Redemption

School

Pansy was the first to notice the engagement ring, once she joined Harry and Hermione in the train compartment, a day later. "You're engaged! Congratulations!"

She took Hermione's hand in hers and looked at the ring. It looked quite simple – just a plain metal band and a single rosy diamond, yet the metal was Platinum and the stone was about four times as large as the one on Pansy's ring. She didn't feel envious, though. She only felt glad for her friends.

"Tell me how it was, and don't spare the details," she asked.

Hermione smiled brightly. "After that day at the restaurant, Harry escorted me home. He looked quite nervous, but I thought it was due to the meeting with his family. He stayed for a cup of tea, as always. My parents like to talk with him, and he also seems to like their company. Yet this time he looked so nervous, that even my father noticed and asked, 'What's on your mind, Harry?' He was surprised that Harry didn't speak immediately. Harry squirmed a bit on his seat and then said in a very formal tone, 'Mr. Granger, you know I've been a close friend of your daughter since we started school. We have recently become even closer, and I think we need your approval for what I have in mind.'

"My dad looked a bit amused, but Harry didn't notice. 'I need your approval to ask your daughter to marry me,' he said. My dad didn't let him continue. 'Harry, you don't need our approval. Hermione has already given her heart to you several years ago. She was only unsure about your feelings. There is no uncertainty now, as I can see. You both have our blessing. Marry her, and you shall both be happy.'

"You should have seen Harry at that moment. He looked as if he couldn't believe his ears, for a moment, and then said, still very formally, 'Thank you, Dad.' He then turned to me and took this ring out of his pocket. 'Will you...' he started asking. I answered before he even asked. 'Yes, Harry, I want to marry you and be your wife.' He still managed to put the ring on my finger before I hugged and kissed him, and then there was a bright flash and the ring seemed to emit a circle of light that scanned us both from head to toe, flashing some colors along the way. It was really fantastic."

Pansy gasped. The ring was magical, and quite powerful at that, she was sure, yet the initial flash... "Didn't you get a letter from the Ministry some time later?"

Hermione's smile turned even wider. "My parents invited Harry to stay for the night, knowing perfectly well that we would spend it together. We found two owls on our window sill in the morning, bearing letters from the Ministry and from Gringotts, congratulating us for our magical wedding. We didn't tell my parents, though. They still want a normal wedding, where they could show us both proudly to all our relatives, and we don't want them to change their plans."

"Besides, my wife deserves a proper wedding, doesn't she?" Harry intervened, his eyes shining with love for Hermione.

Pansy laughed. "You two are really something else. I couldn't expect you two to get married the normal way, could I?"

"Nope! No way," Harry said his eyes shining with merriment.

"So, you were already married when you came to the Durley Manor, weren't you?"

"We were, but it was too early to mention it, especially under the circumstances..."

"Won't you request a separate apartment now?" Pansy asked.

"We already have a separate apartment each, so we don't need another. We can actually spare them one now." Hermione was referring to the "Heroes' Lodging", where some more of those who fought bravely were given lodging for their last year at school.

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna didn't like it too much, feeling they were getting an honor they didn't deserve. Ron and Ginny enjoyed it, though. Pansy had been surprised to find Daphne among the Heroes. "What did you do to deserve this?" she had asked her friend.

"I helped at the infirmary. You know I've learned quite a lot of healing magic from my mother, and this was the time to put it to good use. They didn't trust me at first, but seeing that I could really help, after treating some difficult cases, they let me do whatever was needed. I didn't get the worst cases, yet all my patients survived." Daphne's family had become an accepted member of the "light" circles since, no longer claiming neutrality.

Pansy smiled at Hermione now. "You don't have a double bed, though," she noted. After visiting a few times, she already knew.

"True, but that can be solved with a simple spell, you know." Hermione was too happy to let minor details spoil it.

"Don't tell others about our marriage," Harry asked. "We shall still act like we're only dating. You know we're allowed visitors of both genders, being already adults."

"I'll keep your secret for as long as you need," Pansy promised.

It was just on time, as they were soon joined by Neville and then by Ron and Ginny. Daphne also joined them some time later, but didn't stay for the whole ride. They were all happy to be with friends, feeling like almost a large family

Hermione was proud to show her engagement ring. Ron looked pensively at it. He then shook his head and congratulated, "There were times that I thought you'd wear my ring, yet even when we were dating, I felt like you didn't really belong with me. It's now very clear that you two belong together. Congratulations, and don't forget to invite me to your wedding." The last few words were also directed at Harry, who nodded and smiled.

Ginny seemed to be of a similar opinion. "I expect to be there when you become Lady Potter, and this ring is really magnificent. I wish you two all the best."

They were nearing the end of the ride, when Pansy asked, "Can you make my phone work at Hogwarts?"

"Sure," Hermione said. She took Pansy's phone and cast a permanent shield charm on it. Making sure it covered the instrument from all directions. "You'll also need a charger, though," she told Pansy.

"Where can I find one that works on magic?" Pansy knew the regular charger had no chance of working without electricity.

"George made magical chargers for Harry and for me. I took a few more, just in case."

"How much does it cost?" Pansy wasn't going to assume anything.

"It's free. He only wants some feedback about how efficient and easy to use these are, so he can improve them if needed. I don't think there's anything that needs improvement, though, but he is targeting a large market, so he wants to be sure."

The rest of the school year seemed to pass quickly. They soon had their finals and their graduations – delayed a year by the war.

Hermione finished at the top of her class, with grades surpassing even those Lily Evans got more than twenty years earlier, and Harry was a close second. None of their parents could attend the graduation ceremony, but the headmistress had tears in her eyes when she congratulated her favorite students for their achievements.

Pansy also did well, having grades well above the average.

Dudley finished high school two days later. He got excellent grades, showing that he really could improve if he put his mind to it. His parents were very proud at the graduation ceremony, as was Pansy, who came along. Harry was also present with Hermione, sitting farther back, though.

"What are your plans now?"

Everybody was asking them the same question.

Harry had his reply ready. "I plan to marry Hermione, and then join her at a muggle college, assuming she agrees." Nobody thought she wouldn't. Pansy already knew.

Dudley and Pansy had their answer ready as well. "We plan to marry at the end of the summer and then go to college together."

"Are you sure you can attend a muggle college? You have to catch up on a lot of subjects, I believe," Petunia asked Pansy.

"I intend to study for most of the summer along with Harry and Hermione. She believes we can do it." After making her mobile phone work flawlessly at Hogwarts, Pansy seemed to accept almost everything Hermione told her.

"Won't it interfere with preparations for the wedding?"

"Not much. It took some persuasion, but my parents agreed to make it a modest wedding, although not as modest as I initially wanted. We'll have less than fifty guests at the ceremony in the church, and probably fewer for the reception in the adjacent hall. I only need to get a proper dress for the wedding, and that won't take too much time out of our studies."

Petunia nodded. She had only met Hermione twice since that family reunion, but she couldn't fail to notice how smart she was, painfully reminding her of Lily.

The two young couples still made some time for the restoration of the Durley Manor. As Harry had found out after the war, his Potter estate included a few tens of house-elves, and they were just too eager to help, once he tried to consult with them. Two accompanied the young couples as they went to the location of the destroyed manor house. Hermione repeated her revealing charm and showed the blueprints of the house to the house elves. They didn't need much more to start working.

Within an hour they had the walls and ceiling of the room above the trap door standing. It was only a small part of the building, but Dudley appreciated it very much. "It's fascinating to see how the rubble is turned back into solid walls." He turned to the house elves. "Can all house elves do this?"

The elder of the two answered. "No, sir. We specialized in building magic, but it would have been of no use had our master not been powerful enough. Building takes a lot of power, and we shall have to do it slowly, or we may exhaust our master, and that we mustn't do."

"How long will it take then?"

The elf thought for a moment. "It may take up to four weeks to restore the building and another week or two to restore all the decorations. We can't restore the furniture, though. You'll have to get new furniture if you want to live here."

It was still a great achievement. The Durley Manor stood anew within a month. Another team of house-elves restored the gardens around it and Pansy had some furniture brought in, furnishing the master apartment and the kitchen. As advised by Hermione, the restored house had electrical lighting and was fully wired for electricity and for communication, making it usable for muggles as well. Vernon wouldn't come near it, though. Marge was not even informed.

As it eventually turned out, the two couples married only a week apart. Harry was honored to be Dudley's best man while Hermione was Pansy's maid of honor. A week later, they exchanged roles at Harry's and Hermione's wedding, which was just as modest. A few weeks after that wedding, both couples started college.