Disclaimer all characters, settings, etc, are the copyright of JK Rowling and Bloomsbury Publishing

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The future lies in the past

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Chapter 37

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A Wedding and a home.

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Harry walked with his best man Ron, through the yard of the church in Godrics Hollow, and memories of standing by his parents grave with Hermione holding him, consoling him, her arms tenderly wrapped around him as he had wept for parents he had never known, came into his mind, and in his mind he watched as the two of them turned from the grave and with their arms still around each other they left the grave side and walked slowly away. He knew then that she had been showing him that day just how much she loved him, but he had been to blind to see it, as he and Ron reached the church doors Harry thanked who ever it had been that had helped him to make the right choices this time.

Just ten minutes later Harry turned to look behind him when the music started and Ron nudged him in his ribs, at the far end of the small church, Hermione on her fathers arm was walking slowly toward him, behind her holding up a small train, Ginny and Luna walked, they both wore dresses that were a very pale peach colour with gold trim.

Hermione looked radiant as she looked him in the eye, a smile instantly lighting her face, he looked at her in her beautiful full legnth white Muggle wedding dress, he had never seen her look more feminine or desirable, the dress in pure white, fitted her perfectly showing off her figure, the top half he noticed was covered in a sheer jacket embroidered all over it were small white and gold flowers, the bottom half flared out from the waist having several under skirts, her hair hung in lovely brown waves, his mind seemed to have frozen and all he could do was watch in wonder as she got closer, the tiara she wore, looked to him like the crown of a princess, his princess.

Harry watched, his heart full of love and pride as Hermione lifted the many skirts of the white dress from around her feet and she stepped up the three steps onto the red carpet of the platform of the alter where he and Ron waited, Harry with his breath held at the very sight of his amazing woman. When she reached him Harry was shaking, whether from nerves or just sheer happiness he did not know, he held out his hand as Mr Granger took her hand from his arm and placed it into his own waiting slightly shaky hand, looking deep into each others eyes they both smiled, a tear of happiness trickled down Hermione's cheek, before turning to face the priest.

'This' Harry thought 'is the reason I lived through two lives and two wars'.

Leaving the small church arm in arm Mr and Mrs Harry James Potter happily faced the flashes of several cameras, none of which belonged to the press; standing in the church yard getting their wedding photo's taken by Remus Harry felt it had all been worth the troubles and pain he had suffered.

The small reception in Godrics Inn went well; Harry and Hermione opened their wedding gifts and joined in with their guests on the small dance floor, by four that afternoon the party had moved into the Inn's beer garden, Sirius was displaying his dancing ability with Minerva McGonagall while Remus was dancing with Tonks. Mr and Mrs Weasley were quite happily swaying to the music over on their left. Harry and Hermione watched as Ron tried his hand at dancing with Luna, and it seemed Luna was almost singing along to Ron's odd interpretation of the music, or at least that was what Lily said as they listened to all the Oh's hisses and ouches Luna kept giving out as the red head stepped on her toes.

At eight that evening Harry knew from her expression that Hermione was beginning to wonder why they had not been given a gift by James and Lily, and he decided it was time to leave before she got the idea into her head that they did not want her as a daughter in law.

Gently pulling his new wife along with him Harry went around their guests saying their goodbyes, then leading his new wife Hermione out to a waiting limousine they took a short ride to the far side of Godrics Hollow, Harry insisted that Hermione kept her eyes closed as they turned the last bend of the lane that led out of the village, when the car stopped Harry helped her out of the car, still telling Hermione to keep her eyes closed Harry led her forward for a few yards before he stopped and told her to open her eyes.

Hermione Jane Potter opened her eyes to see she was standing in front of one of the last cottages in the village, it was the one Harry remembered that in his other life she had said she would love to live in, stretched across the front door was a huge red ribbon with a large bow and a card that said in large gold letters, To Harry and Hermione, love mum and dad, pinned to it.

"Mum and dad," Harry said when Hermione her hand held to her mouth turned to look at him her eyes wide.

"Oh Harry it's amazing, it's wonderful, when, why didn't you tell me?" she asked as she inspected the ribbon.

Harry grinned "Where's the fun in that?" he said chuckling.

Hermione looked at the cottage with it's white painted walls and its thatched roof, she gazed at the black painted widow frames and the abundant roses growing in amongst the ivy that covered half the front wall, and she felt at home, this was the place she would bring up her family she thought as she instantly fell in love with the home in front of her.

Pulling out her wand Hermione carefully cut the large ribbon, and opened the front door, before she could take a step inside Harry swept her up into his arms and gently pushing the door wide with his foot he carried her into the cottage, as they entered the doorway Hermione read the name of the house engraved on a small brass plaque just to the right of the door frame, 'Lane end cottage, 1879.'

Harry carefully lowered Hermione to her feet and watched as she stared around open mouthed, "Well, time to look around your new home Mrs Potter," he said a huge smile lighting his eyes. He wished for a moment his mother could see Hermione and the look on her face.

Hermione could not decide where to look first so Harry led the way into the rather large square kitchen, the room design was split in two, in one half there were all the modern Muggle appliances while the other half of the room contained a large wooden table with eight chairs around it, on the far wall stood a huge old open fire place still with the old black ovens built into the wall, an iron spit along with several pots and pans hung from brass hooks fitted into the large timber cross beam.

"I'll put the kettle on and make us a nice pot of tea," Harry said as he watched Hermione rushing around the kitchen, her hand almost caressing the counters and the brand new cooker and washing machine, she opened the fridge and found it fully stocked and gave him a smile.

"Ok Mr Potter my love, I am off to survey my domain," Hermione laughed as she left the kitchen almost skipping.

Upstairs Hermione found they had four bedrooms three of them were fairly large while the last one was rather small, only one of the bed rooms contained a bed and some furnishings, the bathroom next door to the main bedroom was large and bright, with a tub that was big enough for two people to share, there was a shower cubicle over in the corner and a huge mirror over the sink.

Having finished looking upstairs Hermione walked into the living room, it was a fairly large yet homely room, a leather suite similar to the furniture in the Gryffindor common room was set out facing a large open fireplace, an oak coffee table sat on the large deep piled rug in front of the fire.

Behind the four seater sofa sat an oak writing desk along with two chairs, on the wall furthest from the fire a huge bookcase that took up the entire wall was filled with a good selection of books some were Muggle but most were her favourite magical works. On the left wall there was a door way which when she walked through it led Hermione into a nice comfortable study, all the furniture was again leather, a small couch sat in front of the fireplace, Hermione spun around her arms held out and she began to sing an old song she knew, she began singing the words "I'm so Happy, I'm so Happy, and she was happy, she had everything she ever wanted except Harry's children, and that they could take care of in time.

Back in the kitchen Harry sipped at his tea, listening to Hermione sing and wondering why he was learning so many things about her he had never known, Hermione had a beautiful singing voice, he grinned widely as he remembered his mum talking to his dad just over a week earlier.

"I'm telling you James, who ever built 'Lane end' was thinking of Hermione when he built it," she had been saying when Harry had entered the kitchen.

"Lily sweet, that cottage was built well over a hundred years ago, how on earth could they have been thinking of Hermione," James said rolling his eyes toward the ceiling.

"Now James don't go getting all technical, I'm telling you we should buy it for them as a wedding present, Harry what do you think?" Lily said as Harry poured a cup of drinking chocolate for himself.

"I can't say I ever noticed what did you call it? 'Lane end'," Harry answered sitting down with his dad.

"Well don't just sit there come on both of you, I'm telling you the cottage has Hermione written all over it, so lets just go take a look," Lily said taking down their cloaks.

"Well I never wrote it, honest Mum," Harry chuckled, getting a good laugh from his dad.

Lily gave Harry a look of disbelief before she spoke again "Well it's up for sale so come on you two laughing twits before some one else buys it."

Harry had recognised the cottage instantly and after telling his parents what Hermione had said about it in his other life, James had decided to buy it for them. He and James had worked late into the night every night since, as soon as Harry had returned from taking Hermione home the two of them apparated to the cottage and started the work of getting the house ready to move into.

Harry was still deep in thought when Hermione walked back into the kitchen, "Oh Harry I absolutely love it, it just has to be the best wedding gift ever," she said as she settled into his lap.

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The future lies in the past.

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Chapter 38 The future lies in the past.

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Harry sat on the chair in the living room that Hermione had pointed at "Now you stay there while I get on with the cooking," she had told him after he offered to help out, and got shooed from the kitchen for his trouble. Harry had absolutely no idea if Hermione could cook, it was just something he had never thought to ask her, 'with all that we have been through I should know if she can cook', he told him self as he watched the birds outside flit into and out of the ivy.

They had been married for just a week and Harry had still not sampled Hermione's cooking, somehow they had been far to busy to have more than a few sandwiches on the few occasions that they had left the bed room. Harry had been amazed at how passionate Hermione had become after the initial nerves of making love for the first time had been over come, he had tried to be as gentle as he could with her the first time, both he and Hermione being a virgin he did not want to rush and cause her too much pain and maybe spoil the whole night, so he had been slow careful and caring, or at least as slow careful and caring as he could be when all he wanted to do was to make mad passionate love to her from the moment they had entered the house.

Taking a quick look into the kitchen he saw the look of concentration that he loved to see on her face, it gave her just two small crease marks across her forehead but it also put a sort of fire in her eyes and he loved to see fire in Hermione's eyes. Harry watched as she prepared the food almost as meticulously as she had prepared her potions. Later that day the amazing aroma's drifting around the cottage made his stomach rumble as he waited to try out his wife's cooking for the very first time, Hermione looked up at him and chuckled before cutting a slice from the fresh baked bread she had just pulled from the oven, she covered it with fresh butter and passed it to him "This should keep you alive for a while," she said chuckling again.

At six thirty Hermione and Harry went upstairs to get ready for their first visitors, once showered and dressed Hermione asked Harry to lay the table while she sat down and took a little rest in the living room before anyone arrived. Harry could not deny she deserved a rest she had been working in the kitchen since they got out of bed just before lunch time.

Hermione walked from the kitchen into the living room, taking her time to admire her new home, it was the sort of home she had dreamt about since she had been a little girl, the ceiling was all oak timbered, the beams running the full length of the house, she sat down in 'Harry's' chair beside the huge fire place and with a flick of her wand she lit a small fire and piled some small logs onto it.

Picking a book she levitated it from the large book case into her lap and opened it up, for the next forty minutes Hermione sat comfortable in the armchair, absently staring at the first page of the book, as she had daydreams about the past week since she had finally become Mrs Potter, the daydreams of the time they had spent in the bedroom and the bathroom brought a rather warm glow to her and she realized she was blushing, something had happened she didn't quite understand, she didn't know if she ever would, after the first time Harry had entered her she found her self wanting more of him, it seemed she just could not show him enough love, after making love to him he had awakened something in her that she had never known she had so much of, he had awakened a passion for him she had never felt before.

A knock on the door brought her out of her day dreams and she rushed into the kitchen and asked Harry to open the door, just five minutes later her first guests, her mum and dad were sitting down at the table, and Harry was answering the door to his parents.

Hermione was nervous as she served up the dinner, she had never tried out her cooking skills on so many people before, and she had never had the chance to cook a dinner for six. Harry had told her not to worry that he would still love her even if the food was awful which didn't help with her nerves in the least.

Harry's eye lit up as he tucked into the meal, they had a simple meat and potato pie made with large potato cubes, par boiled and then marinated in single cream and brandy sauce, with beef and lamb chunks and a thick pastry crust, slowly baked in the oven, it was served from a huge stoneware baking dish, along with mushrooms, vegetables, and a thick rich beef gravy, as he sampled the pastry Harry closed his eyes and gave a contented sigh, the pastry was absolutely heavenly and the rest deliciously tasty, the thought that he had found and married a better cook than Mrs Weasley entered his mind and a huge smile spread across his face.

James looked across the table at Helen with a dreamy look in his eye "I have no idea what we Potter men ever did to deserve this, it seems we all marry a beautiful extremely intelligent woman, who could cook for a king, I must offer you my congratulations on having such a talented daughter, never again will I have to worry about starving, if Lily ever throws me out I can come here and feast on food fit for the gods," he said grinning.

Hermione blushed a deep red when her dad offered a toast to his angel, Harry and James eagerly joined in, Lily told them all to behave because they were making the poor girl blush, which in turn brought out even more compliments just so they could see Hermione's cheeks glowing red.

Harry stared at his wife in deep admiration as she served up a marvellous strawberry Pavlova with a rich blackcurrant sauce and chopped hazel nuts, creamy flakes of caramel mixed in the fresh whipped cream made it mouth watering, along with a choice of Cornish Ice cream covered in thick chocolate and brandy sauce as an alternative.

Harry was feeling so proud he wondered if his chest would burst, he had had no idea that the dinner, the first they ever hosted, was going to be such a success, his wife was a wonderful cook and his mum and dad as well as Hermione's mum and dad had spent several minutes complimenting her, Lily had asked for the recipe for the pie pastry and his dad had asked if he could just try another (his third) helping of the Pavlova, Harry himself was thanking the stars that he had married her and he suddenly thought that if Ron Weasley knew what a wonderful cook Hermione was, maybe he would have tried hard to take her from me.

While the men sat in the living room having a glass of wine Hermione took her mother on a tour of the house, Lily accompanied them and from the way Hermione seemed to adore the house she knew for certain that she had been right about it having been built with Hermione in mind.

That night when they went to bed Hermione was really pleased at how well everything had gone, her mother loved the house almost as much as she did, and her dad had actually offered to help Harry at least once a month with the garden, so she knew that he liked the house too.

Harry sat on the bed looking thoughtful when Hermione came into the bedroom from the bathroom, after noticing his slight frown she asked if everything was ok.

Harry looked up at her and smiled "I just can't seem to make my mind up what colour I want the sign," he answered.

"What sign would that be?" she asked already expecting something silly from him, she knew him far to well.

"Well the sign telling everyone that the greatest wife in the whole bloomin world lives here of course," he replied with a huge grin.

"Harry, come keep me warm," Hermione said as she snuggled down in the bed under the single sheet they were using.

Harry climbed into bed next to his wife and gave her a smile and a wink, "Hermione love it's August, it's roasting hot, we have all the windows open, so surely you must be warm enough without me to snuggle up to."

Hermione pulled him over "Do as you're told Potter," she laughed as she kissed him.

An hour later as they snuggled down to sleep, Harry thought about all that he had been through in both this life and his other life, and he was so happy to have found so much happiness in his love for Hermione, he knew that they had both found all they wanted and maybe in the not to distant future maybe they could add one or two children to the Potter family. Yes Harry Potter was really happy, the last thought he had as he drifted off to sleep with Hermione in his arms, was though he would never go back in time again, just how odd it had been to find the future isn't always in front of us, sometimes the answer to the future lies in the past.

The End.

A/Note well that was the last chapter in this story folks, hope you all enjoyed it, I am now off to work on my next story.