Happy Ending
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry, Ron, Hermione, or any of the other characters. If I did, I'd have all the money and definitely have rewritten that epilogue.
Christmas Eve-
Harry shook the snow out of his hair and started up the stairs. He muttered the number Ron and Luna had given him as he walked along the hall of the next floor, finding the flat almost at the end. Taking a deep breath, he raised a hand and knocked on the door.
"Just a minute!" came Hermione's voice from inside the flat. A minute later, Harry heard her soft gasp and knew she must have been looking out the peephole at him.
"Hermione, please open the door," he pleaded. With a stifled groan, she unlocked the door and cracked it open.
"Harry, what are you doing here, and what do you want?" She peered at him from behind the door.
"I came to see you, of course."
"Why?"
"Well, because I love you, and when you and Ron left back in June, I thought about everything that had happened and what you both said for a long time. One night, I woke up from the strangest dream." He brushed snow from his coat and pulled off his gloves. "May I come in?" Fear shone in Hermione's eyes.
"Um... now's really not a good time, Harry," she blurted. "The flat's a mess and I'm getting a headache." She raised a hand to her forehead to emphasize this.
"Oh. Well, I can say what I need to from out here, I guess." He glanced round himself at the corridor, feeling distinctly that he was being watched by some of Hermione's nosier neighbors. "I wanted to tell you about my dream." She snorted derisively.
"You wouldn't come to London for me or our relationship, but you 'will' to tell me about a dream you had?"
"Only partially." He looked past her into the flat. "Are you sure I can't come in?" Apprehension appeared on her face for a moment.
"O.K.," she said finally. "Hang on a second." She closed the door and Harry grinned. She couldn't still be 'completely' mad at him if she was going to let him in. The door opened a minute later and Hermione, covered from neck to foot in a bulky quilt, beckoned him into her home. He stepped inside and immediately wondered why the blanket. It was warm enough that she shouldn't need it. He didn't mention it though, just looked around at her pin neat home.
"Some mess," he chuckled.
"What? Oh, that. Well, you know how I am. One speck of dust and I think the world's ending." She gestured to the sofa in front of a large window. They sat and Harry was struck by how nervous she seemed.
"You O.K.?" he asked. Hermione jumped, and attempted to cover by adjusting the quilt.
"Of course, I'm fine. Now tell me about your dream."
"Well," Harry began, glancing at her out the corner of his eye, "It started when I was back at the Dursley's before seventh year. They were going into hiding, and you, Ron, Moody, Fred, George- well, a bunch of people- six of you changed into me using Polyjuice Potion, Moody made me yank out my hair, and we left in seven groups of two. We split up as soon as we took off, each group going off in a different direction, and we were attacked by Death Eaters almost immediately. I was with Hagrid on Sirius's old motorbike and when they came after me, Hagrid used something that made us go really fast in an attempt to get away from them. I used any jinx that I could think of to get them off our tail, but it was no use. They shot Killing Curses at us, trying to get Hagrid, they missed, but hit Hedwig. I lost her and my Firebolt a minute later because the sidecar that I was in broke away from the bike and it turned upside down. I was only able to save my rucksack.
"Well, Hagrid pulled me onto the bike with him, and let me tell you, there was 'very' little room for me, but I kept shooting curse after curse over my shoulder at them. Anyway, Voldemort came after us when I disarmed Stan Shunpike, he was under the Imperius Curse, and Hagrid and I were 'really' in for it then. We just made it to our destination and Voldemort couldn't follow us through the protections that were surrounding Tonks's parents' house. From there we took a Portkey to the Burrow, where we all were to meet. George lost an ear because of Snape and his Sectumsempra curse and Mad-eye died, but everyone else was all right. We stayed there until Bill and Fleur's wedding day, which was the day after my birthday, and had to flee the party right afterwards as Scrimgeour was killed and Death Eaters started to show up at the Burrow. Hermione, are you listening to me?" She started and fidgeted under the quilt.
"Yes, Harry, I'm listening. We had to leave the Burrow after the wedding, go on." Harry stared at her for a minute, wondering if it was his sudden appearence after six months that was making her so jumpy, or if she was falling ill.
"You sure you're all right?" he asked, reaching out to touch her. She cringed, retreating to the opposite end of the sofa when his hand came in contact with her upper thigh.
"Yes, yes, I told you, I was getting a headache." She gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Go on with your story."
"Well, you, Ron and I Apperated to London and were hidding out in Grimmauld Place, and this should have been one of the places I realized this was a dream, because Kreacher got all nice after I gave him the fake Horcrux that Sirius's brother Regulus, he was R.A.B., left in the cave I went to with Dumbledore. Kreacher told us Mundungus had taken the 'real' locket and we went to the Ministry of Magic after he told us that Umbridge had it. So it was back to the Polyjuice Potion and you had to sit next to her for the interrogations of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. We got seperated due to who we'd changed into, and what department we worked for. But I think that helped us find what we were looking for and I managed to get Moody's magical eye back. Umbridge had taken it when the Ministry had recovered his body, and we couldn't trust the Ministry, 'cause Voldemort had taken it over." He stopped again and stood up to take off his coat. "You know it's really warm in here, aren't you hot under that blanket?"
"No," Hermione said firmly, drawing it tighter around her shoulders. "I'm quite chilly, really." Harry saw a bead of sweat make its way down her temple and knew she was lying to him, but had no idea why. "Is that the end of your dream?"
"No, of course not. It went on for a long time. We barely got away from the Ministry and Ron was splinched in the process. Someone had gotten ahold of us when we were Apperating to Grimmauld place and we 'really' had to go into hiding from there. You'd retrieved the locket, though."
"Ron got splinched? Was he O.K.?"
"Oh, yeah. I was getting to that. You had me get Essance of Dittany from this little handbag you'd charmed with an undetectable expansion charm. You had loads of stuff in there, all our clothes, books, Phineas Nigellus's portrait from Grimmauld Place, you name it. One of the things was the tent we stayed in for a long time, the one from the Quidditch World Cup, moving from place to place. Each time we stopped, we had to put a load of protective spells around the area we were in. Ron left us around October or early November due to that blasted locket. We'd been taking turns wearing it, you see, and because it was a Horcrux, it was making us all angry and mean. But we were better when we didn't have it on, just irritable from being hungry. Of course, having lived with the Dursley's I was used to it, and you weren't too bad when you weren't wearing the locket, but Ron... he was downright nasty! He'd never had to go hungry in his life, and was now living in a tent, surviving on what we could find to eat and ninety percent of the time, that wasn't much."
"What do you mean, 'ninety percent of the time'?" Hermione inturrupted.
"Well, we had some Muggle money, and other times we would steal food, but it was only when we were close to a town. Anyway, he left and you cried for a week straight," He glanced sideways at her. "'Cause you two were together." This gained him an astonished look.
"You mean 'Ron' and I were together? But he's with Luna. Has been since the middle of seventh year. They're 'married', Harry."
"I know that. Remember, what I'm telling you was all just a dream." He went on for a long time, telling her how Ron had destroyed the locket with the sword of Gryffindor when he'd returned and found Harry in a freezing pool of water attempting to get that same sword, about how he (Harry) and Hermione had visited Godric's Hollow and had once again narrowly escaped Voldemort on Christmas Eve, how they'd lost their tent and ended up in Malfoy Manor, about how Harry's Invisibility Cloak had been connected with Marvolo Gaunt's ring that Dumbledore had destroyed, as well as to Dumbledore's wand, how the items that the three of them had been left in the late Headmaster's will came in more than a little bit handy, and by the time he was nearing the end of his story, it was dark outside and the sounds of traffic were coming less and less.
"And with that, it was over. Voldemort's curse rebounded on him and killed him entirely. There were no more horcruxes and he was finished. We were all finally free from his tyranny and the fear that had been running our lives since his return. I used the Elder wand to repair my own and put it behind Dumbledore's portrait. The Elder wand, not mine, of course. The final thing that I saw was years later. Ginny and I were heading to Platform 9 . We were married and had three children." He noticed a sudden flash in Hermione's eyes. "Two boys and a girl. We met up with you and Ron, you were also married and had two kids. We got the ones that were going to Hogwarts on the train and Ginny told me that our younger son was going to be fine and I told her that I knew he would be while I was rubbing my scar. Then I woke up." He waited a few minutes for her response.
"Well, that was quite a dream, Harry." She looked at the clock. It said a quarter to seven. She stood up and walked to the door, opened it up and turned back to him. "I'm sure you've got to get back to your home and life in America, so don't let me keep you any longer." Harry knew she was dismissing him and stood.
"That's just it, Hermione. That dream made me really think. It was totally different from what really happened, but when I woke up I was crying. It didn't take me long to realize why. It was because I'd been so stupid! I'd made the biggest mistake of my life when I'd let you leave my house that day. I got up and finished my job with Morgan's dad, then started what I had to do to transfer the rest of my cases to other investigators."
"Harry, please," Hermione broke across him. "Just go home..."
"I can't. I don't have a house anymore."
"What?"
"I don't have the house anymore. I gave it to Trina and her husband when they got married in August. I stayed there until the transfer was finished about two weeks ago, and then moved to Colonial Manor while I waited for my flight to London. I arrived this morning. I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron. Ron and Luna don't even know I'm here. Funny thing is, I told you I didn't want any attention from the media, but I found that it didn't bother me in the least when people started coming up to me as soon as I had arrived in Diagon Alley. The only thing that I've been able to think of since you left has been getting here and seeing you so I could apologize."
Hermione looked out into the hall with a sigh. Harry picked up his coat and moved towards it. He'd said what he'd come to. Now it was up to her. The door slammed shut in front of him just as he reached her. She walked to the middle of the room and turned to face him.
"Harry, I love you desperately, but I have to know that you're going to be there. I don't want to wake up one morning and find that you've run off again." She looked down, and her eyes shined with tears in the lights from her Christmas tree when she raised her head. "Can you honestly promise me that?" He nodded at once.
"Yes. I want to be here with you. Forever. I'm not going anywhere, Hermione. I'm going to be here so much, you'll get sick of me and kick my ass out your front window." She laughed, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm sorry I didn't get you a Christmas present, but like I said, I was only thinking about getting here to you. Ron and Luna sent me an owl a while back telling me your address, but also said that you wouldn't accept anything from me, so I knew that I had to show up on your front steps and let it go from there. Whether you slammed the door in my face or let me in and heard me out, I didn't care. I got to see you again."
"I have a present for you," she whispered, her eyes overflowing. The tears rolled down to her smile. "I just wasn't sure that I was going to be able to give it to you."
"You didn't have to buy me anything. Especially after the way I acted."
"I didn't buy it." She looked down again. "And I'm still in the process of making it. It won't be ready for a while yet. Would you like to see it?" Harry nodded. "Sit down." He sat on the sofa and waited. Hermione slowly shrugged the heavy quilt that she'd been in all this time off her shoulders and let it fall to her feet. Harry's eyes nearly fell out of his head.
"Oh my God!" he whispered, standing up and crossing to her. "How? When?"
"That night we went to Eddie Merlot's. We didn't think to be careful, remember?" Harry reached out and ran his hand across Hermione's swollen stomach, the being inside striking back against his palm. "Did you feel that?" she whispered.
"Yes," he replied, his voice choked with tears of joy.
"That's your baby saying hello." Harry dropped to his knees and threw his arms around her. She laughed as he began kissing her stomach.
"Harry! What are you doing?"
"Hermione, I love you so much. And I love this child. I didn't tell you the last part of what I wanted to because I didn't know if you were going to kick me out yet, but it was that I wanted to make a baby with you, so that our love would be immortalized." He resumed kissing where their child was growing, standing a minute later and swinging her around in his arms.
"I have never been so happy!" he crowed as she squealed. He set her back on the floor and reached into his pocket. "Only one thing could make me happier. And I have to admit, I lied." He pulled out a small box, opening it and showing her what was inside. She gasped at the ring he pulled out. "I did buy you a Christmas present. Hermione, will you marry me?" She began crying so hard, she could only nod.
Harry grinned and slid the ring onto her finger. She grasped his head in her hands and kissed him repeatedly, pulling him down to the abandoned blanket.
Several hours later, Hermione lay stroking Harry's dark hair, and listening to his deep even breathing. She smiled as the clock began chiming midnight. She kissed his forehead, he cuddled more closely to her, his arm tightening around under her bare breasts. She brushed his hair back, the large diamond glittering in the lights from the tree. She smiled at the surprise everyone was going to get when they arrived in the morning.
"Merry Christmas, Hermione," Harry mumbled, half asleep. She kissed his warm lips and snuggled under the quilt.
"Merry Christmas, Harry."
"I love you." He drifted off again.
"I love you, too," she replied. "Forever."