A/N: Well, I'm on this crossover streek, so I hope you like this one! Everything is set apropriatly, eccpt this is in the future. This is a cross between HP and Gilmore Girls. I own nothing! REVIEW!
It has been eleven years since Hermione has eaither seen or heard from Harry or Ron, her two best friends. After graduation from Hogwarts, being at the top of her class, she went on a trip to America for the summer; to Conneticut to be exact. There she met one of the best guys she had ever met. He was kind, sweet, giving, fair and to top it all of, cute. Instead of going back to the UK, she stayed there, and she and the man, Kevin, became engaged. It was then that her life went down hill. Two months into the engagement, Hermione became pregnant and Kevin left her. Hermione was left all alone with little money in a one bedroom apartment, and months later, with an infant daughter. Jamie Clair Granger was born on May 7, 1998 and lived with her mother in Boston Conneticut for one year until Hermione had raised enough money to fly them home to the UK. When they got there, Hermione went to her parent's house, but upon reaching them, they became infuriated with her. They had not raised their daughter to get pregnant at eighteen. Hermione took whatever she still had at her parent's house and drove to a small town just outside of London where she began work at an Inn. She and Jamie soon found a home in the town, and for the past ten years they have made quite a life for themselves.
Hermione now helped to run the Inn, and worked along side her friend Sookie who was the cook. Jamie was now eleven, and knew about the wizarding world. Sookie was also a witch, but that wasn't the magic that went on in her kitchen. Hermione's parents had forgiven her and they now saw eachother on holidays when both Hermione and Jamie came over for dinner. Hermione still had not talked to her two best friends, but figured that they were both happily married and had forgotten about her. Hermione and Jamie had a rather close relationship and were the best of friends. They were quite a pair those Granger Girls.
Hermione and Jamie sat at the kitchen table eating pop tarts and drinking coffee and juice. Hermione's brown hair was now darker and fell in curls just below her shoulders. Her hair was held back from her face with two purple barrets and she had on a purple and black ensomble. Jamie had her long straight brown hair in a ponytail and had on jeans and a Go-Go's t-shirt. Hermione at the moment was complaning to her daughter about her outfit.
"I look like a giant bruse." She complained looking at Jamie with her head to one side.
"Mom, you do not. You look beautiful." Said Jamie while she read her book.
"You can say that because you are naturaly beautiful and look good in anything, but some people, like me, have to work at our beauty." Said Hermione.
"Mom." Said Jamie.
It was then that a large barn owl flew through the window and dropped a note in the middle of the table. Hermione picked it up and looked at the cover, which had loopy silvery green writing on it. She flipped it over and saw that the Hogwarts crest was pressed into the red wax. Hermione's breath quickend and her eyes widend slightly. Slowly, she handed the letter to Jamie who took it aprihensivly.
"Oh my god." Said Hermione who was at a loss for words.
Jamie opened the letter and scanned over it quickly, her face blank. "I got in. I'm going to Hogwarts." She said.
"You did." Said Hermione, her smile wide.
"Yeah. I'm going to Hogwarts!" cried Jamie, jumping up and down with her mother. "Now we can be close together and we can be the same as always!"
"Honey, if we bond any furthur we will be permanatly fused together." Said Hermione, her fingure tips pressed together.
"Don't exagerate." Said Jamie.
"It's true! Haven't you seen Guinis?" asked Hermione, standing by it.
"Mom! Shouldn't you be at work?" said Jamie, who figured out that her mother had yet to go to the Inn.
"I can take the day off, just to prove this to you!" said Hermione, who shouldn't have had that last cup of coffee.
"You look like a bruse." Said Jamie walking away to her room.
"I knew it!" cried Hermione following her.
Hermione was going to take a year off at the Inn, leaving a replacement instead of Michel concidering that he would probably burn the place down the second she left. She was going to be the new Charms professor at Hogwarts, since she had been informed that Professor Flitwick had retired at the end of that year. She was actualy quite excited about it, until she got a list of some of the professors that were now there. Harry had been one on that list next to the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. She was slightly nervous about seeing him again. She had never told her friends that she had a daughter or that she now lived in a small town and only saw her parents on holidays. The look on his face was going to be one to remember.
*
Jamie stood at the bottum of the stairs waiting for her mother. Her trunk was right next to her and she had her robes and everything waiting for her to use for magic. Jamie checked her watch for the tenth time and saw that it was nine thirty in the morning. Impatiantly she climbed the stairs and walked into her mother's room to find her still asleep in her bed. Her clothes were on a chair and her purse was ready, but she was not. Jamie's eyes went wide and she shook her mother, only to receive a groan and a hand swatting her away.
"Mom! It's nine thirty! We're going to be late!" cried Jamie, shaking her mother who had her back to her.
"No it's not. It's eight." Mumbled Hermione as she slept.
"It's nine thirty! We're going to be late! I can't be late!" cried Jamie, shaking Hermione some more.
Hermione shot out of bed and looked at the fuzzy blue alarm clock with wide eyes. "Oh shit!" she cried, jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom. "Honey, go get mommy's clothes and put her clock in her trunk and bring it down stairs!" called Hermione who was furriously brushing her teeth and combing her hair.
Jamie did what her mother said and went to wait for her downstairs. Twenty minutes later Hermione flew down the stairs, her purse in hand. She through open the door and dragged her daughter, two trunks and a disgruntled cat out to the waiting taxi cab. Hermione through all into the taxi and screamed at the driver to go quickly, not paying attention to his mumblings. The taxi drove through the town quickly while Hermione applied her lipstick in the back seat. She had had it all planned. They were going to get up, go the diner to have a nice breakfast, say good-bye to Sookie and good-bye to other friends. Now she was late, and so was Jamie. This was not going to be a good impression for her daughter.
The taxi arrived at Kings Cross Station, and Hermione and Jamie scrambled out of the taxi, Hermione throwing money at the driver. They grabbed two trollies and wheeled them towards the barried while running as fast as they could. Not even paying attention to anyone else, Hermione ran straight through the barrier, pulling Jamie along with her, and pilled there things onto one of the cars. The pair just made it on the train as it was pulling out of the station.
"Well, you don't do this every day." Said Hermione as they walked through the train.
One of Jamie's closest friends, best friend as it was, Maria Lee, was also attending Hogwarts and was going to save them a compartment. They walked all the way down to the end of the train until they saw Maria. They enterd the compartment and Hermione froze in the doorway. This was the exact same compartment that she, Harry and Ron sat in each year for seven years. This time, they weren't here, and it just didn't seem the same without them. Hermione tried to purge her mind of these throughts so that she wouldn't get too stressed out over seeing Harry in a few hours time.
Hermione and the two girls sat down and began to talk, play cards and Hermione listend to the girls talk about what Hogwarts might be like. Once the food trolly came around, the three played poker with chocolate frogs, every flavor beans and pumking pasties. It was quite a game that they had going on, that is until the train screeched to a halt. Hermione gulped and she felt her breathing quicken. She took a sip from her to-go coffee cup that she had finaly weezled off of the snack woman. Jamie took her mother's hand led her off the train, squeezing it gently. When they stepped off the train and into a light breeze, Hermione put an arm around Jamie's shoulders and kissed the side of her head.
"Be good. I'll see you up at the castle." She said, looking into her daughter's blue eyes.
"I will mom. Bye!" said Jamie, walking off with Maria to where the boats were located.
Hermione took one last look at her daughter and then walked off through the crowd and got into one of the horseless carriges; which took of with a start to the castle. Hermione gazed up at the castle that loomed over the grounds with a mightly air. She felt slight tears stinging her eyes as she rememberd all the times she had walked through the halls and had adventures through her seven years at the school. Slowly she got out of the carrige and struggled her way through the crowed and into the Great Hall. She pushed her way through the students, tripping over her own feet and almost falling on her face. Hermione finaly got through the crowd, almost falling on the ground.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" she cried, taking a sip of her coffee.
The entire staff table turned towards her, looking at her as she frowned at her coffee cup. Sheepishly she turned to look at the line of professors who looked down at her like she was some sort of lower life form. She scanned the table, seeing all her former professors, and then she spotted Harry, his hair still a mess and his eyes shinning from behind his oval specticals. Hermione sat up straight, fixing her robes and smiling at them all until she came to Dumbledore. He smiled to her, his eyes twinkling, and nodded to her.
"You may take a seat Miss. Granger." He said, motioning to the spot next to Harry.
"Thank you Albus." Nodded Hermione, taking her seat next to Harry at the long table.
She placed her cup on the table next to the golden goblet and watched as McGonagall moved into the hall to go find the first years and a graying Hagrid walked into the hall. He walked over to her and sat in the chair next to her. Not a word had been exchanged between her and Harry yet. It was too awkword. What would she say to him? What would he say to her? Should she tell him about Jamie? All these thoughts and more were flouting through her head, until she finaly couldn't take it anymore. She turned to him, filled with determination, and spoke.
"So, how've you been? It's been a really long time." She said faster than expected.
"I'm good, what about you?" he said, looking into her eyes.
"I'm great. Never better. God this is awkword." She said, at the same fast pace.
"Woah Herm, slow down!" he said, using one of her nicknames for her that she loved. "What's the rush?"
"What rush? This is how I've always talked. Or, I have for the past eleven years. You should hear my phone messages." Said Hermione, smiling to him.
"What do you do now? Besides the obvious." Asked Harry, motioning to the Great Hall.
"I work, or rather manage, an Inn in a really small town. So small that when I showed up everyone knew in five minutes." Said Hermione, who realised that something better happen to stop her babbeling.
"Wow, I never pictured you as an Inn person." Said Harry, a crese forming in his forhead.
It was then that McGonagall walked back into the hall, leading the ling of frightend first years behind her. Hermione picked out Jamie, who looked between nervous and hyper active. McGonagall took out a long roll of parchment, a stool and the tattard sorting hat and placed them up at the front. As the first year's lined up, Jamie stood right infront of her mother, and Hermione smiled widly. She reached up and pulled on Jamie's brown hair and smiled wider as she turned around.
"Mom!" she said, trying not to be too load.
"Hey mini-me. How ya feel?" said Hermione, her smile still plasterd on her face.
"I'm nervous. How'd you get through this?" said Jamie as the students got called up.
"Tried not to scream." Answered Hermione, laughing slightly. "I love you."
"I love you too." Said Jamie as the person next to her left her side.
To the shock of the professors, McGonagall looked between Hermione and Jamie and called the next name on the parchment. "Granger, Jamie!"
Harry, not to metion Hagrid and the rest of the staff, looked over at her as Jamie walked over to the stool and placed the sorting hat on her head. Hermione's hands were over her mouth and she held her breath as she waited for the sorting hat to say something. Harry's mouth was hanging open, although she didn't notice. If she did, she might have laughed or closed it, but she was waiting impatiantly.
Just as she was about to scream at the hat, it made its decision and screamed out a house to the silent hall. "Gryffindor!" it screamed and Hermione's cheers were heard above the polite clapping. She was so happy for her daughter, sort of following in her own footsetps so to speak. Hermione wanted everything for Jamie, like the things that she didn't have or get to do. She wanted Jamie to go to colledge and have a great job and have the finest of everything. This was what Hermione could never have.
Once the sorting was done and the speech was finished, Harry spoke to her. "So, you have a daughter." He said, trying to be cool.
"Yeah, Jamie is the best of the best. She's a great kid." Said Hermione, smiling as Jamie talked with Maria about music or something or other.
"So this is what you've been doing." Said Harry, taking a drink out of his goblet.
"Yeah. In short, I went to America, got engaged, pregnant, dumped, yelled at by my parents and got a job. It may seem like a hectic existance, but it's a great life." Said Hermione, her voice slowing down dramaticly. "So what about you? How's your life? Is there a Mrs. Potter some where?" she asked.
"Well, life is good, my love life, or lack-there-of, is...ok and that's it." He answerd.
"Do you still talk to Ron?" she asked after a long pause.
"Yeah, he's married, to Lavender no less, and they're happy. They have kids, two of them." He told her, not looking into her eyes.
They didn't talk, as Hermione was trying to process some of this. Finaly, she couldn't stand it. "Is this all we're going to do? Not look eachother in the eye and waltz around what we actualy want to say. I don't think I'll be able to do that." She said, throwing her fork down.
"Well Herm, I think that that's exactly what we're going to do. After all, you never did try to contact me for eleven years so I think I may not be so eccepting to your return." He said coldly, his eyes blazing.
"Don't you dare blame this all on me. I never go one letter from you all these years and when I did try to write to you I just never knew what to say. Did you just expect me to say, 'Hey Harry how's it going, how's life, oh by the way I have a kid. What about you?'." Said Hermione, glaring slightly at Harry.
"Herm, I tried to find you, but your parents would never answer my owls and as far as I knew, you had disappeared! I tried for two years but I decided that if I ever wanted to find you I would wait until you contacted me." Said Harry, his teeth clanched.
Hermione was seething, but took a couple of deep breaths so as not to do something stupid. "Alright, lets just say we're both sorry about not contacting eachother for eleven years. What's done is done; there's no changing that. I guess this will just take some time." She said, trying to reconsile something.
"Sounds good. It'll just take some time." Said Harry, nodding in agreement.
The rest of the dinner was spent eating, and talking about what has been going on in their lives. They steered clear of any touchy subjects, like love lives, family issues and things of the like. It seemed that Harry had done quite well for himself, as Hermione always knew her would. By the end of dinner, when the professors were filling out with the rest of the students, Hermione saw that Jamie lagged behind the rest. She waited by the door to the Great Hall, telling everyone that she would be there in a few minutes. Hermione decided that this would be the perfect time to introduce one of her oldest and best friends to her daughter. She walked, or rather ran, to Jamie, enveloping her in a hug.
"Oh I am so proad of you! I knew you'd make it to Gryffindor!" she cried, hugging Jamie close.
"So is that why you nearly cursed at the hat?" laughed Jamie, who clearly saw her that her mother had been getting impatiant.
"Hey! Is it my fault that that thing is slow?" asked Hermione, looking at Jamie.
"No, but you could have tried just a little harder to be a little more patiant." Said Jamie, laughing still.
"It was eaither get angry and yell at the hat, or start cursing out the house elves for making inadiquit coffee." Explained Hermione, who even though she had had five cups, thought that the coffee was horrible.
"I'm glad you held you tounge. Otherwise we would have to chain you up like Hannibalector." Laughed Jamie, picturing her mother with a facemask and a straight jacket.
"Do I look like a skin eating psycopath? Didn't think so." Said Hermione, pretending to be offended.
"Well let's see...if we deprive you of coffee for a few hours you might bare a resemblence." Said Jamie, standing back and looking at her mother.
"Coffee deprivasion is not an option Clarice." Said Hermione, her arms crossed.
This little scene with her daughter made Hermione forget about Harry, who had smiled at them as they 'bonded'. Now that the laughter had died down, Hermione decided to put both lives together; her old life with her best friends and the world of magic, and her new life with her daughter and new best friend. Jamie's head was now to one side and she studied Harry, after all, it wasn't like she didn't know who he was. Hermione and Jamie's relationship was one of trust, so they shared everything over food, movies, or coffee and soda. When Jamie was old enough to understand, Hermione told her everything about her life at Hogwarts and the life with Harry and Ron. By the end of the night Jamie knew about each year in detail and had seen pictures of Harry, Ron and her mother that Hermione had kept. Now she was meeting a person that had one of the biggest impacts on her mother's life.
"Harry, this is my daughter Jamie. Jamie, this is Harry, one of my best friends." Introduced Hermione, smiling from ear to ear.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Said Jamie politely, nodding to him.
"It's nice to meet you too Jamie." Said Harry, nodding back to her.
They walked slowly around the castle and showed Jamie where the Gryffindor tower was. She said goodbye to them, kissing Hermione on the cheek and promising that she would not be late for her first class that morning. It seemed that lateness was a traight with the two Grangers. Once Jamie was inside, Harry showed Hermione where the professor's dorms were kept. They weren't very far from the Gryffindor tower, they were actualy the next tower over. The track to the tower gave the pair more time to talk. They talked about what their interests were now, and also about Jamie. Harry tried to steer clear of the whole father issue, but it seemed to come up anyway.
"He was a great guy. It just seemed that he wasn't ready for kids, or if he even wanted them. I haven't a clue as to where he is now, and I don't really care." Said Hermione, her head bowed.
"What made you take this path Herm? It just never seemed like you when you were here at Hogwarts." Asked Harry, who had been wondering about that.
"Well, the go to colledge sure I'll marry you after graduation and can you drive Suzi to soccer practice 'cause I have a peticure path wasn't for me. I decided to do things differently. Do things my way." Said Hermione, in her usual rapid pace.
"Sounds like you've changed since I last saw you." Said Harry, smiling at her.
"I haven't changed that much Harry, I'm just a little different." Said Hermione, smiling back at him.
They then reached a dead end, where all but a tapistry lay. On the tapistry was a picture of a scholar, writing on a roll of parchment while looking a very thick book. Hermione looked at the tapistry, puzzled as to how they would get through. Harry walked forward and gently moved the violet quill so that it lay flat in the air. The tapistry then rolled up until it reached the bar and revieled an archway in the wall. The pair walked through, the tapistry rolling back down behind them, and into a well-lit room. Everything was gold, cream and blue, like the sofas and chairs. There was a fire going in the harth and everything seemed cheery. Unilke the regular dorms, there wasn't a boys and girls stairwell, but doors lining each side of the walls. Each door had the name of a professor. They weren't in any special order, but each profession was under the name. Hermione walked past each door until she came to her's, which was right next to Harry's.
"So, I'll see you in the morning." Said Harry, opening up his door a jar.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Said Hermione, walking into her room.
She closed the door, and leaned against it a little, sighing deeply. Hermione didn't get a chance to think, since the room caught her eye. The bed was a large queen size and had cream and gold pillows on it. The comfeter was also cream and gold and the walls were a deep gold. There was a mahogany desk and chair, and a matching vanity with a large oval mirror. Hermione walked over to the closet and dragged her trunk out into the middle of the cream carpet. She then proceded to unpack her things, including the fuzzy alarm clock that she had bought a couple of weeks ago. Once all of her things were in their proper place, her clothes, make-up and any other items, she got dressed and climbed into bed; soon drifting off to dream land.
*
Hermione stretched her arms and rolled over, closing her eyes once more. She felt like she could sleep all day. Then, her eyes sprung open and she staired at the clock in shock. She was late, very late. It was quarter to nine, and classes started directly at nine in the morning. Hermione flew out of bed, grabbed some clothes and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. She showered, did her hair and make-up and ran out the door of her room, buttoning up her blue silk blouse on her way out. She ran through the halls, fixing her hair and pulling on her robes. It was when she had resulted to hopping to get on her knee-high boots on that she heard a voice from behind her.
"Mom!" called the voice as it neared her.
Hermione looked back and saw Jamie running towards her, doing up her tie as she ran. It seemed that Jamie had gotten up just as late. Without speaking they proceeded to run down the hallway to the Charms classroom. Since Jamie already knew that her first class was with her mom, she didn't need her schedule, the downside was that Hermione had forgotten where the Charms room was. Jamie realised this when her mother started mumbling about where the room might be. This was not going to be good.
"What happened to that perfect inner clock that you told me about?" asked Jamie as they ran.
"I don't know, it must be lost somewhere." Said Hermione, looking at each door.
"Do you even know where we're going?" asked Jamie, fixing her robes.
"Not exactly." Confessed Hermione, not looking at her daughter.
"Oh this is great! What happened to your organization?" cried Jamie.
"It's where ever my inner clock is!" cried Hermione, standing infront of a classroom. "I think this is it."
Hermione through open the door and she and Jamie walked right into Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Every eye turned to her and Jamie, who looked in complete disarray, standing in the doorway. Hermione started to back up, pushing Jamie along with her. She smiled stupidly as they backed out slowly.
"Sorry, well this teaches my to buy anything just because it's fuzzy. Bye!" cried Hermione, finaly running out of the classroom behind Jamie.
"What happened to your sense of direction?" cried Jamie.
"It's with my inner clock and organization!" said Hermione.
The pair ran as fast as they could through the hallway, almost bumping into a rather disgruntled Snape carrying a stack of papers. Luckily only his papers were hurt. The map of Hogwarts started to come back to Hermione's mind and she found the classroom, even if there was only fifteen minutes left in the class. This particular fifteen minutes didn't leave much, but Hermione got in a little reading and a small homework assignment. This eventful morning made her think that a charm for her clock to wake her up on time might be something to look into.
By lunch, Hermione was in desperate need of coffee and once seated at the staff table grabbed for the coffee pot and drained it all in minutes. Harry gave her a strange look as she drank, but brushed it off as one of her new traits. Hermione ate much more than she usualy did, and that was saying something since she could eat a large pizza and ice cream for one meal. Once she was done eating, lying back in her chair looking as if she was about to fall asleep, Harry decided it was safe to talk to her.
"That was quite an entrance you made this morning." He said, smiling at her.
"Yeah, what can I say; it happens some times." Said Hermione, her eyes closed.
"Did you make it to your classroom?" he asked, his brow creased.
"As a matter of fact I did. I'm sure the students liked my entrance too." She giggled, opening her eyes so that they were tiney slits.
"How many classes do you have this afternoon?" asked Harry, since he didn't have any today.
"None! I am so happy! Now I can sleep." Said Hermione, raising her arms in triumph.
"Good, do you want to do something? Just to sort of catch up some more." Said Harry, who wanted to spend more time with her as friends than just colleges.
"Sure. I'd like that." Said Hermione, who felt her heart flutter a little.
They spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around the castle and the grounds. Every single memory came back to Hermione, and she felt like the song 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now' should be playing in the background. Everything was quite peaceful, and Hermione liked it like that. It was just her and Harry, just like it had been once Ron and Lavender had started dating in seventh year. It had been just the two of them most of the time, and a part of her wished that it would stay like that. They had been talking about what people from their year had been doing, Hermione getting a surprise that Draco and Ginny had been married for two years and had a kid, when she found out something she didn't want to know. It seemed that Ron and Lavender, and possibly Draco and Ginny, were coming to Hogsmeade the first weekend. Harry said that he would meet them at the Three Broomsticks that day, but had yet to inform them that Hermione had comet to Hogwarts.
"Why didn't you tell them?" she asked, worried about how more people would react to Jamie.
"It's just that we hadn't seen you for so long that I didn't know wheather or not we would still get along. I was sort of testing things out so to speak." He explained, hoping that she knew what he meant.
"I understand." She said, he head down in thought. "I want to see them, but what will I say? There are a lot of questions they'll ask. Especialy when they get into the 'Are you married?' 'Do you have kids?' questions."
"Well, the Hogsmeade weekend isn't until October, so you'll have pleanty of time to come up with something." Said Harry, pointing out that it was only the first day.
"Do you think I could bring Jamie? You know, just to sort of make things easier." Asked Hermione, who needed her daughter by her for some things.
"I think if you talked about it with Dumbledore you could. I mean, not every person in the world has to tell their best friends that they have a daughter." He said, making a valad point.
"Your right. I guess that I'll just face everything when it comes." She said, smiling to him in thanks.
As they walked, Hermione had to admit, Harry looked good after all these years. He was just a little taller than when she had last seen him and his glasses had changed from thick-rimmed round ones to thin-rimmed oval ones. He was built, as far as she could see, and surprised that he had yet to marry. She admitted that she had had a little bit of a crush on him, but that had been in the past. She didn't have a silly schoolgirl crush on Harry Potter. Didn't she?
*
It was October, the first Saturday of the month and the first Hogsmeade weekend. Dumbledore had given her permission to bring Jamie along, concidering what she had to do that day. Hermione had just stepped out of her room, dressed in a blue coat, jeans and an old green Bee-Gee's t-shirt, when Harry emerged through the arch and ran toward her. He was dressed in casual clothes, jeans and a blue jumper, but his black robes were on and he had a folder in his hand. This confused her, as he wasn't supposed to have any work to do today, or at least that's what he had told her.
"Herm! I'm sorry, but I'll have to meet you there." He said, slightly breathless.
"Harry, you said you would come. I can't do this without you." She said sternly, wanting him to be there with her.
"I will only be ten minutes, tops, but I don't want to keep them waiting, so if you and Jamie would just go there and sit with them it would be great." He said, looking at her in such a way that she felt as if she could say yes to anything.
"Fine, but if I make a fool out of myself then I'm blaming it all on you. You owe me one Harry Potter." She said, walking out of the common room and down to the entrance hall.
She met Jamie there and the two walked, rather than rode, to Hogsmeade. The village was bussling with Hogwarts students and to try and find anyone in this crowed would be quite a feat. The pair made it to the Three Broomsticks to find that Ron and Lavender had yet to arrive, so they walked up to the bar to order some drinks. Jamie felt just as nervous as Hermione, as she was meeting her mother's friends for the first time, and they didn't even know she existed. She knew that her mother wasn't ashamed of her, she knew that her mother used to be a bookworm and slightly bossey, yet that wasn't her now. Hermione was now fast talking, coffee guzling and quite witty. The Hermione that Jamie knew had gone through many hardships and hadn't really eccepted any help from anyone, one of the reasons why she was never really close with her grandparents. Up until they bought their house they lived in a potting shed behind the Inn, and lived there until Jamie was five. It was then that Hermione had saved up enough money to buy a real home and they had been living happily there ever since. A part of Jamie knew that her mother's friends wouldn't understand why she hadn't eccepted help from anyone and had started from the bottum in a muggle Inn, but she had to have hope that they would.
"I'll have one Butterbear and one large cup of really strong coffee." Said Hermione, leaning on the bar top.
"Alright, then, here you go." Said the barmaid.
"Thanks Rosemerta." Said Hermione, smiling and walking away to a table near the window.
This left the barmaid a little confused, until it suddenly clicked and she smiled quite widely. Hermione loved to just leave people hanging like that, it was one of the ways she stayed as happy as she was. When they were seated, Jamie loving her Butterbear and Hermione sipping her coffee nervously, Jamie asked her mother a question. "How will we know it's them?"
"Well, Ron is tall, has red hair and may or may not have freckles. Lavender has blonde hair, blue eyes and is just a little taller than me." Said Hermione, remembering her last picture of them.
"Oh, you mean like the people who just walked in here?" said Jamie slyly.
Hermione's eyes went wide and she put her head down on the table, following the people as they took off their coats and walked towards the bar. The two other people were Ginny and Draco, there was no mistake about Draco's silver blonde hair and Ginny's long red hair and large blue eyes. They walked up to the bar and began talking to Rosemerta, who was talking in an excited voice while handing them drinks. She then pointed over to where Hermione and Jamie were sitting, and Hermione realsied that her little bit of teasing was sending her to her doom. The four up at the bar was looking at them while Hermione muttered 'oh no's' to her self and Jamie laughed at her mother. Hermione looked up and frowned at her daughter.
"What are you laughing at, blasfamous child. You were supposed to warn me when they were coming, not when they were in the building." Said Hermione, glaring at Jamie.
"But it was very funny!" laughed Jamie, who was clutching her sides.
"It won't be very funny when I fail you in Charms." Said Hermione, using her professor card.
Jamie immidiatly stopped laughing and looked at her mother with horror. "You can't do that!" she cried.
"How do you know? I can fail you right here and now." Said Hermione, who was now trying to keep from laughing at her daughter's expression.
"You can't! That's not legal!" cried Jamie, who was always a top student.
Hermione couldn't take it anymore and burst out into laughter. It was now Jamie's turn to glare at her mother, and Hermione's laughter caught many people's attention. The laughter continued until Harry walked in and the group up at the bar started to walk towards him. It was then that Hermione stopped laughing and her nervousness set in once again. Harry was talking to the quartet, and she could see the confusion in their eyes when he walked over to her and Jamie. She smiled nervously and took a long sip of her coffee as she saw the group follow him.
"I said waite with them. As in at the same table, not in the same building." He said.
"Well you should be more specific next time. Besides, Jamie was making fun of my nervousness, evil child." Said Hermione, mumbling the last part.
"I heard that!" said Jamie. "But it was also very funny. If you saw her you would laugh too."
"Would not." Protested Hermione.
"Would so." Said Jamie.
"Would not."
"Would so."
"Would not."
"Would so."
Harry shook his head as he sat down, draping his coat over the chair. These little spats were now well known throughout Hogwarts. Wheather it was at meal times, in the hallway, or even during Hermione's class. They were quite a pair. As the arguing stopped, Ron, Lavender, Ginny and Draco looked on with puzzled looks. It seemed that they didn't recognize Hermione, and didn't believe anything that Rosemerta had told them. Ron was the person who spoke first, even he not recognizing one of his best friends.
"Um Harry, who are these people?" he asked.
"Yeah Potter, get on with the introductions." Said Draco, who it seemed had failed to lose his sharp tounge.
"She doesn't need an introduction Draco, you already know her." Said Harry, motioning to Hermione.
"I don't recognize her. Do you?" said Lavender, looking at the others who shook their heads no.
Hermione decided to have a little fun with this, and left her nervous feelings behind. "Well I'm not surprised. It's been eleven years." She said, winking over to Jamie slightly.
"I'm still at a loss. I haven't the faintest clue who she is." Said Ginny, her head to one side.
"Well, going on, this is my daughter. Jamie Granger, meet Ron, Lavender, Ginny and Draco." Said Hermione, smiling widely.
The small group gasped, at the Jamie's last name, and that Hermione had introduced her as her daughter. "You don't mean-" started Lavender.
"She's back." Said Jamie, using the same tone as the child in the 'Exorsist'.
"Hermione!" gasped Ron, looking at one of his best friends.
"Oh my god." Breathed Lavender, looking at the once bushey-haired girl who used to share her dorm.
"Herm." Said Ginny, who felt close to tears at seeing her old friend.
"Wow." Said Draco, who was never close to Hermione, but had learned to get along with all Ginny's friends when they started going out. Now this meant Hermione.
"That's right, I'm back and I brought someone with me." Said Hermione, looking over at Jamie who was smiling at her mother.
The group was speechless, and they slowly sat down in their chairs, not taking their eyes off Hermione. It took a moment for everything to sink in, and that was when Ginny, realised it. "Did you say daughter?" she asked, catching everyone's attention.
"Yeup. This is my daughter, Jamie. She's in her first year here." Said Hermione, putting an arm around Jamie's shoulders.
"She's eleven! Wow." Said Ron, surprised that his normaly responsible friend had had a child at eightteen.
"I'm surprised at you Hermione, I never pictured you as the after school marrying type." Said Lavender, bringing up something that Hermione was hoping to avoid.
"Actualy, I'm not married." Said Hermione in a slightly smaller voice.
"Oh, so you're divorced then." Said Ginny, being very casual over the whole matter.
"No, I've never been married. Ever." Said Hermione, her voice now just above a whisper and slower than it normaly was. "I was engaged, but that sort of fell through."
"Oh sorry. What happened?" asked Lavender, who was always in the mood for some new gossip or news.
"Well...um...I sort of got pregnant. That's how Jamie came to be." Explained Hermione, her voice extreamly small.
The group was silent, the cheeryness having been gone from the mood. Jamie's head was bent down low and Hermione was rubbing her hand up and down her daughter's arm. The subject of Jamie's father was always one that they tried to steer clear of. The whole town that they lived in knew to never talk about Kevin to them or anyone else. When Hermione had come to town, the dance instructer was the first one to ask where Jamie's father was, and once she was told that Hermione never wanted to here her ex-fiance's name again, she spread the word and soon the whole town knew within the half hour. Now Hermione felt as if she was back to being twenty years old with a one year old daughter living in a potting shed behind an Inn. She felt very small, like some sort of insect, and she felt as if she couldn't speak above a whisper. Draco was the one who finaly broke the silence, feeling that the tension had rose too much in this small pub.
"So, what do you do besides teaching?" he asked, looking at her.
Hermione smiled gratefuly, and everyones heads looked up at her once again. "I work at an Inn in a town called Stars Hallow. It's one strage place." Said Hermione.
"Yeah, there are three stores dedicted to sealing porceline unicorns." Said Jamie, laughing a little.
The group laughed along with her, and the conversation continued. "So, what do you guys do? I don't know anything about you guys from graduation on." Said Hermione.
"Well, I work at the Minustry, Lavender works in Diagon Ally, Ginny is a reporter for the Daily Profet and Draco is an Auror." Said Ron, pointing to each one in turn.
The conversation continued until it became extreamly late. It was dark by the time Hermione, Jamie and Harry got back to the castle. After catching the end of dinner, not getting very much to eat, they went to their own common rooms. Once Hermione and Harry were back to their common room, most of the teachers in there own rooms, they sat down on one of the sofas and she took this time to thank him from being there with her when she saw everyone. She would never have done it if he hadn't guided her.
"Thanks Harry. For being there with me." She said, her head down looking at her hands.
"No problem Herm. I would do anything for you." He said, the last part unintentionaly slipping out.
"Really? Do you mean that?" she asked, smiling at him although he was trying to hide a blush.
"Yeah, I do. After all we've been through, I would do anything for you." He said, looking into her eyes.
Thei eyes locked, emerald to hazel. Hermione felt like she could get lost in his eyes, and found that her heart began to beat faster. It was then that Hermione did something that she might regret. Something that she had suddenly felt compeled to do; she kissed him. She kissed him hard on the lips, electricity flying through her. Once she broke it, she felt extreamly stupid and wished that she could re-play that moment over again. She was known for doing stupid, spur of the moment things, but kissing her best friend wasn't.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-" she started until Harry kissed her.
He captured her lips in one swift move and cuped her face in his hands. Hermione's mind was racing, not knowing what to do or wheather or not to brake the kiss, but it seem her heart took over and kissed him back. The kiss was sweet at first, until Harry's tounge brushed up against her lips, begging entrance. She parted her lips a little and the kiss became more passionite. They continued to kiss, their bodies as close as possible, until they broke from lack of air and something pulling on Hermione's heart strings.
"Harry, I have something to tell you." She started, her breathing heavy. "I love you, ever since I read about you in my school books before first year. I will always love you. Forever and ever."
Hermione's heartbeat quickened as she waited for him to say something. She was afraid that he might push her away and never speak to her for another eleven years. That was, until he smiled. "Hermione, I've loved you since the moment I saw you. It broke my heart when you left, and my heart never really mended until I saw you again." He said, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.
A smile broke out on Hermione's face and she kissed him once more. As the kiss became more heated, they moved off the sofa and, still lip locked, moved toward Hermione's room. Harry's lips traveled down her neck and he kissed her ear as he worked his way back to her mouth. They practicly fell into the room once the door opened and she kicked the door closed with her heel, smiling before surrenduring to the kisses of her best friend.
*
It was the night of Harry and Hermione's first date, Harry was taking her to this small restaurant down in Hogsmeade and she had been excited throughout the entire day. All of Hogwarts knew they were together, their moods changing after they had said they loved eachother. Jamie was now perched on her mother's bed, her feet curled beneath her as she watched Hermione do her make-up. Jamie had been the first to find out that her mother and her professor were in love. Even if it was just another strange part of her life, she supported them and wanted to so anything to make her mother happy. Once she was done at the vanity, Hermione stood up, smoothed her dress and fixed her hair. She smiled nervously at her daughter, playing with the hem of the baby blue dress.
"I look ok, right?" she asked, straightening herself up.
"Mom, you look beautiful. You'll have a great time and you'll tell me all about it tomorrow." Said Jamie, smiling at her nervous mother.
"Ok." Said Hermione, taking one last look in the mirror before whirrling around and looking at Jamie sternly. "You're ok with this aren't you? I wouldn't want this to be weird for you."
"I'm fine. Besides, you're already my professor how weird can you get." Said Jamie, lying down on the bed, her hair fanning out.
Hermione walked over to the bed and lyed down next to her daughter. She folded her hands over her stumach and turned her head to face Jamie. "Are you absolutly sure? I want you to be ok with this before I do anything else." She said, looking into Jamie's blue eyes.
"I want you to be happy mom. If Harry makes you happy than I'm happy." Said Jamie, looking up at the ceiling before turning back to her mother. "We're gonna be ok right?" she asked.
"We're gonna be just fine babe. We're gonna be just fine." Said Hermione, smiling happily as she clasped her hand in her daughters.
A/N: Ok, this is the end. I know it's every long, but I've been wanting to do something like this for a while. This is something to tide you over until the next chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Shapesifter' which will come out in a couple days.
It has been eleven years since Hermione has eaither seen or heard from Harry or Ron, her two best friends. After graduation from Hogwarts, being at the top of her class, she went on a trip to America for the summer; to Conneticut to be exact. There she met one of the best guys she had ever met. He was kind, sweet, giving, fair and to top it all of, cute. Instead of going back to the UK, she stayed there, and she and the man, Kevin, became engaged. It was then that her life went down hill. Two months into the engagement, Hermione became pregnant and Kevin left her. Hermione was left all alone with little money in a one bedroom apartment, and months later, with an infant daughter. Jamie Clair Granger was born on May 7, 1998 and lived with her mother in Boston Conneticut for one year until Hermione had raised enough money to fly them home to the UK. When they got there, Hermione went to her parent's house, but upon reaching them, they became infuriated with her. They had not raised their daughter to get pregnant at eighteen. Hermione took whatever she still had at her parent's house and drove to a small town just outside of London where she began work at an Inn. She and Jamie soon found a home in the town, and for the past ten years they have made quite a life for themselves.
Hermione now helped to run the Inn, and worked along side her friend Sookie who was the cook. Jamie was now eleven, and knew about the wizarding world. Sookie was also a witch, but that wasn't the magic that went on in her kitchen. Hermione's parents had forgiven her and they now saw eachother on holidays when both Hermione and Jamie came over for dinner. Hermione still had not talked to her two best friends, but figured that they were both happily married and had forgotten about her. Hermione and Jamie had a rather close relationship and were the best of friends. They were quite a pair those Granger Girls.
Hermione and Jamie sat at the kitchen table eating pop tarts and drinking coffee and juice. Hermione's brown hair was now darker and fell in curls just below her shoulders. Her hair was held back from her face with two purple barrets and she had on a purple and black ensomble. Jamie had her long straight brown hair in a ponytail and had on jeans and a Go-Go's t-shirt. Hermione at the moment was complaning to her daughter about her outfit.
"I look like a giant bruse." She complained looking at Jamie with her head to one side.
"Mom, you do not. You look beautiful." Said Jamie while she read her book.
"You can say that because you are naturaly beautiful and look good in anything, but some people, like me, have to work at our beauty." Said Hermione.
"Mom." Said Jamie.
It was then that a large barn owl flew through the window and dropped a note in the middle of the table. Hermione picked it up and looked at the cover, which had loopy silvery green writing on it. She flipped it over and saw that the Hogwarts crest was pressed into the red wax. Hermione's breath quickend and her eyes widend slightly. Slowly, she handed the letter to Jamie who took it aprihensivly.
"Oh my god." Said Hermione who was at a loss for words.
Jamie opened the letter and scanned over it quickly, her face blank. "I got in. I'm going to Hogwarts." She said.
"You did." Said Hermione, her smile wide.
"Yeah. I'm going to Hogwarts!" cried Jamie, jumping up and down with her mother. "Now we can be close together and we can be the same as always!"
"Honey, if we bond any furthur we will be permanatly fused together." Said Hermione, her fingure tips pressed together.
"Don't exagerate." Said Jamie.
"It's true! Haven't you seen Guinis?" asked Hermione, standing by it.
"Mom! Shouldn't you be at work?" said Jamie, who figured out that her mother had yet to go to the Inn.
"I can take the day off, just to prove this to you!" said Hermione, who shouldn't have had that last cup of coffee.
"You look like a bruse." Said Jamie walking away to her room.
"I knew it!" cried Hermione following her.
Hermione was going to take a year off at the Inn, leaving a replacement instead of Michel concidering that he would probably burn the place down the second she left. She was going to be the new Charms professor at Hogwarts, since she had been informed that Professor Flitwick had retired at the end of that year. She was actualy quite excited about it, until she got a list of some of the professors that were now there. Harry had been one on that list next to the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. She was slightly nervous about seeing him again. She had never told her friends that she had a daughter or that she now lived in a small town and only saw her parents on holidays. The look on his face was going to be one to remember.
*
Jamie stood at the bottum of the stairs waiting for her mother. Her trunk was right next to her and she had her robes and everything waiting for her to use for magic. Jamie checked her watch for the tenth time and saw that it was nine thirty in the morning. Impatiantly she climbed the stairs and walked into her mother's room to find her still asleep in her bed. Her clothes were on a chair and her purse was ready, but she was not. Jamie's eyes went wide and she shook her mother, only to receive a groan and a hand swatting her away.
"Mom! It's nine thirty! We're going to be late!" cried Jamie, shaking her mother who had her back to her.
"No it's not. It's eight." Mumbled Hermione as she slept.
"It's nine thirty! We're going to be late! I can't be late!" cried Jamie, shaking Hermione some more.
Hermione shot out of bed and looked at the fuzzy blue alarm clock with wide eyes. "Oh shit!" she cried, jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom. "Honey, go get mommy's clothes and put her clock in her trunk and bring it down stairs!" called Hermione who was furriously brushing her teeth and combing her hair.
Jamie did what her mother said and went to wait for her downstairs. Twenty minutes later Hermione flew down the stairs, her purse in hand. She through open the door and dragged her daughter, two trunks and a disgruntled cat out to the waiting taxi cab. Hermione through all into the taxi and screamed at the driver to go quickly, not paying attention to his mumblings. The taxi drove through the town quickly while Hermione applied her lipstick in the back seat. She had had it all planned. They were going to get up, go the diner to have a nice breakfast, say good-bye to Sookie and good-bye to other friends. Now she was late, and so was Jamie. This was not going to be a good impression for her daughter.
The taxi arrived at Kings Cross Station, and Hermione and Jamie scrambled out of the taxi, Hermione throwing money at the driver. They grabbed two trollies and wheeled them towards the barried while running as fast as they could. Not even paying attention to anyone else, Hermione ran straight through the barrier, pulling Jamie along with her, and pilled there things onto one of the cars. The pair just made it on the train as it was pulling out of the station.
"Well, you don't do this every day." Said Hermione as they walked through the train.
One of Jamie's closest friends, best friend as it was, Maria Lee, was also attending Hogwarts and was going to save them a compartment. They walked all the way down to the end of the train until they saw Maria. They enterd the compartment and Hermione froze in the doorway. This was the exact same compartment that she, Harry and Ron sat in each year for seven years. This time, they weren't here, and it just didn't seem the same without them. Hermione tried to purge her mind of these throughts so that she wouldn't get too stressed out over seeing Harry in a few hours time.
Hermione and the two girls sat down and began to talk, play cards and Hermione listend to the girls talk about what Hogwarts might be like. Once the food trolly came around, the three played poker with chocolate frogs, every flavor beans and pumking pasties. It was quite a game that they had going on, that is until the train screeched to a halt. Hermione gulped and she felt her breathing quicken. She took a sip from her to-go coffee cup that she had finaly weezled off of the snack woman. Jamie took her mother's hand led her off the train, squeezing it gently. When they stepped off the train and into a light breeze, Hermione put an arm around Jamie's shoulders and kissed the side of her head.
"Be good. I'll see you up at the castle." She said, looking into her daughter's blue eyes.
"I will mom. Bye!" said Jamie, walking off with Maria to where the boats were located.
Hermione took one last look at her daughter and then walked off through the crowd and got into one of the horseless carriges; which took of with a start to the castle. Hermione gazed up at the castle that loomed over the grounds with a mightly air. She felt slight tears stinging her eyes as she rememberd all the times she had walked through the halls and had adventures through her seven years at the school. Slowly she got out of the carrige and struggled her way through the crowed and into the Great Hall. She pushed her way through the students, tripping over her own feet and almost falling on her face. Hermione finaly got through the crowd, almost falling on the ground.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" she cried, taking a sip of her coffee.
The entire staff table turned towards her, looking at her as she frowned at her coffee cup. Sheepishly she turned to look at the line of professors who looked down at her like she was some sort of lower life form. She scanned the table, seeing all her former professors, and then she spotted Harry, his hair still a mess and his eyes shinning from behind his oval specticals. Hermione sat up straight, fixing her robes and smiling at them all until she came to Dumbledore. He smiled to her, his eyes twinkling, and nodded to her.
"You may take a seat Miss. Granger." He said, motioning to the spot next to Harry.
"Thank you Albus." Nodded Hermione, taking her seat next to Harry at the long table.
She placed her cup on the table next to the golden goblet and watched as McGonagall moved into the hall to go find the first years and a graying Hagrid walked into the hall. He walked over to her and sat in the chair next to her. Not a word had been exchanged between her and Harry yet. It was too awkword. What would she say to him? What would he say to her? Should she tell him about Jamie? All these thoughts and more were flouting through her head, until she finaly couldn't take it anymore. She turned to him, filled with determination, and spoke.
"So, how've you been? It's been a really long time." She said faster than expected.
"I'm good, what about you?" he said, looking into her eyes.
"I'm great. Never better. God this is awkword." She said, at the same fast pace.
"Woah Herm, slow down!" he said, using one of her nicknames for her that she loved. "What's the rush?"
"What rush? This is how I've always talked. Or, I have for the past eleven years. You should hear my phone messages." Said Hermione, smiling to him.
"What do you do now? Besides the obvious." Asked Harry, motioning to the Great Hall.
"I work, or rather manage, an Inn in a really small town. So small that when I showed up everyone knew in five minutes." Said Hermione, who realised that something better happen to stop her babbeling.
"Wow, I never pictured you as an Inn person." Said Harry, a crese forming in his forhead.
It was then that McGonagall walked back into the hall, leading the ling of frightend first years behind her. Hermione picked out Jamie, who looked between nervous and hyper active. McGonagall took out a long roll of parchment, a stool and the tattard sorting hat and placed them up at the front. As the first year's lined up, Jamie stood right infront of her mother, and Hermione smiled widly. She reached up and pulled on Jamie's brown hair and smiled wider as she turned around.
"Mom!" she said, trying not to be too load.
"Hey mini-me. How ya feel?" said Hermione, her smile still plasterd on her face.
"I'm nervous. How'd you get through this?" said Jamie as the students got called up.
"Tried not to scream." Answered Hermione, laughing slightly. "I love you."
"I love you too." Said Jamie as the person next to her left her side.
To the shock of the professors, McGonagall looked between Hermione and Jamie and called the next name on the parchment. "Granger, Jamie!"
Harry, not to metion Hagrid and the rest of the staff, looked over at her as Jamie walked over to the stool and placed the sorting hat on her head. Hermione's hands were over her mouth and she held her breath as she waited for the sorting hat to say something. Harry's mouth was hanging open, although she didn't notice. If she did, she might have laughed or closed it, but she was waiting impatiantly.
Just as she was about to scream at the hat, it made its decision and screamed out a house to the silent hall. "Gryffindor!" it screamed and Hermione's cheers were heard above the polite clapping. She was so happy for her daughter, sort of following in her own footsetps so to speak. Hermione wanted everything for Jamie, like the things that she didn't have or get to do. She wanted Jamie to go to colledge and have a great job and have the finest of everything. This was what Hermione could never have.
Once the sorting was done and the speech was finished, Harry spoke to her. "So, you have a daughter." He said, trying to be cool.
"Yeah, Jamie is the best of the best. She's a great kid." Said Hermione, smiling as Jamie talked with Maria about music or something or other.
"So this is what you've been doing." Said Harry, taking a drink out of his goblet.
"Yeah. In short, I went to America, got engaged, pregnant, dumped, yelled at by my parents and got a job. It may seem like a hectic existance, but it's a great life." Said Hermione, her voice slowing down dramaticly. "So what about you? How's your life? Is there a Mrs. Potter some where?" she asked.
"Well, life is good, my love life, or lack-there-of, is...ok and that's it." He answerd.
"Do you still talk to Ron?" she asked after a long pause.
"Yeah, he's married, to Lavender no less, and they're happy. They have kids, two of them." He told her, not looking into her eyes.
They didn't talk, as Hermione was trying to process some of this. Finaly, she couldn't stand it. "Is this all we're going to do? Not look eachother in the eye and waltz around what we actualy want to say. I don't think I'll be able to do that." She said, throwing her fork down.
"Well Herm, I think that that's exactly what we're going to do. After all, you never did try to contact me for eleven years so I think I may not be so eccepting to your return." He said coldly, his eyes blazing.
"Don't you dare blame this all on me. I never go one letter from you all these years and when I did try to write to you I just never knew what to say. Did you just expect me to say, 'Hey Harry how's it going, how's life, oh by the way I have a kid. What about you?'." Said Hermione, glaring slightly at Harry.
"Herm, I tried to find you, but your parents would never answer my owls and as far as I knew, you had disappeared! I tried for two years but I decided that if I ever wanted to find you I would wait until you contacted me." Said Harry, his teeth clanched.
Hermione was seething, but took a couple of deep breaths so as not to do something stupid. "Alright, lets just say we're both sorry about not contacting eachother for eleven years. What's done is done; there's no changing that. I guess this will just take some time." She said, trying to reconsile something.
"Sounds good. It'll just take some time." Said Harry, nodding in agreement.
The rest of the dinner was spent eating, and talking about what has been going on in their lives. They steered clear of any touchy subjects, like love lives, family issues and things of the like. It seemed that Harry had done quite well for himself, as Hermione always knew her would. By the end of dinner, when the professors were filling out with the rest of the students, Hermione saw that Jamie lagged behind the rest. She waited by the door to the Great Hall, telling everyone that she would be there in a few minutes. Hermione decided that this would be the perfect time to introduce one of her oldest and best friends to her daughter. She walked, or rather ran, to Jamie, enveloping her in a hug.
"Oh I am so proad of you! I knew you'd make it to Gryffindor!" she cried, hugging Jamie close.
"So is that why you nearly cursed at the hat?" laughed Jamie, who clearly saw her that her mother had been getting impatiant.
"Hey! Is it my fault that that thing is slow?" asked Hermione, looking at Jamie.
"No, but you could have tried just a little harder to be a little more patiant." Said Jamie, laughing still.
"It was eaither get angry and yell at the hat, or start cursing out the house elves for making inadiquit coffee." Explained Hermione, who even though she had had five cups, thought that the coffee was horrible.
"I'm glad you held you tounge. Otherwise we would have to chain you up like Hannibalector." Laughed Jamie, picturing her mother with a facemask and a straight jacket.
"Do I look like a skin eating psycopath? Didn't think so." Said Hermione, pretending to be offended.
"Well let's see...if we deprive you of coffee for a few hours you might bare a resemblence." Said Jamie, standing back and looking at her mother.
"Coffee deprivasion is not an option Clarice." Said Hermione, her arms crossed.
This little scene with her daughter made Hermione forget about Harry, who had smiled at them as they 'bonded'. Now that the laughter had died down, Hermione decided to put both lives together; her old life with her best friends and the world of magic, and her new life with her daughter and new best friend. Jamie's head was now to one side and she studied Harry, after all, it wasn't like she didn't know who he was. Hermione and Jamie's relationship was one of trust, so they shared everything over food, movies, or coffee and soda. When Jamie was old enough to understand, Hermione told her everything about her life at Hogwarts and the life with Harry and Ron. By the end of the night Jamie knew about each year in detail and had seen pictures of Harry, Ron and her mother that Hermione had kept. Now she was meeting a person that had one of the biggest impacts on her mother's life.
"Harry, this is my daughter Jamie. Jamie, this is Harry, one of my best friends." Introduced Hermione, smiling from ear to ear.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Said Jamie politely, nodding to him.
"It's nice to meet you too Jamie." Said Harry, nodding back to her.
They walked slowly around the castle and showed Jamie where the Gryffindor tower was. She said goodbye to them, kissing Hermione on the cheek and promising that she would not be late for her first class that morning. It seemed that lateness was a traight with the two Grangers. Once Jamie was inside, Harry showed Hermione where the professor's dorms were kept. They weren't very far from the Gryffindor tower, they were actualy the next tower over. The track to the tower gave the pair more time to talk. They talked about what their interests were now, and also about Jamie. Harry tried to steer clear of the whole father issue, but it seemed to come up anyway.
"He was a great guy. It just seemed that he wasn't ready for kids, or if he even wanted them. I haven't a clue as to where he is now, and I don't really care." Said Hermione, her head bowed.
"What made you take this path Herm? It just never seemed like you when you were here at Hogwarts." Asked Harry, who had been wondering about that.
"Well, the go to colledge sure I'll marry you after graduation and can you drive Suzi to soccer practice 'cause I have a peticure path wasn't for me. I decided to do things differently. Do things my way." Said Hermione, in her usual rapid pace.
"Sounds like you've changed since I last saw you." Said Harry, smiling at her.
"I haven't changed that much Harry, I'm just a little different." Said Hermione, smiling back at him.
They then reached a dead end, where all but a tapistry lay. On the tapistry was a picture of a scholar, writing on a roll of parchment while looking a very thick book. Hermione looked at the tapistry, puzzled as to how they would get through. Harry walked forward and gently moved the violet quill so that it lay flat in the air. The tapistry then rolled up until it reached the bar and revieled an archway in the wall. The pair walked through, the tapistry rolling back down behind them, and into a well-lit room. Everything was gold, cream and blue, like the sofas and chairs. There was a fire going in the harth and everything seemed cheery. Unilke the regular dorms, there wasn't a boys and girls stairwell, but doors lining each side of the walls. Each door had the name of a professor. They weren't in any special order, but each profession was under the name. Hermione walked past each door until she came to her's, which was right next to Harry's.
"So, I'll see you in the morning." Said Harry, opening up his door a jar.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Said Hermione, walking into her room.
She closed the door, and leaned against it a little, sighing deeply. Hermione didn't get a chance to think, since the room caught her eye. The bed was a large queen size and had cream and gold pillows on it. The comfeter was also cream and gold and the walls were a deep gold. There was a mahogany desk and chair, and a matching vanity with a large oval mirror. Hermione walked over to the closet and dragged her trunk out into the middle of the cream carpet. She then proceded to unpack her things, including the fuzzy alarm clock that she had bought a couple of weeks ago. Once all of her things were in their proper place, her clothes, make-up and any other items, she got dressed and climbed into bed; soon drifting off to dream land.
*
Hermione stretched her arms and rolled over, closing her eyes once more. She felt like she could sleep all day. Then, her eyes sprung open and she staired at the clock in shock. She was late, very late. It was quarter to nine, and classes started directly at nine in the morning. Hermione flew out of bed, grabbed some clothes and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. She showered, did her hair and make-up and ran out the door of her room, buttoning up her blue silk blouse on her way out. She ran through the halls, fixing her hair and pulling on her robes. It was when she had resulted to hopping to get on her knee-high boots on that she heard a voice from behind her.
"Mom!" called the voice as it neared her.
Hermione looked back and saw Jamie running towards her, doing up her tie as she ran. It seemed that Jamie had gotten up just as late. Without speaking they proceeded to run down the hallway to the Charms classroom. Since Jamie already knew that her first class was with her mom, she didn't need her schedule, the downside was that Hermione had forgotten where the Charms room was. Jamie realised this when her mother started mumbling about where the room might be. This was not going to be good.
"What happened to that perfect inner clock that you told me about?" asked Jamie as they ran.
"I don't know, it must be lost somewhere." Said Hermione, looking at each door.
"Do you even know where we're going?" asked Jamie, fixing her robes.
"Not exactly." Confessed Hermione, not looking at her daughter.
"Oh this is great! What happened to your organization?" cried Jamie.
"It's where ever my inner clock is!" cried Hermione, standing infront of a classroom. "I think this is it."
Hermione through open the door and she and Jamie walked right into Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Every eye turned to her and Jamie, who looked in complete disarray, standing in the doorway. Hermione started to back up, pushing Jamie along with her. She smiled stupidly as they backed out slowly.
"Sorry, well this teaches my to buy anything just because it's fuzzy. Bye!" cried Hermione, finaly running out of the classroom behind Jamie.
"What happened to your sense of direction?" cried Jamie.
"It's with my inner clock and organization!" said Hermione.
The pair ran as fast as they could through the hallway, almost bumping into a rather disgruntled Snape carrying a stack of papers. Luckily only his papers were hurt. The map of Hogwarts started to come back to Hermione's mind and she found the classroom, even if there was only fifteen minutes left in the class. This particular fifteen minutes didn't leave much, but Hermione got in a little reading and a small homework assignment. This eventful morning made her think that a charm for her clock to wake her up on time might be something to look into.
By lunch, Hermione was in desperate need of coffee and once seated at the staff table grabbed for the coffee pot and drained it all in minutes. Harry gave her a strange look as she drank, but brushed it off as one of her new traits. Hermione ate much more than she usualy did, and that was saying something since she could eat a large pizza and ice cream for one meal. Once she was done eating, lying back in her chair looking as if she was about to fall asleep, Harry decided it was safe to talk to her.
"That was quite an entrance you made this morning." He said, smiling at her.
"Yeah, what can I say; it happens some times." Said Hermione, her eyes closed.
"Did you make it to your classroom?" he asked, his brow creased.
"As a matter of fact I did. I'm sure the students liked my entrance too." She giggled, opening her eyes so that they were tiney slits.
"How many classes do you have this afternoon?" asked Harry, since he didn't have any today.
"None! I am so happy! Now I can sleep." Said Hermione, raising her arms in triumph.
"Good, do you want to do something? Just to sort of catch up some more." Said Harry, who wanted to spend more time with her as friends than just colleges.
"Sure. I'd like that." Said Hermione, who felt her heart flutter a little.
They spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around the castle and the grounds. Every single memory came back to Hermione, and she felt like the song 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now' should be playing in the background. Everything was quite peaceful, and Hermione liked it like that. It was just her and Harry, just like it had been once Ron and Lavender had started dating in seventh year. It had been just the two of them most of the time, and a part of her wished that it would stay like that. They had been talking about what people from their year had been doing, Hermione getting a surprise that Draco and Ginny had been married for two years and had a kid, when she found out something she didn't want to know. It seemed that Ron and Lavender, and possibly Draco and Ginny, were coming to Hogsmeade the first weekend. Harry said that he would meet them at the Three Broomsticks that day, but had yet to inform them that Hermione had comet to Hogwarts.
"Why didn't you tell them?" she asked, worried about how more people would react to Jamie.
"It's just that we hadn't seen you for so long that I didn't know wheather or not we would still get along. I was sort of testing things out so to speak." He explained, hoping that she knew what he meant.
"I understand." She said, he head down in thought. "I want to see them, but what will I say? There are a lot of questions they'll ask. Especialy when they get into the 'Are you married?' 'Do you have kids?' questions."
"Well, the Hogsmeade weekend isn't until October, so you'll have pleanty of time to come up with something." Said Harry, pointing out that it was only the first day.
"Do you think I could bring Jamie? You know, just to sort of make things easier." Asked Hermione, who needed her daughter by her for some things.
"I think if you talked about it with Dumbledore you could. I mean, not every person in the world has to tell their best friends that they have a daughter." He said, making a valad point.
"Your right. I guess that I'll just face everything when it comes." She said, smiling to him in thanks.
As they walked, Hermione had to admit, Harry looked good after all these years. He was just a little taller than when she had last seen him and his glasses had changed from thick-rimmed round ones to thin-rimmed oval ones. He was built, as far as she could see, and surprised that he had yet to marry. She admitted that she had had a little bit of a crush on him, but that had been in the past. She didn't have a silly schoolgirl crush on Harry Potter. Didn't she?
*
It was October, the first Saturday of the month and the first Hogsmeade weekend. Dumbledore had given her permission to bring Jamie along, concidering what she had to do that day. Hermione had just stepped out of her room, dressed in a blue coat, jeans and an old green Bee-Gee's t-shirt, when Harry emerged through the arch and ran toward her. He was dressed in casual clothes, jeans and a blue jumper, but his black robes were on and he had a folder in his hand. This confused her, as he wasn't supposed to have any work to do today, or at least that's what he had told her.
"Herm! I'm sorry, but I'll have to meet you there." He said, slightly breathless.
"Harry, you said you would come. I can't do this without you." She said sternly, wanting him to be there with her.
"I will only be ten minutes, tops, but I don't want to keep them waiting, so if you and Jamie would just go there and sit with them it would be great." He said, looking at her in such a way that she felt as if she could say yes to anything.
"Fine, but if I make a fool out of myself then I'm blaming it all on you. You owe me one Harry Potter." She said, walking out of the common room and down to the entrance hall.
She met Jamie there and the two walked, rather than rode, to Hogsmeade. The village was bussling with Hogwarts students and to try and find anyone in this crowed would be quite a feat. The pair made it to the Three Broomsticks to find that Ron and Lavender had yet to arrive, so they walked up to the bar to order some drinks. Jamie felt just as nervous as Hermione, as she was meeting her mother's friends for the first time, and they didn't even know she existed. She knew that her mother wasn't ashamed of her, she knew that her mother used to be a bookworm and slightly bossey, yet that wasn't her now. Hermione was now fast talking, coffee guzling and quite witty. The Hermione that Jamie knew had gone through many hardships and hadn't really eccepted any help from anyone, one of the reasons why she was never really close with her grandparents. Up until they bought their house they lived in a potting shed behind the Inn, and lived there until Jamie was five. It was then that Hermione had saved up enough money to buy a real home and they had been living happily there ever since. A part of Jamie knew that her mother's friends wouldn't understand why she hadn't eccepted help from anyone and had started from the bottum in a muggle Inn, but she had to have hope that they would.
"I'll have one Butterbear and one large cup of really strong coffee." Said Hermione, leaning on the bar top.
"Alright, then, here you go." Said the barmaid.
"Thanks Rosemerta." Said Hermione, smiling and walking away to a table near the window.
This left the barmaid a little confused, until it suddenly clicked and she smiled quite widely. Hermione loved to just leave people hanging like that, it was one of the ways she stayed as happy as she was. When they were seated, Jamie loving her Butterbear and Hermione sipping her coffee nervously, Jamie asked her mother a question. "How will we know it's them?"
"Well, Ron is tall, has red hair and may or may not have freckles. Lavender has blonde hair, blue eyes and is just a little taller than me." Said Hermione, remembering her last picture of them.
"Oh, you mean like the people who just walked in here?" said Jamie slyly.
Hermione's eyes went wide and she put her head down on the table, following the people as they took off their coats and walked towards the bar. The two other people were Ginny and Draco, there was no mistake about Draco's silver blonde hair and Ginny's long red hair and large blue eyes. They walked up to the bar and began talking to Rosemerta, who was talking in an excited voice while handing them drinks. She then pointed over to where Hermione and Jamie were sitting, and Hermione realsied that her little bit of teasing was sending her to her doom. The four up at the bar was looking at them while Hermione muttered 'oh no's' to her self and Jamie laughed at her mother. Hermione looked up and frowned at her daughter.
"What are you laughing at, blasfamous child. You were supposed to warn me when they were coming, not when they were in the building." Said Hermione, glaring at Jamie.
"But it was very funny!" laughed Jamie, who was clutching her sides.
"It won't be very funny when I fail you in Charms." Said Hermione, using her professor card.
Jamie immidiatly stopped laughing and looked at her mother with horror. "You can't do that!" she cried.
"How do you know? I can fail you right here and now." Said Hermione, who was now trying to keep from laughing at her daughter's expression.
"You can't! That's not legal!" cried Jamie, who was always a top student.
Hermione couldn't take it anymore and burst out into laughter. It was now Jamie's turn to glare at her mother, and Hermione's laughter caught many people's attention. The laughter continued until Harry walked in and the group up at the bar started to walk towards him. It was then that Hermione stopped laughing and her nervousness set in once again. Harry was talking to the quartet, and she could see the confusion in their eyes when he walked over to her and Jamie. She smiled nervously and took a long sip of her coffee as she saw the group follow him.
"I said waite with them. As in at the same table, not in the same building." He said.
"Well you should be more specific next time. Besides, Jamie was making fun of my nervousness, evil child." Said Hermione, mumbling the last part.
"I heard that!" said Jamie. "But it was also very funny. If you saw her you would laugh too."
"Would not." Protested Hermione.
"Would so." Said Jamie.
"Would not."
"Would so."
"Would not."
"Would so."
Harry shook his head as he sat down, draping his coat over the chair. These little spats were now well known throughout Hogwarts. Wheather it was at meal times, in the hallway, or even during Hermione's class. They were quite a pair. As the arguing stopped, Ron, Lavender, Ginny and Draco looked on with puzzled looks. It seemed that they didn't recognize Hermione, and didn't believe anything that Rosemerta had told them. Ron was the person who spoke first, even he not recognizing one of his best friends.
"Um Harry, who are these people?" he asked.
"Yeah Potter, get on with the introductions." Said Draco, who it seemed had failed to lose his sharp tounge.
"She doesn't need an introduction Draco, you already know her." Said Harry, motioning to Hermione.
"I don't recognize her. Do you?" said Lavender, looking at the others who shook their heads no.
Hermione decided to have a little fun with this, and left her nervous feelings behind. "Well I'm not surprised. It's been eleven years." She said, winking over to Jamie slightly.
"I'm still at a loss. I haven't the faintest clue who she is." Said Ginny, her head to one side.
"Well, going on, this is my daughter. Jamie Granger, meet Ron, Lavender, Ginny and Draco." Said Hermione, smiling widely.
The small group gasped, at the Jamie's last name, and that Hermione had introduced her as her daughter. "You don't mean-" started Lavender.
"She's back." Said Jamie, using the same tone as the child in the 'Exorsist'.
"Hermione!" gasped Ron, looking at one of his best friends.
"Oh my god." Breathed Lavender, looking at the once bushey-haired girl who used to share her dorm.
"Herm." Said Ginny, who felt close to tears at seeing her old friend.
"Wow." Said Draco, who was never close to Hermione, but had learned to get along with all Ginny's friends when they started going out. Now this meant Hermione.
"That's right, I'm back and I brought someone with me." Said Hermione, looking over at Jamie who was smiling at her mother.
The group was speechless, and they slowly sat down in their chairs, not taking their eyes off Hermione. It took a moment for everything to sink in, and that was when Ginny, realised it. "Did you say daughter?" she asked, catching everyone's attention.
"Yeup. This is my daughter, Jamie. She's in her first year here." Said Hermione, putting an arm around Jamie's shoulders.
"She's eleven! Wow." Said Ron, surprised that his normaly responsible friend had had a child at eightteen.
"I'm surprised at you Hermione, I never pictured you as the after school marrying type." Said Lavender, bringing up something that Hermione was hoping to avoid.
"Actualy, I'm not married." Said Hermione in a slightly smaller voice.
"Oh, so you're divorced then." Said Ginny, being very casual over the whole matter.
"No, I've never been married. Ever." Said Hermione, her voice now just above a whisper and slower than it normaly was. "I was engaged, but that sort of fell through."
"Oh sorry. What happened?" asked Lavender, who was always in the mood for some new gossip or news.
"Well...um...I sort of got pregnant. That's how Jamie came to be." Explained Hermione, her voice extreamly small.
The group was silent, the cheeryness having been gone from the mood. Jamie's head was bent down low and Hermione was rubbing her hand up and down her daughter's arm. The subject of Jamie's father was always one that they tried to steer clear of. The whole town that they lived in knew to never talk about Kevin to them or anyone else. When Hermione had come to town, the dance instructer was the first one to ask where Jamie's father was, and once she was told that Hermione never wanted to here her ex-fiance's name again, she spread the word and soon the whole town knew within the half hour. Now Hermione felt as if she was back to being twenty years old with a one year old daughter living in a potting shed behind an Inn. She felt very small, like some sort of insect, and she felt as if she couldn't speak above a whisper. Draco was the one who finaly broke the silence, feeling that the tension had rose too much in this small pub.
"So, what do you do besides teaching?" he asked, looking at her.
Hermione smiled gratefuly, and everyones heads looked up at her once again. "I work at an Inn in a town called Stars Hallow. It's one strage place." Said Hermione.
"Yeah, there are three stores dedicted to sealing porceline unicorns." Said Jamie, laughing a little.
The group laughed along with her, and the conversation continued. "So, what do you guys do? I don't know anything about you guys from graduation on." Said Hermione.
"Well, I work at the Minustry, Lavender works in Diagon Ally, Ginny is a reporter for the Daily Profet and Draco is an Auror." Said Ron, pointing to each one in turn.
The conversation continued until it became extreamly late. It was dark by the time Hermione, Jamie and Harry got back to the castle. After catching the end of dinner, not getting very much to eat, they went to their own common rooms. Once Hermione and Harry were back to their common room, most of the teachers in there own rooms, they sat down on one of the sofas and she took this time to thank him from being there with her when she saw everyone. She would never have done it if he hadn't guided her.
"Thanks Harry. For being there with me." She said, her head down looking at her hands.
"No problem Herm. I would do anything for you." He said, the last part unintentionaly slipping out.
"Really? Do you mean that?" she asked, smiling at him although he was trying to hide a blush.
"Yeah, I do. After all we've been through, I would do anything for you." He said, looking into her eyes.
Thei eyes locked, emerald to hazel. Hermione felt like she could get lost in his eyes, and found that her heart began to beat faster. It was then that Hermione did something that she might regret. Something that she had suddenly felt compeled to do; she kissed him. She kissed him hard on the lips, electricity flying through her. Once she broke it, she felt extreamly stupid and wished that she could re-play that moment over again. She was known for doing stupid, spur of the moment things, but kissing her best friend wasn't.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-" she started until Harry kissed her.
He captured her lips in one swift move and cuped her face in his hands. Hermione's mind was racing, not knowing what to do or wheather or not to brake the kiss, but it seem her heart took over and kissed him back. The kiss was sweet at first, until Harry's tounge brushed up against her lips, begging entrance. She parted her lips a little and the kiss became more passionite. They continued to kiss, their bodies as close as possible, until they broke from lack of air and something pulling on Hermione's heart strings.
"Harry, I have something to tell you." She started, her breathing heavy. "I love you, ever since I read about you in my school books before first year. I will always love you. Forever and ever."
Hermione's heartbeat quickened as she waited for him to say something. She was afraid that he might push her away and never speak to her for another eleven years. That was, until he smiled. "Hermione, I've loved you since the moment I saw you. It broke my heart when you left, and my heart never really mended until I saw you again." He said, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.
A smile broke out on Hermione's face and she kissed him once more. As the kiss became more heated, they moved off the sofa and, still lip locked, moved toward Hermione's room. Harry's lips traveled down her neck and he kissed her ear as he worked his way back to her mouth. They practicly fell into the room once the door opened and she kicked the door closed with her heel, smiling before surrenduring to the kisses of her best friend.
*
It was the night of Harry and Hermione's first date, Harry was taking her to this small restaurant down in Hogsmeade and she had been excited throughout the entire day. All of Hogwarts knew they were together, their moods changing after they had said they loved eachother. Jamie was now perched on her mother's bed, her feet curled beneath her as she watched Hermione do her make-up. Jamie had been the first to find out that her mother and her professor were in love. Even if it was just another strange part of her life, she supported them and wanted to so anything to make her mother happy. Once she was done at the vanity, Hermione stood up, smoothed her dress and fixed her hair. She smiled nervously at her daughter, playing with the hem of the baby blue dress.
"I look ok, right?" she asked, straightening herself up.
"Mom, you look beautiful. You'll have a great time and you'll tell me all about it tomorrow." Said Jamie, smiling at her nervous mother.
"Ok." Said Hermione, taking one last look in the mirror before whirrling around and looking at Jamie sternly. "You're ok with this aren't you? I wouldn't want this to be weird for you."
"I'm fine. Besides, you're already my professor how weird can you get." Said Jamie, lying down on the bed, her hair fanning out.
Hermione walked over to the bed and lyed down next to her daughter. She folded her hands over her stumach and turned her head to face Jamie. "Are you absolutly sure? I want you to be ok with this before I do anything else." She said, looking into Jamie's blue eyes.
"I want you to be happy mom. If Harry makes you happy than I'm happy." Said Jamie, looking up at the ceiling before turning back to her mother. "We're gonna be ok right?" she asked.
"We're gonna be just fine babe. We're gonna be just fine." Said Hermione, smiling happily as she clasped her hand in her daughters.
A/N: Ok, this is the end. I know it's every long, but I've been wanting to do something like this for a while. This is something to tide you over until the next chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Shapesifter' which will come out in a couple days.