Harry ran his lips along the outer curve of Hermione's thigh. He looked up at her, scowling at him in all her naked glory.
"You better not use that."
Harry smiled against her skin. In his right hand, he had his camera resting on her hip bone. "I won't. Tempted, but won't." He inched his way up her body, pressing kisses along the tanned flesh.
Hermione continued to scowl at him. He grinned at her from near her belly button and she nearly groaned. That grin - that grin always meant trouble. Harry always managed to get his way when he grinned like that.
He sat up and pulled the bedsheet across her torso, leaving her arms, shoulders, and legs exposed.
"How about now?"
" No ." But she was smiling. Or rather, she was trying not to smile. Harry's grin did not waver. "I don't want anyone to see them."
"They won't," Harry scoffed as he rose up to kiss her lips softly. "They're just for me," he whispered.
She rolled her eyes. "And why do you need them?"
"For those long, lonely days when you're too busy with work to let me shower you in kisses and multiple orgasms." Hermione's smile finally broke through at that.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're too charming for your own good?"
He kissed her. "You. Everyday."
"Good," she managed to say before he was kissing her again. Her fingers threaded through his hair the way she knew he liked and he bit her bottom lip, making her moan.
Harry pulled back once he felt she had been thoroughly snogged. Her hair was a mess and her lips pink and plump. "You look perfect," he whispered.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine." He smiled triumphantly. "One photo!"
"Brilliant, okay, lay back." Hermione rolled her eyes and did as she was told. "Right - okay, move your arm there. Yeah, like that. Okay, and then…" He shifted her legs and fixed the sheet so everything was still covered.
Hermione watched Harry position her like a proper photographer. He'd really gotten into the whole thing since getting his camera. She liked that he had something to do besides school and Jamie, even if the pictures had a bit to do with both.
"Okay, ready?"
A slow smirk stretched Hermione's lips. "Photograph me like one of your french girls."
Harry paused. His eyes met Hermione's and both instantly dissolved into laughter. "Oh, Merlin! I can't believe you just said that!" He fell forward, his head hitting her stomach as they both shook with laughter. He groaned and looked up. "We should watch that again."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You just want to prove that we can do a better sex scene."
"We can!" He leaned close and growled, "We have ." She held his face and brought it closer, pulling him into another long kiss.
They separated a minute later, breathing heavily. "I have a surprise for you," she told him breathlessly. Harry's eyes instantly looked down to where the bed sheet had been pulled away during their make-out session. Hermione shoved his shoulder. "Not that." Harry pouted and fell back against the mattress while she crawled to the foot of the bed to grab something from her trunk. She scooted back up to sit beside him and handed him the massive book.
"A book?"
She shrugged. "Sort of." Hermione flipped it over to the front. It was a deep blue colour, decorated with stars and moons. "It's a scrapbook." She opened the cover and showed him the empty pages with little crafted frames and coloured icons dotted around the pages. "When you develop the film from the camera, you can place them in here. That way they'll all be together." She pointed to the lines beside and under the frames. "And you can write who's in the photo, when or where it was taken. Whatever you like."
Harry let out a shaky breath. "Hermione… Hermione this is brilliant. This is…" He shook his head. "I love it. This is perfect." He pressed a hard kiss to her lips. "Thank you," he whispered.
"I'm glad you like it," she whispered back.
He kissed her again. "Now… about that photograph."
/\
"There you are!"
Harry and Hermione turned at the call of their best friend. Ron looked winded and excited, easily putting Hermione's nerves on edge. "What's up, mate?" Harry asked, voicing her concern.
"You're gonna miss it!" He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him as he rushed them to the entrance. "There's a massive press conference down on the lawn! Umbridge is gonna get it now!"
Harry and Hermione exchanged a quick look before they rushed after him. Jamie was being babysat by a highly vetted sixth-year sitter that they needed to get back to, but they could spare a few extra minutes.
The second the trio exited the castle, they saw the mass of people and flashing cameras down at the Hogwarts Gate. They rushed across the wet grass and made it to the group of students, press, and angry adults just as Umbridge took the podium on the makeshift stage.
" Ahem ," she began, per usual, though it was entirely unnecessary. Everyone's attention was completely riveted on the small, pink-clad woman. "Your attention, please? Yes, thank you. Thank you for attending this extremely last-minute press conference." She smiled and it was incredibly fake.
"Get on with it!" Ron hollered and many in the crowd echoed his statement. Harry and Hermione looked around in confusion.
Umbridge's face grew pinched. "As-" she glared at their noise and waited for it to die down before continuing, "-as most of you are now aware, the Family Planning class has not been entirely honest in its goals. It was decided by the ministry that although the returning students were still very much students, they were adults as well. All adults must aid in the task to replenish the ranks of the magical community."
"You cheated them!" a parent yelled.
"You've destroyed their lives!"
" The class ," Umbridge emphasized over the yells, "was designed so that students were paired depending on magic and personality. The class was constructed for the students to succeed ." She ignored the grumbles that followed. "Therefore, students with higher chances of bonding were given younger children and the ones with a lower chance were given older children. The hope was that the older children would deter from the bond becoming official."
Hermione's brows drew together. She had a very sick feeling in her stomach about where this was obviously leading. "What bond?" she called out in confusion. They'd had a temporary magical bond built between them for the creation of their child, but once Jamie disappeared, so would the bond.
Umbridge's eyes locked on her and Harry and that sick smile came forward again. The same smile she had been using on them since day one. "The temporary marriage bonds placed on the couples were exactly that, temporary. You were not lied to," she stated boldly to the angry audience. Several rather crude shouts followed that pronouncement. Umbridge ignored them all. "However, if the couple were to push the bond further, the marriage would move from temporary into permanent. Thus, the child would remain and the-" she was drowned out by a sea of outrage.
Hermione's heart was racing. She raised a hand to her mouth. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening.
"You didn't ask!"
"We weren't told!"
"This is preposterous!"
"Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Harry touched Hermione's back and she instantly leaned into him. Tears burned her eyes, but she didn't say anything. The ministry had taken nearly their entire lives from them, but this - this was too much.
"- and it did exactly that," Umbridge was saying. "Some couples we were not expecting to have become fully bonded did, but the ministry is obviously only pleased and offers congratulations to all couples." More outrage. Umbridge cleared her throat and raised a parchment. "I will now go through the list of couples that have successfully moved their bond from temporary to permanent."
She continued to talk over the disgruntled comments being sent her way. Whoever had cast the sonorus raised the level above the noise. She slowly began going through the list, starting with the most recently made couples. Numerous seventh years were named and a few eighth years that they had been matched with as well. Parvati and her husband had completed the bond four weeks prior. The young Indian witch could be seen scowling, holding the hands of both her twin boys.
"Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott," Umbridge called next, "at three months after the initial bond." Harry's fingers pressed into Hermione's back. Both were waiting for the inevitable. They both knew it was coming, it was simply a matter of when. Theo Nott and Daphne Greengrass were named next. Then it happened. "And finally, at less than twenty-four hours after the initial bond, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." Her smile was sickening.
Faces turned their way. Hermione's cheeks burned hot. It wasn't fair. None of it was at all fair. Of course, Harry and she bonded, they were best friends. It was a trap. The ministry had known they would make the bond permanent. They were set up - everyone had been.
Hermione turned and stormed away. She didn't want to hear anything else that old cow had to say. How dare she? How dare she? This was their lives. They weren't playthings. The ministry had gone too far.
What the hell was she supposed to do now ? Her parents were already furious about her putting her muggle education on hold to finish up at Hogwarts. She couldn't come home with a bloody baby on her hip. They'd throw her out of the bloody house! How was she supposed to go to school? Get a job? She couldn't just be made to sit around and take care of a baby like some silly house-wife. This was outrageous. She didn't consent to have a child at nineteen!
"Thanks," Harry was saying to the babysitter they'd hired once they reached their room. Hermione stormed past the two of them and to her bookcases. She pulled out as many law books as she had on hand and began to mentally catalogue all the others she would need to work on this problem. She'd need a copy of their marriage contract. She'd also need to see the fine print on that marriage law that had passed. The ministry must have snuck this silly Parenting Class somewhere in there.
"Hermione?"
"In a minute." She dumped her books onto the bed and sat down against the headboard. The first, heavy tome was pulled into her lap as she began her search for a way out of this ridiculous mess. She couldn't go home to her parents with a baby. They'd never forgive her. They'd never believe that she hadn't had it herself out of wedlock. It wouldn't matter that they'd seen her at Christmas and she certainly hadn't been pregnant. They didn't believe anything that came out of her mouth since sending them to Australia.
She flipped through the texts as her mind whirled.
"Hermione!"
Her head shot up. Harry was standing at the end of the bed with a wailing baby in his arms. She hadn't even heard Jamie crying. How long had he been crying? She glanced down at her law books and the notes she'd made. A lot of time had passed.
"Jamie needs you," he snapped.
Hermione blinked widely. Jamie . Her entire world crashed down around her for a second time. Jamie . She held out shaking hands. Harry passed her the baby before heading into the loo. Hermione cradled the baby to her chest. She rocked him in her arms to settle him down.
A baby. It wasn't just a baby. It was their baby. It was Jamie .
She pulled her top up and settled back against the headboard again with her baby at her breast. Oh, their precious little boy. If she got rid of the marriage and the baby - she'd be getting rid Jamie . It hadn't clicked until just then.
She stared down at her baby's beautiful hazel eyes as he suckled. His hand curled into a fist and rested on her breast. Hermione's fingers touched his fine black curls. Oh, Merlin, she thought helplessly.
A sob was torn from her throat before her tears fell down her cheeks. She couldn't get rid of their baby. There weren't any two ways about it, she just couldn't do it. But it was horrible, wasn't it? The ministry had single-handedly taken everything from her. They'd stolen so many moments. Proposals, weddings, an entire pregnancy. All of it was gone like it didn't matter - and Hermione supposed that none of it did matter to the ministry.
They'd wanted babies and they'd wanted them by any means necessary. They'd certainly gotten them. Hermione hated them. She hated the Wizarding World for this. For giving her something so beautiful and precious and taking away all of her choices in the matter. They'd have gotten here, she figured. Her and Harry's connection went beyond some silly magical bond. They'd have gotten married and had children together - she was sure of it. But the journey was gone. Stripped from them by uncaring hands.
Harry exited the loo. He stopped at the edge of the bed. When Hermione looked up at him with her brown eyes wide and tears streaming down her cheeks, he sighed. His shoulders visibly sagged.
"What're we going to do?" she whispered. Her throat hurt from crying. She didn't think she could speak any louder if she were pressed.
Harry crawled across the bed to both of them and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know," she cried softly, tears trickling down her cheeks. "I thought I did, but… I could never purposefully get rid of our baby, Harry. I don't have it in me."
Harry kissed her temple.
"But this isn't fair," she continued. "This isn't… it would have been horrible when this ended and I'm happy we get to keep him, but…"
"You had plans," he finished.
She shook her head. "I mean, I suppose." Merlin, how was she going to take care of school? And her parents. She felt like her mind was running in circles. "We had plans."
He shrugged. "You did, 'Mione. I'm perfectly happy to take care of Jamie."
Hermione blinked. She looked up at him. "Without me?"
"Well… you still want to go to uni, don't you?"
She made a face at that. "I don't know how I'd be able to now." She looked down at Jamie and brushed her fingers through his curls again. "It was going to be heartbreaking when he just disappeared, but I'd have managed eventually, I think. But I don't think I could stomach walking away from him."
"You shouldn't have to sacrifice all your hopes and dreams." He curled his other arm around her own and they held their baby together. "We'll find a way to make it work for both of us - for all three of us. I haven't got any plans after Hogwarts, so that helps."
Harry's calming voice soothed her distress. He was always so calm in the face of terror and chaos. Years of training, she supposed. His calm assurance filled her veins and the tension in her body slowly dissipated.
"We can't live at Grimmauld Place," she told him. It wasn't fit for them, let alone a baby. It was filled with too much darkness and despair.
"I could talk to my account manager at Gringotts. I'm sure I've got some other property we can fix up… or buy something new if all else fails."
She wrinkled her nose. "I suppose. My parents will be livid. They expected me to live with them."
"They're up in Hampstead again, right?" Hermione nodded. "It's not far from downtown. We could renovate Grimmauld and strip it of the dark magic, couldn't we?"
"You'd have to completely gut the place out."
He shrugged. "I haven't got anything else I'd like to do after school. It could be my project. And we can be close to your parents."
Hermione's eyes widened as she released a shuddering breath. "They're going to be so furious," she whispered. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "They won't believe a letter, either. This is going to have to be done in person, isn't it?"
Harry winced. "We can book a hotel near them and they can get to know Jamie. They'll love him, I'm certain."
"I suppose."
"It's not the end of the world," he told her optimistically. "It's just the beginning. We'll sort it out. I'll set up the house and you can go to uni. You'll get a dozen different masteries and become a muggle doctor and a magical healer and I'll teach Jamie how to fly a broom."
Her head whipped around. "He is not flying."
"But he's got to learn quickly if he wants to be quidditch captain one day," he teased her, a charming grin beginning to stretch across his face at her ire. The tension and fear in the room slowly began to release as they bantered like normal.
She pursed her lips. "Absolutely not, Harry."
"Don't deprive him of his legacy."
Hermione scoffed. "He's my baby too! Maybe his legacy will be reading in the library and having incredible NEWTs scores?" She raised her eyebrows in challenge.
Harry smirked. "I bet his legacy will be causing just as much trouble as my dad did."
Hermione laughed. "Poor Professor McGonagall. Should we warn her?"
"Nah, I think she'll enjoy a surprise like that."
They cuddled close together on the bed. Hermione rested her head on Harry's shoulder. It was far from over, she knew. They still had a few more months of school left and then NEWTs. Afterwards would be the ultimate test. Living out in the real world with a baby between them was going to be a disaster, she already knew it. They'd survived so far in a very controlled environment, but the real world was just outside and it was going to be a never-ending challenge for the young couple.
Hermione supposed that it was always going to be like that though. It was always going to feel overwhelmingly difficult no matter the circumstances. But she couldn't help but feel that things were going to work out alright for them so long as they stuck together.
The End