QUICK FIC: Everyone Wants Harry Part 27: Tomes, Scrolls and Friends

Summary: Harry and Susan meet up with Hannah and Hermione in Tomes and Scrolls, leading to a conversation about life after Hogwarts.

“We could meet up with Hannah and Hermione in Tomes and Scrolls,” Susan suggested.

“Sure,” Harry agreed. Their mutual friends had let them both know that they were going to head into the village together, starting at Tomes and Scrolls, and Harry and Susan were welcome to join them if they liked. It was obviously an invitation for Harry and Susan to start off the day in a group setting with their friends, thus taking off the pressure of spending the whole day one-on-one. If Susan wanted to take them up on that and spend some time with their close friends there as a buffer to help prevent any awkward moments, Harry had no problem with that. “Let’s go.”

Susan making the suggestion that they meet up with their friends could have been taken as a bad sign, but when he offered her his arm, she was happy to take it. It was not a loose hold, either. She was comfortable holding his arm and walking close to him. Rather than standing at a distance and gripping his forearm like they were at some formal function, she held onto his arm with both hands and partially leaned against him. It slowed down their walk through the village some, but Harry didn’t mind. He enjoyed walking with Susan, chatting pleasantly about nothing in particular, and not even the stares and whispers could ruin his good mood. Like she’d said, at least people were staring and pointing at him for something he was enjoying.

Hannah was already inside Tomes and Scrolls, looking through a selection of books on healing, and she was in position to see Harry and Susan out of the corner of her eye as they entered the bookstore. She stuck her hand up in a wave while turning her head to the left and saying something that Harry was not yet close enough to hear, though Hermione poking her head out from between two large shelves in the same direction made it clear. Harry waved at his friend with his free hand, and she smiled and nodded at him.

“Hi, Susan,” Hannah said, smiling warmly at her best friend as she and Harry approached her. Then she looked at Harry, and her smile remained polite, albeit lacking the familiarity with which she’d smiled at Susan. “Hello, Harry.”

“Hello, Hannah," Harry said simply. He watched as Susan let go of his arm to give her friend a hug, then stuck out his hand toward Hannah when the hug ended. “Good to see you.” His previous conversation with Susan, where she’d recalled the biggest argument she’d ever had with her best friend, reminded him about Hannah wearing one of the Potter Stinks badges during the Triwizard Tournament. But Hannah wasn’t the teenager with pigtails anymore, angry with Harry for allegedly stealing the attention from Cedric. She’d been a member of the D.A. in 5th year and came to Harry's aid when Malfoy and his goons tried to attack him. Hannah had also come back to Hogwarts for her 7th year and fought the Death Eaters during the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry wasn’t nearly petty enough to hold onto any resentment owing to that stupid badge, even if he was grateful to Susan for not wearing the badge and standing up for him, even back then and even when it put her at odds with her best friend.

“Good to see you, too, Harry,” Hannah said, shaking his hand. “We haven’t really talked this year, but I just want to say thank you for what you did for all of us last year.”

“You’re welcome.” At first, Harry tried to brush comments like this off, but Hermione had helped him realize that trying to act like what he’d done was no big deal and not worthy of gratitude could be as insulting as it was ridiculous. “Thank you, too. I couldn’t have done any of it alone. I remember you and Susan helping guard the secret passages into Hogwarts and keep the Death Eaters out.”

“We just did what we could to help,” Hannah said, smiling bashfully. “You were a much bigger hero.”

“Neville, too, right?” Susan said playfully. Hannah’s cheeks instantly went pink, reminding Harry of how she’d looked during their first couple of years at Hogwarts. He hid a smile, thinking to himself that he’d likely found at least one witch in his year who didn’t have any interest in flirting with him.

“Yes, Neville is quite heroic,” Hermione agreed, emerging from between the two shelves with a stack of thick books in her arms. That explained why she hadn’t waved at Harry when he arrived. “Should we try to find him and ask him to join us? Dogweed and Deathcap would be a good place to start. He’s bound to stop there at some point during his visit.”

“I’m not finished looking through these,” Hannah said, returning her attention to the healing books she’d been looking at when Harry and Susan arrived.

“Then I guess we’ll just see if we run into him later,” Susan said, clearly enjoying teasing her friend. Hannah said nothing, squinting and focusing very hard on a book that she’d picked up off of the shelf.

“So, you’re interested in healing, Hannah?” Harry asked, deciding to spare the blonde. She nodded and turned her head toward him, relaxing as the subject changed from the boy she obviously had a crush on.

“Yes,” she said. “I’ve always admired Madam Pomfrey. Maybe I’ll train to be a healer.” She shrugged. “Or maybe I’ll focus on having a family. Either way, knowing as much as I can about healing can’t hurt.”

“Definitely not,” Harry agreed, glancing at the titles and covers of some of the tomes. When Susan walked by her friend and approached a different shelf, Harry followed her. “What about you, Susan? Do you know what you want to do after Hogwarts yet?”

“Yes,” Susan said, not hesitating in her answer. “I want to join the DMLE.”

“Carrying on your aunt’s legacy?” Harry asked gently, standing next to her and looking at the row of tomes she was browsing through. He’d just heard Susan describe her Aunt Amelia as her hero, so it stood to reason that she was inspired to follow in her footsteps.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be as amazing as her.” Susan’s voice was soft, delicate. “But I want to do my best to fight for what she stood for, yes. She worked for years to keep our world safe, and protect the rights of the innocent. I want to do the same.”

“If that's what you decide to do, I'm sure you'll be great," Harry said honestly. Maybe he didn't know Susan all that well yet, but he'd seen her conviction and her willingness to do what she felt was right, even if it upset people she cared about.

“Thanks, Harry,” she said, giving him a grateful smile and then kissing him on the cheek. She blushed as she did it, but her shyness only made the kiss feel more meaningful to Harry.

“If you do join the DMLE, you and Harry might see a lot of each other from day to day even after Hogwarts,” Hermione commented while sitting down at one of the reading tables and setting down her pile of books. “Assuming Harry still wants to be an auror, that is.”

Harry honestly hadn’t given much thought to his desired career path lately. There hadn’t been time to think about his future during the horcrux hunt, and he’d spent the summer celebrating his survival and enjoying his stolen moment with Ginny. This term, he’d decided to relax and enjoy his final year at Hogwarts, and figuring out which two women he was going to propose to by the end of the year so he could hold onto the Potter and Black Wizengamot seats.

“Yeah," Harry said, looking at the pretty redheaded witch standing next to him. She was now using one hand to hold up a scroll she was looking at and holding Harry's arm with the other. "Maybe so."

His career hadn’t been on his mind much at all, but with an assist from Hermione, he glimpsed a potential future where he and Susan both worked in the Ministry of Magic, doing their part to reshape the country and leave it in a better state for future generations—including, perhaps, a little girl cursed with Harry’s messy black hair and knack for getting into trouble, or a young boy with red hair and Susan’s shy, sweet demeanor. The image compelled him to put his arm around Susan's shoulder and pull her against his side. She let out a little squeak but moved her free arm around his waist and let him hold her against him.

Harry had never thought of a bookstore as a likely place for romance, but he enjoyed visiting Tomes and Scrolls with Susan infinitely more than he’d enjoyed his disastrous trip to Madam Pudifoot’s Tea Shop on his first Hogsmeade ‘date.’