33Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Author's Note: This is it...it is the last chapter and I hopw that everyone that has read it, enjoyed it. I think this is the best way to end the story amd I think I like it this way...so please leave me so reviews and I might just be working on a new fanfic. I planned to do oneshots or stories with less than 10 chapters.
Seven years later
Hermione's POV
"Come on Harry. Sit up here with me. I've been waiting for you." I smiled as I saw him walking towards me. He sat beside me on the sofa and we smiled to the camera. As the camera clicked and the flash of light blinded my eyesight for a while, I took his hand and hold it dearly in mine.
"Happy birthday Harry." I said and kissed him affectionately on his left cheek.
"Thanks mummy, I love my cake." Harry said. The little boy looked at his Golden Snitch shaped cake and dipped his finger in the cream and licked it off.
"Harry you're not supposed to do that."
"Charlie let him be. He doesn't turn four everyday." I said. Charlie walked up to me and gave me a kiss on my forehead. He passed me the picture of Harry and me. It was perfect. We were both smiling to the camera and as I smiled, I took my son's hand and squeezed it lightly.
"Daddy can I follow you to work today?" Harry asked
"I'm sorry Harry. Daddy will be handling some dangerous dragons today and I think it is safer if you don't come with me. You can follow mummy if you want."
Ten minutes later, after we all had a slice of cake, I was helping Harry with his bag. He wanted to pack all his drawings and crayons. Charlie walked into the room to let us know that he had to go. He crouched down beside Harry and gave him a hug and Harry planted a haste kiss on his father's cheek. I stood up with Charlie and walked him to the door.
"I'll see both of you tonight. Don't forget we have that charity event at the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. By the way Fred and George gave their thanks again for helping them with this event. They said this wouldn't happen without your help." Charlie said and gave me a quick kiss on my lips.
"Will you be coming back for dinner though? Your mum wants the three of us back at the Burrow tonight before the event." I asked.
"Of course I am. So I'll see you there?"
I nodded and he kissed me again before he leaved. "I love you." He whispered in my ear. A smile curved on my lips.
"I love you too."
"Please don't work too hard. Take care of our little girl." He said and gave my tummy a kiss.
"I will, don't worry." I said as I patted my stomach.
"Four more months and we will have another bundle of joy in our hands." Charlie said. He squeezed both my hands and turned to leave.
I walked back into Harry's room and he was all set. I helped him into his winter coat and wrapped myself with mine. We put on our gloves and made our way to St Mungo's where I was Head Healer of Spell Damage Department. I stooped down and helped Harry with his shoes before we left and couldn't help noticing that he was a mix of Charlie and me. As he grows, his features were so prominent that there was no denying that he was a Weasley. His hair was red and his eyes were exactly like my brown ones.
We took the underground train to London and hurried down the street to St Mungo's. Once inside, we took a few corners to my office and stopped occasionally to say hi to a few people. At the fourth floor where my office was, we bumped into Bill.
"Uncle Bill!" Harry shouted excitedly and let go of my hand and ran towards Bill. I smiled and shook my head at his antics.
"Hey little tyke. I was hoping to catch you here. Look what I got for your birthday." Bill said and handed Harry a long box, nicely wrapped and tied with a blue ribbon. "Aunt Fleur wrapped this for you."
"Wow! Thank you." He said.
"Why don't you go in Harry? I'll be with you in a minute." I said and opened the door for him. He walked in and started to unwrapped his gift. I closed the door.
"Thanks Bill. I think that made his day. How are Fleur and the baby?"
"They are doing great. Natasha really looks like Fleur! Micah couldn't get enough of her. He is being so protective. One month being a brother and he is already showing that he doesn't mind taking care of Natasha."
We talked for a couple more minutes and Bill left to open his Bistro for the day. I walked into my office and Harry was already playing with his mini Quidditch set that Bill had given him. I sat on my chair and started to work. But that day I was distracted.
Years ago, I woke up on my bed one morning and as soon as I opened my eyes, I started to cry. I did not get up from my bed the whole day. All I thought about was losing Harry all over again. Then I remembered his words.
"Someday Hermione…I promise. I love you."
I got out of bed in the evening when I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see Charlie. He had a bag in his left hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. He was smiling but when he saw the state that I was in, the smile quickly disappeared.
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you sick?" He asked. I re-composed myself and took in a deep breath and let it out.
"Do I look that bad?" I asked. I let him walked in through the door and he placed the bag on the coffee table.
"You didn't think that I forgot…"
"My birthday?" I asked. "Well yeah, I thought you forgot that it was my birthday today, so I had been locking myself in my room."
"Hermione, I will never forget. These are for you." He said and gave me the flowers. I smiled at him and we ate dinner on the couch. I kept looking at him, trying to see if he remembers anything but he was behaving just fine. There was no mention of the 'Mystery Team' and no mention of how he and I had tried to track them down; trying to track Harry down was more like it. He told me that he was pissed that he had to go back to the office that day and he told me about how Fred and George were planning their quarterly sale at the joke shop.
It seemed like he knew nothing; his memory was modified. I struggled everyday, trying to live with the fact that I would never see Harry again…for the second time. But with Charlie around me, the pain was bearable.
We both decided to switch careers. He went back to studying dragons and I enrolled myself in Healing school. I studied hard and earned myself the award for 'Top Student of the Year' for the next two years. Not one day goes by without me thinking of Harry. Every single day I knew Charlie deserves more. I held his hand but my mind would be thinking of Harry. I looked at his face but all I saw was Harry.
I graduated two years later and the Weasleys held a celebration for me at the Burrow. There were balloons and streamers hanging on the ceiling and Fred and George enchanted a banner and it read "Congratulations Hermione!". There were small fireworks emitting from the banner.
At the end of the night, Charlie and I were sitting on the couch. Fred and George were experimenting with their new inventions with the help of Micah. Mr and Mrs Weasley were in the kitchen and I caught him whispering something in her ear and she blushed furiously. I leaned on Charlie's arms and I felt my eyes slowly drooping.
"Hermione."
I opened my eyes and sat upright. "Yeah?"
"I really am proud of you."
"Thanks."
He took my hand and his expression suddenly turned serious. He kneeled on one knee and looked deep into my eyes. "Hermione, you know I love you and I want to tell you that I know that you are the person I want to spend my whole life with…will you marry me?"
I was surprised and my mind went blank for a while. I looked at Charlie and a flash of memories ran through my mind. I knew that I was in love with him and I thought he knew that I would never be able to forget Harry. But he held on and believed that we could be happy together. At that moment I knew what the right thing to do for me was.
"Yes, of course I'll marry you."
He broke into a smile and Fred and George erupted into cheers. Charlie engulfed me in a hug that was so warm and loving. He slipped a beautiful ring on my finger. We kissed and I heard Micah asking Fleur if it was right to look at what he was looking at. Mr and Mrs Weasley came to me and gave me hug and Mrs Weasley had tears in her eyes.
Eighteen months later, I gave birth to our son and I asked Charlie if we could name him Harry.
"There's no better name." He said.
My life with Charlie and Harry was the happiest in my life. The joy that Harry brought us was unimaginable. We showered him with so much love. I looked at him and I could look at him forever. I love his red hair and his brown eyes.
At the end of the day, I was feeling quite tired but I had already promised Fred and George that I will be at their joke shop for the event. They achieved a record profit and had donated half of them to an Orphanage that was set up after the war.
At the event, I had to stop Harry from eating too much candy that I knew my mother-in-law have been sneaking. I grew up with a pair of dentists and I guess their constant nagging of not eating candies had stuck on me.
At midnight, Charlie and I were sitting on our couch with Harry in my arms. Charlie offered to bring him to bed and I let him. Charlie sat down beside me and I leaned on his shoulders. He wrapped my shoulder with his arms and I always felt safe there. He gave a light kiss on my head.
"Thank you." I whispered.
"What for?" Charlie asked and I could see that he was confused.
"For everything. For giving me our son and now a daughter." I said. I straightened my back so that I would be eye to eye with him. "I have not said thank you enough Charlie. I love my life at this moment and I want to cherish it. I love you." I kissed him on his lips and he pulled my face closer to his and kissed me back.
We made love that night and it was beautiful…and kind of bumpy with our daughter kicking my stomach occasionally. I looked into his eyes and I saw…our future together. I saw him playing Quidditch with Harry and our daughter. I saw him holding my hands, making me feel safe and I saw us growing old together.
Charlie's POV
"Hey Charlie!"
I turned around and saw Ben jogging towards me. I waved at him. He had been my colleague for three years and we have grown quite close together.
"That Norwegian Ridgeback is here. We are all waiting for you to arrive so that we can see what's wrong with it. What took you so long? You're usually the first one here." Ben said, panting a little.
"It's my son's birthday today. We had a small celebration before leaving the house. I'll go change into something more comfortable. I'll meet you there." I said.
Ben nodded his head and ran back to the field. I walked briskly to the changing room. I was excited to see the Norwegian Ridgeback. Dragons had always been my thing eversince I left Hogwarts. I could have made it to the England Quidditch team but I chose to study dragons in Romania. My mother of course was worried for me. She pestered me for days after I announced my decision to the family. She said it was too dangerous and that I should be nearer to home. But nothing was going to stop me.
I changed into a more comfortable gear and ran out to the field to meet Ben. For hours, we had a hard time controlling the Norwegian Ridgeback. I got a few burns on my arm but I was not bothered by it. I was having too much fun. After the stint in Gringotts, I finally found and went back to doing what I love. Hermione and I thought that it was time to switch careers and she studied Healing for two years and quickly climbed up the ladder. I was very proud of her. We got married as soon as she graduated from Healing School and she got pregnant with Harry four months later.
At the end of the day, I was quite tired and in three hours, I will be with the two people I loved the most. I thought back about the events that had happened for the past years. I had been keeping a secret from Hermione all those years and she thought she was keeping a secret from me. She thought that I had my memory modified but on that day when she finally met Harry, neither of us had our memory modified.
In the chambers in Consensio Academy, Harry had approached me and told me that he does not want to modify my memory. He said that he needed someone to take good care of Hermione and he trusted that I would do a good job. He needed someone to support Hermione emotionally and he felt that because I was the only other one that had remembered Hermione's trials and tribulations, I was the right person to take care of her.
"Marry her Charlie. Make her happy. I need you to take care of her."
"She loves you Harry."
"She will learn to love you too. I know she does…"
"But her love for you overshadowed mine?" I said completing the sentence.
"Just promise me Charlie."
I reluctantly agreed.
"She is going to pretend that she doesn't know anything and you need to do that too."
I nodded my head.
Here I was seven years later and I hoped that I had made Hermione really happy. I wanted her to be happy and I want to share her happiness and sorrows. I had promised to be there for her through everything and I intended to keep my words.
When Harry was born, he brought Hermione and me closer together. Everyday of our lives was lived because of the love we shared. She asked if we could name the baby Harry and I agreed wholeheartedly. Because of Harry James Potter, I was living this life that was so full of happy moments. I want to remember him and what could be a better way than naming my son after him.
Back when I was a teenager I would never have thought that I would be with a woman that I would love forever. Hermione was extraordinary. She kept my feet on the ground and the moment I laid eyes on her with Harry, our son, in her arms I know that she would be a good mother and she was. She gave all the love a child needs from his mother and never once did it falter. I admired her for that. I knew I could love her forever but everyday, without fail, I wondered what she thinks about me.
"If she doesn't love you then why did she marry you? Bill asked. "I have noticed the way she is around you. She does love you my brother."
Bill told me that on the day we got married. The words from my older brother had made me feel a little better.
A few hours later, the three of us were all at the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and we had a lot of fun. Fred and George had made a record profit that year and they decided to donate half of it to the Hogsmeade Orphanage that was set up after the war. Harry was sitting on his grandmother's lap, licking a huge lollipop. Hermione was talking to a few people from the orphanage.
At the end of the night, Harry was sleeping in Hermione's arms and we were both sitting down on the couch in our living room. I offered to bring him to his room and she let me. After tucking him into bed I made my way to the living room and sat beside her. She immediately leaned on my shoulders. I wrapped my arms around her shoulder. I love having her in my arms that way. It made me feel like I was protecting her.
"Thank you." She whispered.
"What for?" I asked, feeling a little confused.
"For everything. For giving me our son and now a daughter." She said and shifted her position so that she would be eye to eye with me. "I have not said thank you enough Charlie. I love my life at this moment and I want to cherish it." She started to blush a little. "I love you." She leaned on to me and gave me a kiss on my lips and it weakened my knees. I pulled her face closer to mine and kissed her back. I carried her to our room and shut the door behind me. We started making love and occasionally, I had to smile when I felt our daughter's kick.
I love every little bit of Hermione and I finally realized that she was indeed in love with me. As I looked into her eyes that night, there was no denying that we would be together forever.