The knocking that echoed through the home was quickly interrupted by the sound of a young girl running, followed by her mother calling after her to slow down. Seconds later the front door was pulled open, "HERMIONE!" Amaryllis cheered in joy, pulling the bushy-haired witch in for a quick hug before dragging her back into the house.
Lily just managed to step out of the way, slightly fearful her daughter would knock her over in the excitement. "Slow down sweetheart, you don't need to pull her around." But the command fell on deaf ears and the two vanished a second later as they went back towards the room that had been setup for them.
Turning back towards the front door, the redhead shook her head before smiling warmly at the two adults still standing there. "Mrs. and Mr. Granger, how are you? Would you like to come inside for some tea?" Smiling, Hermione's mom nodded and the two entered, eying the handful of Magical objects scattered around the house with wonder even as they were led into the kitchen for seating. "I'm sorry about my daughter, she can get a bit excited at times. Luckily, Harriet is upstairs as well and serves as a nice buffer."
The other woman merely shook her head, "Don't be, I'm so thankful for your daughters. When Hermione was young, she didn't fit in very well. There aren't any children her age in our neighborhood and her closest relative is almost a decade older than her. When we found out about Hogwarts, we were hoping this would be a chance, a chance for her to find those she could connect with, make friends with, but we were still scared. When we visited the school though, when we heard about how she was friends with not one but two girls we were just so relieved."
Mrs. Granger pulled out a tissue and dabbed the tears forming in her eyes away, allowing time for her husband to chime in. "We were even more surprised when we heard about your son."
James interrupted as he walked into the room having been setting up the room for the girls' moments prior. "What about Harry?"
The other man quickly amended his statement, "Nothing bad I promise, but Hermione has always been shy around boys, especially those her own age. When she mentioned she was friends with Harry we were just a bit shocked is all."
Nodding, James Potter took a seat in one of the empty chairs, taking a cup of tea that his wife offered without thought. "Yeah, Harry has a habit of shocking people, that's for sure."
"Is he in the other room with them?"
James, however, shook his head at the other woman's question, "No, he's upstairs doing some studying. He wanted the girls to have some time to themselves."
There was more than a little confusion, and a bit of suspicion in the Grangers' eyes, leading to the redheaded woman continuing the explanation. "Harry is in strange situation. He didn't… grow up with us, in fact we only met him last summer."
"Met him? Like through adoption?"
"No, no he's our son but… well it's very complicated. I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'there are two sides to every story'? Well in this case they are the one we told the public, and the real one that we kept private for their safety and privacy."
Looking at each other for a split second, Mrs. Granger cleared her throat before leaning forward for added privacy, "Is he… okay?"
It was a loaded question, and it took all of Lily's willpower not to shake her head. Instead, her husband answered for her. "Some days we aren't sure."
****
The original plan, at least for a certain boy-who-lived, was to give his sisters and Hermione the afternoon to themselves, then after dinner spend some time with them. The bookworm, he knew, needed friends, needed those who wanted to spend time with her and shared her interests.
It lasted for less than an hour before someone knocked on his bedroom door. Answering, he found all three girls waiting on the other side and before he could even ask what was wrong the redhead had grabbed his arm and practically dragged him to the back yard. All the while the other two had continued their conversation while asking for his input as well.
Thus, the four sat on a small picnic table, enjoying the sunshine and warm weather while drinking lemonade. "So, Hermione, how has your summer reading been?"
Said girl immediately perked up and began to explain the books she had already read, and those she had set aside for reading each month. Harriet, naturally, followed on attentively, even making comments and suggestions.
Amaryllis, Harry noted, began to doze off a bit, earning a snort from the boy. During a lull in the conversation, he turned to the redhead and pulled her into the conversation just as she had dragged him in prior. "What about you Amy, what books are you planning to read this summer?"
He had tried to force a serious face, to look completely innocent, but she glared at him in response regardless. "Quidditch Throughout the Ages."
The other two girls frowned, pushing Harry's control over his laughter to the maximum. "Oh? What about the lengthy text on Potion ingredients and their uses that Snape had suggested? That doesn't catch your interest?"
Amy responded as any well-mannered and proper eleven-year-old would, by sticking her tongue out at the boy.
Harriet looked ready to reply, but whether it was to chastise her sister or not she was interrupted by the two adults stepping outside. "There you four are. We spoke to your parents Hermione, and they were fine with you spending the night if you still want to. If not, we can always take you home later."
"Thank you, Mrs. and Mr. Potter, I would love to stay over if that is okay." The adults nodded, Amaryllis cheered, and the two remaining Potters smiled.
The conversations continued, with the two parents sitting outside and enjoying the weather at a comfortable distance from the four, until Hermione asked a question that had been bothering her for some time.
"Harry, you said that we were friends before. How did we meet?"
He blinked, before smiling warmly at the memories. "Well, technically we met on the train our first year, but we were also sorted into Gryffindor together."
"Is that normal? For boys and girls to spend time with each other in your world? It seems sort of rare in ours." Harriet inquired, earning a shrug from the boy.
"It's more normal, I guess. We had about the same number of both in our school. There was also an… incident and we sort of bonded over that."
Before anyone could inquire further, a certain over-excitable redhead made her own guess. "Did the troll show up early for you?"
There was no missing the startled gasps from the adults nearby, nor the shaking of her sister's head along with a muttered, "Seriously Amy?"
"What. Troll."
And even if Harry's mind could race as quickly as Hermione's he very much doubted an idea would come to him fast enough to change the topic.
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