could do so kept those same idiots from finding excuses to be in her office. The second was Harry Potter.

Harry had reached the same conclusion as Hermione had with regards to gawkers. He hated it, hated feeling like he was on display at the zoo and hated the liberties total strangers took with his privacy. When Hermione had proposed this solution he had also been accepting of her argument that they might actually get some work done if people would stop bursting into their office on some pretence only to stand there and stare.

So, four years earlier, the two friends had agreed that they would eat lunch once a week in the cafeteria so that the gawkers would know when and where to look for them. Ron even dropped in once in a while, if the Diagon Alley branch of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes wasn't too busy.

The strategy had slowly paid off, if only in the sense that Harry and Hermione could be far stricter in throwing out office-invaders who showed up with no convincing reason to be there. That in turn had been a tremendous boon in the two of them actually getting work done; work that was starting to show results.

As of the Hogwarts Express' most recent departure on September first, Harry was the Head Auror of Great Britain and Ireland. Hermione wasn't deaf to the rumours that she would soon be inheriting her current superior's position as Chief Prosecutor. And best of all: we've accomplished this on our own merits.

Harry's promotion happened to be the subject of their conversation today. Not only was it safe to talk about in a public setting, but Hermione knew that Harry had also become a lot more deft at dealing with politics and perceptions and was using this as a chance to make a subtle announcement. Or maybe it's just Harry being Harry… I've not made up my mind on that yet she thought to herself fondly as she listened to her best friend.

"See, I don't think I'd be able to ask my Aurors to work on weekends and holidays if I never did myself."

"But what about Teddy?" she asked. "Isn't he going to want to go Trick or Treating with his favourite uncle?"

The moment the words had left her mouth, Hermione knew that she had stumbled into a topic that Harry wouldn't be discussing in the middle of so many listening ears. "Andromeda's taking care of it" he answered in a tone that most people would have described as 'easy-going' and Hermione would describe as 'definitely covering something up'.

If the tone hadn't been enough of a hint that there was something wrong here, Hermione would still have picked up on the fact that Harry had referred to Teddy's grandmother as 'Andromeda' when he'd been calling her 'Andi' for years. So there's something going on between Harry and Andi and it has something to do with Halloween… drat, I just had to run into a mystery.

Hermione took a breath to help her quash a powerful urge to just ask Harry what was going on. It was tempting, so tempting, to take the most direct route to the answers she sought, but Hermione forced herself to consciously consider the cost that she would incur by taking that path when surrounded by eyes and ears just waiting to catch any morsel of gossip that would let them feel important for a brief moment as they told someone else.

With Hermione sitting on her tongue for the time being, conversation between the two friends dwindled to awkward small talk. By the time they'd finished their meals, Hermione was thankful to get back to her office. That tantalizing hint that something was wrong in Harry's world kept her from giving her work the full attention it rightly deserved. It wore at her concentration, tugging it away from the tasks that would normally have had no trouble keeping her absorbed.

Resisting curiosity was the one challenge Hermione knew she failed at regularly though. Well, that and maybe one other…

In the end she decided to head home early. She certainly wasn't making the best use of the taxpayers money by sitting around and wondering about her best friend's private life. I'll just work a bit longer over the next few days… that should even it out…

Once home, Hermione took an early dinner and settled down to read. If anything was going to steady her after the day she'd had, a good book would be it.

Unfortunately, the comforts of her best reading chair, a hot cup of tea and a good book proved unable to keep Hermione's attention; an unusual situation to be sure. It's not like I can help it! she groused to herself. Harry and I don't exactly have families that can support us, so we rely on each other. I can't just ignore that. Of course I would be thinking about him.

Something twisted guiltily in her gut. Hermione recognised that it was caused by her self-deception, but she crushed the feeling ruthlessly. It's just because I think of him as family. And I really don't have much family left.

Oh, she was sure that the Weasleys would claim both her and Harry as their own in a heartbeat, but after her failed relationship with Ron she couldn't help but feel a bit of distance there. And that's all a family really is, right? People who are so close to you that there is no more distance. In a sense you could say that Harry is the only family I have left.

Who knows? Maybe one day Teddy will grow up to call us Mum and Dad... Hermione felt herself freeze at that thought. She hated thinking it; hated that she was even considering replacing Tonks in Teddy's affections. It wasn't the first time either and her conscience responded with a wave of self-loathing.

It's not even Teddy's affections you're thinking of... not really it sang in a smug little voice at the back of her mind. Not like you'd mind if he called you Aunt Hermione and Uncle Harry, is it? Little Hermione Granger, fantasising about being married to the Great Harry Potter... you're only twenty years late to the party! Every other witch in the world has been doing that for years.

She shook herself as if her thoughts could be shed like water-droplets. It didn't work. Even Ron saw this part of you... that boy with the emotional range of a teaspoon caught on long before you ever did!

It was true too: Ron had been the one to point out to Hermione what she felt; in a sense he was the reason she was now in the state she was in. Hermione could still remember the redhead's face, twisted into a regretful little smile as he ended their romantic relationship for good. "I'm sorry, Herms. I don't mind playing second fiddle to Harry most times, but I refuse to do it with my girlfriend. I just hope you two figure yourselves out before it's too late."

Hermione remembered sitting there in stupefaction, utterly blind-sided by Ron's words and the fact that he wasn't yelling them at her. She knew that she hadn't recovered until well after the door had closed behind him.

Hermione still didn't know whether to resent Ron for pulling the blinders from her eyes. On the one hand, she had always told herself that she was strong enough to be honest with herself; on the other, I've never felt such a mess... not even during the war.

For a few moments, remembering the chaos her life had been ever since she realised that she was in love with Harry Potter distracted Hermione from the preoccupation she had been feeling ever since their conversation at lunch. Unfortunately, she rarely forgot anything for long.

I might as well go ask Harry what has him looking like that when talking about Teddy Hermione decided, studiously ignoring the part of her mind that was telling her to go do something about her hair 'just in case'. Even so, she couldn't help but run her fingers through her curls a few times as she passed the mirror in her hall.

As it filtered through to her what she was doing, Hermione consciously lowered her hand and focused on her best friend's hall. With a loud pop, her surroundings shifted to the ones she had been imagining, albeit with a soft chime just fading away.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs and a moment later Harry appeared, looking curious as to who might have dropped in for a visit. "Hermione? What brings you here?"

"I wanted to know something. What else?" she grinned back, ignoring the slight flutter of her heart as the corners of Harry's mouth quirked upwards.

"I'll put the kettle on."

Hermione walked forward so she met Harry as he stepped onto the ground floor and couldn't resist giving him a quick hug, which he easily returned. The two friends made their way into the kitchen and Hermione watched as Harry prepared two steaming cups of tea.

Setting them down on the table, Harry took a seat across from her and fixed her with an interested gaze. "So what manner of mystery has you coming here for an answer at ten in the evening?"

"It's about our lunch this afternoon," Hermione began carefully. A hint of wariness crept into Harry's expression at that statement, much as she had expected. "You can't have expected that I wouldn't notice that there was something wrong when you were talking about Teddy and Andi. What happened?"

Harry was quiet for a few moments before gusting out a sigh. "Andi and I had our first fight about how to raise Teddy," he admitted, his eyes on the tea steaming in his mug. "She wants to get him into the wizarding idea of Halloween, complete with the whole Boy Who Lived thing."

Harry didn't need to explain his objections to that particular idea for Hermione to understand what they would be. "Have you asked her why she feels this way?"

"Yeah... she said she wanted Teddy to get a feel for exactly how dangerous the thing was that his parents died to stop. She also wants him to think of them and me as some kind of heroes, but I'd really prefer it if Teddy thought of me as his cool uncle who's embarrassing to be around from time to time."

Awww... you want to be a father to him. Oh, Harry... that's sweet... Hermione knew that voicing her thoughts out loud would be anything but helpful at this point, but a part of her still melted and wanted to sigh in contentment. She took a sip of her drink to buy some time and properly hide those feelings from Harry.

"Is there any room to compromise? I mean, I know we can't possibly stop Andi from telling Teddy things while he's over there, but surely we could show him other parts to the holiday? We could take him Trick or Treating and show him the muggle version."

"Do you really think that will help?" Harry asked. "I mean, Andi's got a lot more time with him than I do and... I really don't want her to get so mad at me that I never get to see him again."

"Andi wouldn't do that, Harry," Hermione reminded her friend. "I'm sure she thinks of the three of you as a family and family sticks together."

Harry's face twisted into a pained expression and Hermione immediately understood the mistake she'd made.

"Normal families stick together. Those animals don't count."

"Thanks for trying, Hermione. I guess I'll have to spend this year thinking about how I'm going to get Andi to let Teddy stay with me during Halloween."

"Why wait that long?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow at her. "Patrolling, remember?"

"What if I were to take Teddy for the evening?" Hermione wasn't sure what force had moved her tongue to make that offer. Be honest, Granger... if Harry's thinking of acting like a father to Teddy, you want him to at least consider you capable of being a mother.

She battered down the hatches on her occlumency shields, irrationally worried that Harry might hear her thoughts leaking out and be disgusted with her. Her best friend's countenance had turned thoughtful though. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, Harry," Hermione laughed in what she hoped was a natural sounding way. The smile she got in response convinced her that, not only had she succeeded in her endeavour, but that coming over tonight might just qualify for her best idea of the week.

"In that case I suppose I'd better get a move on seeing if I can convince Andi that I'm not just trying to steal Teddy away from her for nefarious purposes."

"Leave it to me, Harry. I'll take care of it."

:-:-:-:-:

"Leave it to me, Harry. I'll take care of it." What was I thinking? Hermione nervously asked herself as she walked up the garden path to a door that currently looked very intimidating. Nothing for it now, Granger. Gryffindor up and do what you promised.

Keeping a firm grip on her emotions, Hermione raised a hand smartly rapped her knuckles against the wood three times. It took a moment before she could hear footsteps on the other side telling her that someone was coming.

The door opened to reveal Andromeda Tonks, her hair slightly mussed and exhaustion leaking out of her features. "Hermione? What are you doing here?" Goodness me, she looks utterly frazzled.

"Good evening, Mrs. Tonks. May I come in?"

"Of course, dear, of course. You know you can call me 'Andi', right?"

"Thank you, Andi," Hermione smiled as she crossed the threshold. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course, dear," Andi answered with a wry smile. "I'll admit that I had allowed myself to forget what it was like when Nymphadora was in one of her moods when she was younger."

Hermione felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I take it Teddy is being difficult today?"

"You don't know the half of it."

"Want to vent?"

"I-... have you spoken to Harry recently?" Andi asked nervously.

Hermione's instincts shot into overdrive. Of course I've been speaking to Harry. Speaking to Harry is the one thing that brought me here... not that sharing that with Andi is going to be helpful in any way I can see. "We still see each other several times per week. Why?"

"Hmm... well, we- um, had a disagreement."

"What about?" Hermione asked, playing along and hoping that she didn't look suspicious.

"About Teddy... more about what his Halloweens should look like really."

Hermione just nodded and waited for Andi to expand on her admission. It wouldn't do to have a preconceived opinion on the matter and Hermione was honestly curious about how the other woman would frame the matter.

"It's-... I just don't understand that man sometimes!"

"Who? Harry? He does that to everyone." Hermione answered, unable to bar a fond note from her voice.

Andi's face fell into a dark scowl. "He refused to teach Teddy anything about his parents!" she snapped.

"What?" That was nothing like what Harry said. "That's impossible. Walk me through what happened."

"It's just like I said: I wanted Teddy to know all about what Remus and my daughter did so that he could have a better life and Harry just shut me down."

"That doesn't make any sense," Hermione muttered half to herself. "I mean, I could understand that he would react like that if you'd been planning to teach Teddy that Harry himself is a great hero, but he wouldn't have a problem with you teaching Teddy about Remus and Tonks... at least, I don't think he would."

Looking up, Hermione caught a flash of Andi's expression just as the older witch turned around to hide it. It was the expression of someone kicking themselves for having missed the obvious. "Andi, you didn't?"

"I-... he's twenty-one! Isn't he supposed to like hearing that sort of thing?" Andi tried to defend herself.

"If it was any other twenty-one-year-old then maybe," Hermione groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. Of course this would turn out to just be some monumental miscommunication. "I don't think there's anything else that would get Harry upset quicker though."

"...I'll go apologise to him when you leave then," Andi sighed. "Speaking of, what did you come over here for?"

"Actually, I was hoping that you would agree to let me take Teddy Trick or Treating," Hermione admitted awkwardly.

Andi's expression sharpened right back up. "I knew he'd have talked to you about it!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Hermione groused, feeling her cheeks heat up. "Look, I was hoping I'd be able to figure out a compromise to your Halloween problem too, but..."

"I suppose that you succeeded in a sense..." Andi snickered. Hermione dearly wanted to protest this abuse, but experience had taught her that protesting only made the teasing worse. George never slows down when we ask him to at any rate, and her grin is reminding me of his more than anything. "I think that showing Teddy the muggle way of celebrating should be an excellent addition to his understanding of Halloween. Who knows, telling him that he can have a sleepover with Uncle Harry and Aunt Hermione might even induce some good behaviour."

Hermione felt the heat that had been seeping into her cheeks explode into a full blush. "H-harry's supposed to be patrolling that night. He doesn't know that he's coming with us yet."

The moment the words were out of her mouth, Hermione wished there was a spell to summon them back as Andi's grin only grew. "I'll be cheering you on from the side-lines, dear," the unhelpful woman supplied with twinkling eyes. "What time will you be picking Teddy up?"

"Um, five-ish?" Hermione muttered.

"Sounds perfect. I'll make sure that he's all packed when you get here."

"Don't worry about the costume. I'll be taking care of that."

"Oh?"

"Harry needs a reason to come with us and I intend to give him one."

"Oh? I'll not ask you for details, but you had better take some photos."

"Thank you, Andi." Hermione barely managed some more small talk before she couldn't take the knowing look in Andi's eyes anymore and fled.

:-:-:-:-:

Over the next few weeks, Hermione diligently worked at Teddy's Halloween costume. While she might not be great at sewing the muggle way, she was excellent at learning charms. Once she had the wand-movement down, it didn't take her long to turn the cloth she was working with into a pint-sized Welsh Green costume.

That might have been enough if Hermione's plan had been so limited as to only include walking around a neighbourhood, collecting candy with Teddy; she was aiming higher though.

It took a few extra hours of work, but Hermione managed to include a rune on the back of the costume's neck. This should ensure that Harry comes with us.

After she had everything in place, Hermione found herself waiting for Halloween with a sense of anticipation that was unfamiliar to a dentist's daughter.

On the day itself, Hermione left her office early. Her nerves hummed with tension as she made her way over to the Auror department. She knocked on the familiar office door and waited for the equally familiar voice to call out "Enter!"

Slipping inside, her heart skipped a beat as Harry's face bloomed into a smile. "Hermione! Headed out?"

"I am. I just had a request before I go pick Teddy up."

"Oh?"

"I want you to stop by Grimmauld place before you head out to patrol. You should at least see Teddy in his costume." This was crucial to Hermione's plan.

Harry hesitated for a moment, before nodding. "I guess it would be better than even a wizarding photo."

"Exactly!" Hermione beamed, seeing the final piece falling in place. "I'll see you tonight then?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Harry smiled in response.

Hermione left his office with a bounce in her step. Now I have to go make sure that everything is ready for when Harry gets home.

:-:-:-:-:

Harry checked his pockets one last time. Wand, badge, cuffs, emergency signal… good, I think I have everything. He was dressed in muggle clothes since he would be patrolling out in the muggle world. Still, better keep my promise first. I can't remember the last time Hermione was this insistent about something.

She's perfectly right of course that Teddy's godfather should see him off for his first night of Trick or Treating. I wonder how she managed to get Andi to agree so easily?

Lost in his thoughts, Harry went through the process of locking his office and walking to the apparition point on auto-pilot. He apparated into Grimmauld Place's hallway and was greeted with a sound that never failed to put a smile on his face.

"Uncle Hawwy!" Teddy screamed out happily. "Look!Look!Look!"

Harry understood that what he was supposed to be looking at was the dragon costume his godson was wearing. "That looks amazing, buddy. Aunt Hermione did a really good job on that, huh?"

"Oh, you haven't even seen all it does," Hermione spoke up, walking into the hallway with what could only be described as a smirk. Harry felt his jaw swing open. She was dressed to the nines and her hair was wavy in a way that he knew meant that she'd used Sleekeazy's on it.

For a moment all his thoughts ground to a halt as he tried to figure out whether the person accompanying a young child was supposed to get dressed up like this, but he couldn't come up with any way of asking that wouldn't sound incredibly thoughtless.

Hermione, apparently oblivious to the shock she'd delivered to Harry's system, walked up to Teddy and tapped the back of his neck with her wand. "Why don't you show Uncle Harry what this costume can really do, Teddy?"

The young boy grinned and jumped into the air letting out a loud, childish roar. The wings on the back of the costume came to life and began flapping, extending Teddy's leap beyond what it would otherwise have been. The roar was accompanied by flames erupting from Teddy's mouth.

It was only the fact that the flames weren't producing any scorch-marks that allowed Harry to somewhat keep his cool. As his godson tore up and down the hall, playing with his new suit, Harry grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged her out of Teddy's path as the happy child tore past.

"Hermione!" he hissed out, trying to keep the argument they were about to have from his godson.

"What?" she asked impishly, a challenge glittering in her eyes.

"You know full well what. How am I supposed to let the two of you out like that when the whole point of my taking tonight's shift is to prevent things like this?"

"Hmm… I suppose you'll just have to follow along and make sure that we don't do anything too obvious then, won't you?" The twinkle in her eyes sparkled a little brighter.

"I-… you planned this didn't you?"

"That's a rather suspicious thing to say."

"I notice that there wasn't a denial in there."

Hermione sighed, her expression turning a bit more serious. "Harry, I know why you want to patrol today. I even admire the way you thought through the consequences of your actions, but Teddy won't be four next year."

"Of course he won't." Harry wondered where Hermione was going with this line of reasoning.

"So if you don't go out trick or treating with him today, you'll never be able to go trick or treating with a four-year-old Teddy. You'll have missed this part of him growing up and it's not going to be the same in a few years. I mean, just look at him."

Next to them Teddy was running up and down the hall, trying to leap up as high as he could and flapping his arms as if the force of it would lift him higher when the animated wings wouldn't. Little 'roars' constantly accompanied these efforts, filling the hall with illusionary fire.

"When will you ever be able to watch him have this much fun at Halloween again?"

Harry's shoulders slumped as his godson bounded up to him with a massive grin. I'm doomed.

Only half an hour later, Harry was walking down a muggle street, keeping an eye on the godson who was running ahead of him, eager to collect more and more candy. While he would have denied it if asked, he was also keeping an eye on his best friend. Hermione was walking next to him, holding his hand and smiling as brightly as he'd ever seen. Whenever they stopped at a house to watch Teddy run up to the door, she would lean up against him, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

It was confusing Harry to no end. She's always been affectionate and… well, huggy I suppose, but this feels somehow different. Unfortunately, the person Harry would normally ask about this sort of thing was the one that was confusing him.

From house to house and from street to street the question dogged him: what is Hermione up to?! None of the steps they took that night brought Harry any closer to the answers he sought. Eventually he settled for surveilling the area they were walking through. If I can't figure Hermione out, I should at least make an attempt at doing the work I'm supposed to be doing.

Unfortunately, Harry's good intentions soon floundered as his attention kept being drawn to Hermione's affectionate behaviour or Teddy's sheer joy. The evening ended up passing in a blur of happy emotions and Harry realised that he actually felt surprise when Teddy finally slowed down and started dragging his feet.

When the little boy refused to run up to the next door and instead clung to Harry's free hand, the godfather of three years had no problems recognising the signs of a child that was thoroughly ready for bed. "Ready to head home, Teddy?" he asked gently.

Teddy just nodded, mightily fighting against a yawn. Harry smiled down at his godson and lifted the four-year-old onto his shoulders, passing the bag of candy off to Hermione. Together they made their way to a side-street and, after checking for possible witnesses, apparated home.

Harry carried Teddy upstairs, changed him into his pyjamas and tucked him into bed. "Goodnight, buddy," he whispered, pressing a kiss to Teddy's forehead as the little boy was already drifting off. He took a moment longer to just absorb the sight of Teddy innocently sleeping.

Finally he shook himself. Right. Time to face someone altogether less innocent before I head back out to work. Downstairs he found Hermione sitting on the couch with a book. She put it down as he entered and stood up to meet him.

Harry scanned her face, still beset by the feeling that he was missing something very important here. "I honestly don't know whether to thank you or yell at you for what you did tonight."

"How about you let me know in a few years?" The twinkle was still there in her eyes, but it was subdued somehow; almost as if something had worn it down over the course of the night.

"I- will you tell me what this was all about?" Harry blurted out.

Hermione was quiet for a long moment before stepping forward. Harry felt his entire body lock into place as her lips pressed against the corner of his own. "I'd rather not talk about this while you're technically working," she murmured as she drew back slightly.

A slight push had Harry making his way towards the door on unsteady legs as his mind was so overwhelmed that even walking became a challenge. At the door he hesitated, turning back to the source of so much upheaval in one short night. She was smiling a mysterious little smile at him. "Go. I'll be waiting for you, Harry Potter; whenever you're ready."

As Harry walked out the door he knew only one thing for sure: I don't think I'll be assigning myself a patrol next Halloween.

The End

AN:

As I mentioned at the end of my last fic, I've been using these prompts from the facebook group to get back into writing. I'm happy to say that it's been working too. My muse is happily nattering away in my ear (not always a plus when I'm at work).

I have a few ideas for fics, some of which I've written parts of already. I'm not entirely sure which I'll manage to finish first, but I hope to have something out around Christmas for all of you.

Until then, happy reading!
LeQuin