Chapter 16: Escaping the Past: A Retreat to Italy
Ragnok brought out a folder and at first glance there were three possibilities, none of them perfect but each had their own positives. Potter Manor in Aberdeenshire looked the best but it was still in Britain and closer to Hogwarts than they would like, the ranch in Kansas was a front-runner but the winner was the Château on the Amalfi Coast in Italy for the simple reason that Harry had never seen the sea.
Dan Granger was left cursing Harry's relatives, how the hell could the boy not have seen the sea; we lived on a bloody island for Christ sake.
Ragnok provided them with portkeys to all three choices, Harry and Hermione got wallets that they could withdraw any currency they needed straight from their vaults with a muggle credit card thrown in.
They agreed that Monday would be D-Day, the day that Dumbledore got some payback. Harry called for Dobby as they were unsure of the state of the building they would be portkeying into while Hermione had arms full of ledgers and scrolls, including the Potter will. Harry then held out the portkey and the six left Gringotts for Italy.
....
They arrived at the Chateau to be greeted by two bowing elves, Brutus and Cindy, who welcomed their Lord and Lady to the cliff top retreat. The building seemed to consist of white walls, marble floors and carved pillars at every turn. The entire party was coming down from an adrenalin-induced high and were feeling the strain, Remus had transformed last night and Harry and Hermione hadn't been exactly idle either. Dan Granger had a sword on one hip and a wife on the other; she still had her arms wrapped round him with her head buried in his chest. Harry asked that they be shown to rooms where they could have a nap and freshen up before meeting for supper to discuss their next moves.
Dan and Emma were shown into a lavish room but both teenagers would have bet they didn't care, they never once took their eyes off each other and Harry wandlessly cast a silencing charm on the room before they moved on to the master suite where Hermione immediately kicked her shoes off and lay on the bed, noticed her new robes had some blood on them so off they came as she asked Harry what the silencing charm was all about.
"Eh, your dad looked as if he was about to get very lucky and I for one don't really need to hear that, Hermione what are you doing?"
"I'm getting comfortable in our room; yes Harry, OUR room. If you think I could sleep somewhere else then you're very much mistaken." Harry could see Hermione was getting herself set for a good old rant so, like men the world over, he settled down to listen intently and hoped to nod his head in all the right places.
"And another thing Potter, I had my diary all marked out for months, fifty five days we had left until your birthday and our trip to Gretna. Our current situation has just added TWO YEARS to that figure, this is unacceptable! Forget Voldemort, forget Dumbledore, your number one priority is sorting this out. I will not lose you again." With this Hermione burst into tears and flew into Harry's arms. They lay on the bed and she was asleep in minutes.
Harry managed to untangle himself from the sleeping girl and headed for a writing desk in the corner of the room and put his thoughts onto parchment, he quietly called for Dobby before sending his little friend off on an important errand. Harry lay beside Hermione and soon found himself losing the battle with sleep.
He awoke with a curse almost fired at the stranger who was in their darkened room before realising who it was. "Not a good idea to shake Hermione or me awake, Mum. I nearly stunned you and you know how crabby Hermione is when just wakened."
A muffled, "I heard that Potter," came from his love.
"Harry," said Emma "that's the second time you've called me mum, not that I mind too much, but would you care to explain what's going on?"
A blushing Harry owned up, "I have all Hermione's memories in my head and she has never called you anything but mum so I really have to concentrate to remember it's Mr. and Mrs. Granger."
Emma doled out her third hug of the day as she grabbed the still blushing Harry and whispered, "Thank you for saving my life in more ways than you know." Harry just smiled and returned the hug, he took that to mean that she and Dan had graduated way past hugging in the last few hours, well that and the fact that he was sleeping on the same bed with her daughter and she hadn't even mentioned it.
They fact that they were still wearing clothes probably headed off the bawling out though Harry knew it was only delayed as Hermione fully intended to stay with him from now on, not a conversation he was looking forward to having with the Grangers, but neither he or Hermione were going to sneak about pretending to sleep elsewhere. Should be an interesting supper.
After a quick wash and finding clothes laid out for them, they headed down to the terrace where a table and candles awaited them. Everyone was blown away with the view as the platform actually extended out over the cliff, providing views of the bay of Naples and the island of Capri.
They sat down to a meal that the elves had prepared and Harry noticed that Dan had a smile on his face that made Ronald McDonald appear glum by comparison. There would never be a good time to bring up the subject of sleeping with his daughter, but it wasn't going to get much better than the present so Harry was about to go full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes when Dobby arrived with a letter.
Hermione actually felt Harry's relief as he read the letter before he confused her by bursting out laughing. The whole table was looking questionably at him so he just decided 'what the hell' and went for it.
"My betrothed and I were all set to get married at Gretna Green on my sixteenth birthday and we both decided to wait until we were married before sleeping together. Due to the fact we travelled back in time our bodies are now two years younger though our minds are still our original age. My betrothed informed me that waiting another two years was not an option she was willing to consider and subtly suggested I get my arse in gear and find a way around this problem; well I think I may have. As the last surviving member of an ancient house, I can legally marry at fourteen, which I will be in fifty four days."
Hermione sat on his lap and gave him a kiss that curled his toes before asking, "Why were you laughing then?"
Harry clearly didn't want to share the information but knew he had no way to hide it from her, "I also have the right to take more than one wife but Ragnok advised against that as I would also have another set of in-laws and he seems to think that you are more than enough for me to handle."
Hermione looked straight into his eyes before kissing him again.
Remus said, "Just goes to show that you don't make it to be leader of the goblin nation by being stupid." Laughter echoed of the cliffs for the first time in many years.
....
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