Anything for Love

Chapter 13

I’m going to be a dad! I stare at the beautiful
witch in my arms. I can’t believe she oingoing to have my baby. I’m going to be
a dad, a father, a papa, a daddy! Oh my god, I don’t know how to be a dad. Will
I be any good at it? It’s not like playing Quidditch. Will it just come
naturally? I never knew my dad. I never learned how to be a dad. I’m thirty
years old and I’m going to be a dad. I’m rambling, I know. I am just in such
shock right now. I know I look calm on the outside, but I sure as hell am not
calm on the inside.

I look again at Hermione who is still crying. Why is
she crying? Is the prospect of having my baby that bad? It’s not like its
Snape’s or anything like that. I kiss her softly on the top of her head and
pull her deeper into my embrace. My heart is overflowing with love for her. I
am overwhelmed. I just want to lay here all day with her, make love to her, but
I guess holding her will have to suffice.

“ ‘Mione, what’s wrong, love?” The tears are still
flowing down her cheeks. I hate seeing her like this. I want to take away all
her pain, all her doubt.

“Are we ready for this, Harry?” Hell no, I’m not
ready for it, but it’s not like we have a choice. OK, that sounded bad. I’m
glad that was only in my head. I nuzzle her neck with butterfly kisses.

“We’ll make it. I promise.”

“I can’t help but be scared, Harry. I mean, We have
only been together a total of almost 4 weeks and now we’re going to have a
baby. Ron and I were married at least a few months before we were faced with
this. I’m just scared.” I pull her closer and she buries her face in my chest.
I know she’s scared. I know that she is afraid that we will bring a child or
even children in the world and later rip their world apart by separating.

“It’s different this time, ‘Mione. I swear. I’m not
like Ron. I will never leave you.” I seal my statement with a kiss to her
forehead. I can feel her shaking in my arms, and the front of my shirt is
rapidly becoming damp with her tears.

“That’s what Ron said, too.” Oh gods. How am I
supposed to fix this? What can I do to prove to her that I will not leave her,
that I want her for the rest of my life? I want to marry her, but is it too
soon? The kids don’t even know about us yet. But I don’t wanr thr think that
she has to do this all on her own. Would she say yes if I asked her to marry
me? I don’t want her to think tat its just for the baby, either. God, I’m
screwed.

“Let’s just take this one day at a time, love. Today
is today, not yesterday or tomorrow… today. And right now, today, I love you
more than anything in this world. I want to shout it off the rooftops. What can
I do to prove to you that I will never leave you?”

She turns her body so that she is straddling my lap
as she looks into my eyes. Her tears have started to subside. I wipe them away
with my thumbs and kiss each of her eyelids, trying to stop more tears from
forming. I look intently at her. “Hermione, what can I do?”

“Make love to me.”

Her answer is so simple. It’s true. If I pour all my
love into making love with her, then maybe she will see how much she means to
me. How much I love her. I don’t hesitate for long before I kiss her gently.
She tastes like mint, probably from the toothpaste earlier, but I’m not
complaining. I personally like mint.

In a few short minutes we have rid ourselves of our
clothing and I am raining kisdowndown her chest and stomach. I stop just at the
little pooch of a belly she has from her two other children. I kiss her
abdomen, pouring my love through my lips and into her skin. My baby is in there.
My baby. Our baby. I whisper an “I love you,” to my unborn child.now now it
can’t hear me right now, but I can’t help it. My baby is in there, growing.

I wrap my arms around her waist and lay my head over
her womb. Tears are prickling my eyes. Her fingers are running through my hair.
This seems so domestic, but immensely intimate at the same time. I could stay
like this all day, holding my love and my baby.

After a few moments I look up to see her beautiful
face, brown eyes gazing deeply into mine. I crawl up and find her mouth with
mine. “I love you so much, Hermione,” I whisper against her lips. She repeats
my words. There is so much emotion behind her eyes and suddenly she pulls me to
her, almosto hto her. My manhood istlestled in her curls, lying like a good boy
in the warm folds of her core.

Without words, we urge each other on. After 3 weeks,
4 days, and almost 17 hours, you would think that we would be desperate,
ravaging each other. But, no, we are taking our time, savoring each kiss, each
caress. I slowly slide into her heat and almost collapse from the sensation.
She feels so good around me. I have missed her so.

Hermione is the most beautiful woman in the world,
but even more so when she is lying wantonly underneath me, moaning and arching
against me. I know that I will not last long. My heart is so full that it wants
to explode, and after a few more deep strokes, that is just what I do. I
explode into her as she writhes beneath me riding her own waves of passion.

After what seems like an eternity, our bodies come
down from that blissful euphoria and I pull her to lie beside me. We are still
connected. I like falling asleep like this, with myself still buried in her. It
is strangely soothing and comfortable.

“Harry, are you sure about this?” Her eyes are so
uncertain, scared.

“Hermione, I have never been more sure of anything
in my life. I love you.” I place my hand protectively over her belly. “I want
this. I have dreamed of this. I know it’s not the most opportune of
circumstances, but we will make it.”

She looks deeply into my eyes again and I can see
the worry in her eyes. “What about Arthur and Candace?”

I stare at her dumbly. What is she thinking? That I
would turn my back on her other two children for my own? No. I love her
children as my own and they will have a little baby brother or sister around
the beginning of May. My baby…

“How are we going to tell them?”

The only thing that comes to mind is Molly. Molly
had to tell all her redheaded monsters that she was pregnant. Hell, Bill had to
hear it 5 times. “Maybe we can talk to Molly. She’ll know what to do.”

She looks at me like I have grown three heads.
“Molly? As in my ex-mother-in-law, Molly?”

I nod. “Yes, Molly. Who else?”

She sighs indignantly. “Of course, Molly. You’re
right Harry. But how is she going to take it? It’s not Ron’s.”

My index finger curls under her chin and brings her
eyes to look at me. “Hermione, Molly is just like our own mother. She would be
happy for us. If anyone can help us, it’s her.”

Her eyes pull away from mine and she agrees that
Molly might be our only hope in this. After a few cleaning spells and finding
each other’s clothes, we are dressed and heading to the Burrow.

We apparate into the kitchen, that smells
wonderfully of apple pie and sugar cookies. Grandmum is loading the kiddies up,
isn’t she? I can hear laughter coming from the back garden. I pull Hermione
toward the door, grabbing a warm cookie off of a plate on the way. What can I
say? I’m a kid at heart, I can’t resist sugar cookies, especially, Hermione’s and
Molly’s. Those two woman will have my fat by the time I turn thirty-one.

“Mummy!” Candi comes running up to us and wraps her
arms around Hermione’s legs.

“Hi, baby. Can you go play in the garden, so that I
can talk to Grandmum?” The little girls nods and runs off toward a few baby
garden gnomes. They might even be small enough for her to fling over the fence.
Molly is walking toward us, worrying her apron in her hands.

The three of us sit at the picnic table and the
older woman waits patiently for one of us to start. Before I start to talk,
Hermione raises her hand to quiet me. I look at her confusedly when she stands
up and pulls my wand out of my back pocket. She looks at me and places the wand
in my hand. I know what she wants me to do. It’s the easiest way for us ay
ay
it, isn’t it?

I point the wand at Hermione and softly say the
incantation, “Expertus gravida.” And once again the pale purple light
from my wand surrounds her womb, turns yellow and then turns pink before
dissipating. Hermione and I are looking at our surrogate mother, who is smiling
through her tears. Without a word, she reaches across the table and wraps us
both in her a tight hug. After a while she releases us and we sit back down, in
a slightly uncomfortable silence.

I chance to speak first. “Molly, how do you feel
about this?” I ask tentatively.

Her eyes are still shiny with tears as she tries to
compose herself. “I am so happy for the two of you,” she smiles. It seemed to
be a true smile. I smiled back. Hermione on the other hand is still beating
herself up.

“Molly, I’m sorry. I know it seems fast and…”Molly
stops her mid-sentence with a hand placed over Hermione’s.

“Hermione, I have told you to call me Mum, haven’t
I? Yoe jue just as much my daughter as Ginny is. And Harry you are my seventh
son. Never doubt that I love you both. I am truly happy that you have finally
let fate and destiny take over in your lives. This baby is a product of that. I
am not upset or disappointed in either one of you. You love each other more
than most other couples and I know that you will make excellent parents
together.”

I can’t help but smile. A weight has been lifted off
of my shoulders and I can feel Hermione relax significantly next to me. OK,
we’ve told someone, but how do we tell the most important ones? “Molly, how do
we tell the kids? They don’t even know about us.” I whisper softly, so that
Candi can’t overhear.

“Just be honest with them. They love you, Harry. I
think they will understand. They want their mum to be happy. You make her that
way. I think they will be fine with it.”

“What about Ron?” Hermione asks and my heart breaks
slightly. I don’t want to hurt my best friend. E will probably never forgive
me. I didn’t even let her get cold and I made love to her like a rabid animal.

“What about Ron? He is the one who cheated. He has
no right to get upset about anything. Just tell him the truth,” Molly says
before she turns around to watch Candi start to stumble over her own feet. “The
poor dear is ready for a nap. Why don’t you take her home and wait for Arthur
to get home. Tell them together. I think it would be best.”

I nodded and went to pick up my half-asleep
goddaughter. I carefully hold the child as we apparate back to 12 Grimmauld
Place. I take Candace upstairs to her room and tuck her into bed.

When I return downstairs, I find Hermione in the
kitchen, making a pot of tea. I could use some, definitely. I wrap my arms
around her and run my fingers lightly over where my baby is. She smiles softly
as I nuzzle her neck. What starts out as nuzzling, turns into full blown
snogging. The next thing I know, I have Hermione sitting on the counter with
her knees on either side of my hips, our mouths fighting for possession in a
fiery kiss.

“WHAT THE…??!!”

We pull apart suddenly at the intrusion and look to
see an irate Arthur standing in the doorway. Hermione jumps down from the
counter and busies herself with the neglected tea. “Hi, sweetheart, how was
your day?”

Arthur stood there, silent, glaring daggers at me.
“Why? WHY? Why did you do this? Why did you tear my family apart?” I step
toward the boy, defeated. I knew he would be upset, I just hoped I wouldn’t be
here for the blowup.

“Arthur, I love your mum,” I say sheepishly. Even to
me it sounds pathetic.

“I HATE YOU!” he yells before stomping up the stairs.

I look at Hermione and she rushes to follow her son.
Before she leaves the kitchen she sends me a sympathetic look and mouths the words, “I’m sorry.”

Here I am sitting on a chair in my kitchen… alone.
Why do I always end up alone? All I want is to make Hermione, Arthur and
Candace happy. I love them all, but I think I just lost Arthur. I will wait
until Hermione straightens everything out. Hopefully, she can. Until then, I
will sit here with my head in my hands and wait.