===June 19 1993===
Inside their cabin on the Express, Harry sits playing chess with Ron. Hermione lays against Harry reading. Neville and Hannah are squished together looking at an Herbology magazine. "Any word on how your sister is doing?" Harry asks.
"She's awake, and she's convinced you saved her cause you're secretly in love with her." Ron answers.
Harry groans. "I was afraid of that." He says. "What should we do, Mione?"
Hermione closes her book. "Maybe we should visit this summer. Maybe I can talk to her woman to woman and explain things."
Harry nods. "That sounds reasonable."
"Actually we're going to Egypt for the summer." Ron says.
"What?" Harry asks.
"My dad won some contest and we're all going to Egypt, they think it'll be good for Ginny." Ron explains.
"Maybe we can do it when you get back?" Hermione suggests.
Ron nods. "I'll send you an owl."
"That works." Harry says before he turns to Neville. "Any luck with summoning your sword yet?"
"Not yet." Neville admits, "but I've just started the meditation exercises."
"You'll get there." Harry says.
"Thanks." Neville says.
They get off the train and find Richard and Helen waiting for them. Helen immediately hugs Hermione. "I was so worried when Harry sent the letter saying you'd been petrified."
"He didn't tell me that he wrote to you." Hermione says.
"I'm sorry." Harry says. "Did you think I was going to leave them out of the loop?"
"Well, of course not." Hermione says.
"Hence why I didn't think it was necessary to explicitly tell you I wrote them." Harry says.
"And look." Richard says. "Looks like she said yes." He points to her engagement ring.
Hermione turns to Harry. "You asked my dad for his blessing didn't you?"
Harry smiles. "Of course I did, I knew how much it would mean to you if I did."
"You're too sweet sometimes." Hermione says as she kisses him lightly. "Now let's go home."
They all head towards the car. "Hey, whatever happened with that teacher you both didn't like?" Richard asks.
"You mean Lockhart?" Harry asks.
"Yeah."
"Turns out attempting to cast a memory charm on the headmaster broke his contract, and is highly illegal." Harry says. "He's locked up and awaiting trial."
Harry is in his room emptying his trunk when Richard knocks on the door as he enters. "Hey, got a minute?" Richard asks.
Harry sits on his bed. "What's on your mind?"
"I was thinking about everything that's happened to both of you over the last two years. Now that you can summon a sword, have you thought about taking lessons in sword fighting?"
"I didn't know anyone still did anything like that." Harry says, and then laughs. "Then again, 2 years ago I didn't even know magic existed so there is that."
"I have a friend who is a blacksmith." Richard says. "I'd like you to meet him, maybe he'll know someone to train you."
Harry nods. "I'll take any advantage I can get. If the past years have taught me anything, Voldemort is going to keep trying to come back until either he succeeds or he's completely destroyed."
Richard nods. "That's what I figured."
===June 21 1993===
Richard pulls the car up to a moderate size house on the outskirts of town. "Here we are."
Harry and Hermione, both dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, get out of the car. "Not where you expect a blacksmith to work."
"I thought it was odd too." Richard admits as he gets out of the car. He leads them to a side door and pounds on the door.
The door opens a crack, not even enough to make out the figure on the other side "Granger, that you?"
"Of course it is, are you going to let us in Meris?"
The door opens and a well built man, with black hair down to his shoulders stands there. "Welcome to Meris Metalworks. I'm the proprietor, Malachi Meris. Who do we have with you Granger?"
"This is my daughter Hermione and her boy… fiancé Harry." Richard answers.
Malachi looks at the three of them curiously. "How old are they?"
"I'll be 13 in July." Harry says.
"And I'll be 14 in September."
"And you two are engaged?"
"There's extenuating circumstances." Hermione says.
"How much do you know about this Granger?"
"I don't understand it all, but they've told me everything."
"So did you two meet at Hogwarts?" Malachi asks.
"Wait, you know about Hogwarts?" Richard asks.
"I went there myself." Malachi answers as he pulls out his wand.
"You're a wizard?" Harry asks, shocked. Malachi nods. "How did you end up here?"
"That's a long story." Malachi says.
Hermione spares a look at Harry to make sure his famous scar is concealed before asking. "How did you know we were magical?"
"I read the Daily Prophet, your pictures were published when you received your awards for service to the school." Malachi answers. "Now what can I do for a young witch and wizard?"
Harry looks at Hermione, she just nods. Harry holds out his hand and summons his sword. "I'd like to learn how to use this."
"You have Gryffindor's blood inside you." Malachi says shocked.
"I'm the heir, and Hermione is the heir of Ravenclaw."
"I read about you two in the paper." Malachi says. "I'd like to train you both."
"Why would you train me?" Hermione asks.
"Are you going to let him go into battle without you?"
"Of course not!" Hermione exclaims. "But I can't summon a blade like he can."
"There are workarounds " Malachi says as he holds out his right hand. "Levinant!" A scimitar with a glowing edge appears in his hand.
"I'll definitely learn then." Hermione says.
Malachi allows the sword to vanish then hands them a business card. "Have your lawyer list this address as where you'll be for the summer. Then pack for the summer, you two can stay in the cabin out back."
Harry takes the card. "See you tomorrow."
===June 22 1993===
Harry and Hermione walk into Malachi's workshop. "We're here sir, where do we put our stuff?" Harry asks.
Malachi leads them to the back of his property where there's a small cabin. "You'll stay here, if you keep your magic to a minimum and in the bedroom the electronics will work." He hands them each a key. "Take your time to unpack, I'll be in the forge." He walks off.
Harry takes the key and opens the door. "Should I carry you over the threshold since this is our first house?"
Hermione blushes slightly. "I think that's only after we're married."
Harry nods. "Figured I'd ask."
"It was very sweet of you." Hermione says, kissing his cheek before entering the cabin. She steps into a cozy kitchen with counter sitting space for two. She walks through the kitchen into a small living space with a love seat facing the TV.
Harry follows her in closing the door behind him. He opens the pantry. "Empty, we'll have to go shopping."
"I think I saw a grocer on our way here."
"We'll ask Mister Meris to take us once we're unpacked."
"Sounds good." Hermione says as she walks through the living space, opening the door and walking into the bedroom. A king size bed takes up most of the room leaving space to walk around the bed and access the door across the room from the door she entered the room from. A massive wardrobe sits on either side of the headboard.
Harry enters the room behind her and looks around. "I'll sleep on the love seat."
"No, you will not." Hermione says. "In just over a year we're going to get married. We might as well get used to sharing a bed."
"It's not the idea of sharing your bed that scares me Mione." Harry says nervously.
'He's worried we can't control ourselves.' Hermione thinks to herself, blushing as she does. "I'm scared too." She admits, "but we've slept in the same bed before."
"One night." Harry says, "under stressful circumstances."
"True," Hermione admits, as she bites her lower lip in thought. "When's the last time either of us lost control?"
"Last summer." Harry answers.
"Then I think we should at least try this." Hermione says. "A test to see how far we've come."
Harry nods, her reasoning was sound. "Are you sure?"
Hermione considers the question for a minute before nodding. "I am, now let's unpack."
The sweltering heat of the forge is the first thing that Harry and Hermione notice when they enter the room. They hear the rhythmic sound of a hammer hitting metal and head towards it. They find Malachi working metal, a large hammer in his right hand. They look at his left hand and instead see a modified pair of blacksmith tongs all the way back to his elbow bound to his upper arm with straps. He places the metal back in the forge then turns to them. "Are the accommodations appropriate?"
Hermione squeaks in surprise. "We'll make them work."
"We do need food though." Harry says.
"There's a grocer about half a mile away." Malachi says. "You'll find some bags enchanted to keep food cold. Do you require money?"
Harry shakes his head. "I've got it covered for now."
"Good, come see me once you two have put up your groceries." Malachi says as he pulls the steel back out of the forge and starts hammering it.
Obviously dismissed, Harry and Hermione leave the forge. "I don't understand when we got here I could have sworn he had both hands." Harry says.
"Me too." Hermione says. "I bet he has a bunch of prosthetics, and he was wearing one that appeared more normal earlier."
"I wonder what happened." Harry says as they go into their cabin and find the bags. "From what I remember reading, magic can regrow limbs."
"Unless they were lost via dark magic." Hermione says.
"How do you know that?" Harry asks.
"I asked Madam Pomphrey a lot of questions while sitting beside your bed first-year, not all of them pertained to the marriage contract." Hermione admits.
Harry smiles thinking how lucky he was to have this smart, beautiful, amazing witch beside him. "I love you."
Hermione's heart skips a beat, like it does every time he says those magic words. "I love you too."
Sometime later Harry and Hermione return to the cabin and put their groceries up. Once that is done they return to the forge. They find Malachi sharpening a sword of some sort.
"Is that the blade you were working on when we left?" Hermione asks.
"Yes, it's a Roman Gladius." Malachi says showing them the double edged weapon. "Try it." He carefully hands her the sword handle first.
Hermione takes the blade and holds it. "Interesting, not sure about it though."
Malachi nods. "Tomorrow we'll start going through weapons until we find what you like."
Hermione nods. "Sounds reasonable."
Malachi looks at Harry and commands "Summon your sword." Harry complies. "May I?" Malachi asks as he holds his hand out.
"Of course." Harry says as he carefully holds his sword out to Malachi.
Malachi takes the sword and steps away from them before taking a few swings. "This is amazing. I've never held a weapon like this. It can't weigh more than a few ounces." He holds the blade up examining it. "Interesting runes."
"Can you tell me what they mean?" Harry asks.
"What I kill makes me stronger." Malachi answers. "So it should gain attributes from anything you kill with it." He says as he hands the blade back.