At the Beginning With You [Harmione]

21. December

Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river

I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

-- 'At the Beginning' by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the movie Anastasia

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December

Harry scowled at the owl that flew through his living room window. The bird itself wasn't offensive; it was the object it carried in its talons. They were flowers. Flowers for Hermione. Flowers from Barrett. Ever since the night they went to the fall ball, about once a week, Barrett would send Hermione some kind of flowers. It was irritatingly sweet. Throughout the semester, Harry hadn't noticed the flowers so much because they'd be delivered to her flat at school, but now that the semester was over and both he, Teddy and Hermione were back at Grimmauld Place, he was seeing the owl with the flowers about once a week. And really getting tired of it.

Barrett and Hermione had gone on a few dates over the past few months, Harry never knew how they went, because not only did he choose not to ask, Hermione never wanted to divulge the information. Barrett was a tense topic between the two of them, Hermione knew Harry didn't want to talk about him, and Hermione didn't feel like starting an argument over him. But whether she knew exactly why Harry didn't want to talk about Hermione's relationship with Barrett, Harry wasn't sure, but he doubted it. He took the white lilies from the owl and it took off. Begrudgingly Harry climbed the stairs to Hermione's room to deliver her weekly bouquet. He knocked on her bedroom door and waited for an answer. After a few seconds, she softly called for him to come in. She was lying on her bed with a book open across her stomach. Her eyes were closed as though she had just woken up from a nap.

"I'm sorry I woke you," Harry said apologetically. "But your weekly delivery just arrived." Hermione opened her eyes and put her bookmark in her book and sat up.

"No, I wasn't napping; I just dozed off for a couple minutes." Harry handed her the lilies and she smiled halfheartedly.

"Thank you." She looked at the flowers expressionlessly, and brought them to her nose to smell. Still looking at the flowers, she asked, "What time is it?"

Harry looked at his watch. "Almost half past noon." Hermione put her flowers down and rubbed her face with her hands to wake herself up and then she slid out of bed.

"I have to get to Diagon Alley, I was going to do my Christmas shopping today and I haven't got to there yet." She took her flowers and added them to the already full vase that sat on her dresser and headed for the door. Harry backed out so she could get past him and the two of them went downstairs. When she'd put her shoes and socks on and was pulling on her winter coat, she said to Harry, "Would you like me to wait till Teddy wakes up and you can go with me so you can get your Christmas shopping done?" Harry shook his head.

"No, I'll go either tomorrow or the next day. I'll go when you can watch Teddy so he's not along. That way he can't see what he's getting for Christmas," Harry said with a grin. Hermione smiled as well.

"Yes, because I'm sure he would understand it. Do you know what you're going to get him?"

"Not a clue. I'm hoping something will pop out when I go. Do you know what you're getting him?"

"Sure do."

"It's not a book, is it?"

"Why do you naturally assume that?" Hermione asked with a laugh.