A week had passed since Ginny's Will had been read.
The girls had been happy enough in the days, but at night they would cry and if Harry tried to go to bed in a different room they would end up in his bed before the night was through. They were over the 'why' part, they were now onto the realization that they would not see their mother again. They had become quite sad when it would hit them again and again, so they would have to go to their father. They wanted to know he wasn't going anywhere; he was the only thing they had left.
And Harry was trying as best he could not to be angry. He knew she wasn't coming back and in every way it wasn't fair. She should be alive and she wasn't. He was mad at the universe, mad at himself, and even mad at Ginny. She had just gone and left him all alone, for no good reason. It felt almost as if she cheated on him with another man. It had been so quick... There was no time. No time to say all that was needed to, no time to even say goodbye. And what he was angry at her most for is that she wasn't at all to blame. He couldn't blame her for her death, he couldn't blame anything. He wanted a reason, some sort of cause to get angry with, but there wasn't and it all felt just useless to feel anger and have nowhere to put it.
Harry walked down the stairs to see his daughters talking with Hermione. He walked back up and listened in on their conversation.
"What was Mummy like when she was in school?" Eve asked.
"She was... Smart. And she wouldn't let you get away with anything. All the boys in the school were mad for her. And she was so brave. I wish I was as brave as she was." Hermione's eyes sparkled with un-fallen tears.
"Did she like Dad?"
Hermione laughed, "Did she ever! Her first year with us she sent him a valentine... Harry blushed for months after that."
"What was Daddy like?" Lilly asked.
"He was brave too. And strong willed... and kind-" Hermione looked as if she were to say something but stopped herself.
"What?"
"I don't think I should say." Hermione smiled sadly.
"Tell us, dad always tries to tell us the entire truth..." Eve said.
"He was... tortured. He just had bad thing after bad thing happen to him, then the people he had to live with... he had a rather hard life in that school. But you know what? He never let the bad turn him into a sour person, he was always good. The best friend anyone could ever ask for."
Before his daughters could bombard her with more questions Harry went down the stairs and joined them at the table.
"You didn't have to feed them, I was just coming down." He said to Hermione.
She shook her head and smiled, "no trouble."
"Dad, what made you fall in love with mum?" Eve asked.
"Why do you want to talk about your mum all of a sudden?"
"Because... I don't want to forget anything about her... I want to know as much as I can about her. So?"
Lilly nodded in agreement.
"So, I dunno. She was... She always had this spirit about her; no one could ever taint it. Like the world would crumble and there would still be this spark, and it would be her. She had a spark... I think that's why I loved her... because of that spark."
Harry turned to look to Hermione who was just watching the tabletop with what seemed like extreme interest.
"What made mum love you?"
Harry looked at his daughter a long while, but decided instead of giving her the fairy tale answer, he would tell her the truth. He didn't know if he could live with himself if he tainted the memory of their mother with lies.
"I... I don't know. I never thought I deserved your mother. I... I never thought I deserved anyone."
At that Hermione got up and faced away from them, breathing deeply. His daughters looked at her for a moment then looked back to their father.
"For the past ten years I just tried to make her life the best it could be, sort of like a... payment... for having to spend it with me."
They were silent for a moment, trying to think, then Eve spoke out.
"You're not a bad person, why is it such a bad thing to be with you?"
"I was never-"
"Harry James Potter you shut your mouth right now," Hermione's voices cracked a little, "don't tell them that. If you're going to tell them the truth tell them the whole truth."
She sat back down and only looked at the girls, as if she were avoiding Harry altogether.
"Your father was brought up by these people.. I use that term lightly, these people... they kept him under a cupboard for the first eleven years of his life. Punishing him when he showed magical ability, humiliating him, and generally being the meanest sort of people. Harry's not thought much about himself because of them... because that's what they told him. You're mother loved him for the same reason we all do, because he's Harry... I don't think there's any other way to describe it."
Harry didn't know how to feel. Hermione was saying things he had never told his children, he had avoided it because he didn't know how to tell them, what were the right words, or if they would even care how he was brought up.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever said those things aloud to anyone."
"I've never heard them." Harry said.
"I think I should go..."
"No, stay." Harry said, "I've got to do some business. You should stay and talk with them. Apparently you're better than I am at it."
Harry went to both his girls and kissed them both, then stood in the middle of the floor and Apparated out.
He stood right outside of the Leaky Cauldron; he looked down at his watch, and went inside. He sat in a corner of the room, and trying with his best effort not to be seen. After five minutes went by someone set two butterbeers down and sat across from him.
Harry tapped the glass and did a spell to make sure there were no poisons or spells in it. He took a sip then spoke.
"Hello Malfoy."
"Potter." Draco Malfoy spat back.
"Are we going to talk, or did you buy me a drink to try to get in bed with me?"
"Speaking of getting in bed... Your dearly departed was rotten in the sack."
Harry's nostrils flared, and he clenched his jaw while gripping the table so hard he scratched the old wood.
"Talk about what we came here for or I curse you into oblivion."
"Right, now I've had a change of heart since I was seventeen. Once Ginny died and I saw my little girl; I want to get to know her better. I think I want full custody. After all, she should know her real daddy. That is... unless you're willing to pay."
"Pay?" Harry was fuming, but he tried with all that was in him not to show it.
"Everything you've got. Everything Mummy and Daddy gave you, all of the Black family estate, your muggle house, and all of that muggle money you and your wife have ever made. All of it."
Harry's heart sank. The money his parents had given him, he didn't want to part with that. Not because of how much it was, but rather, that it was one of the few things he still had of his parents. And his house. It was where they had raised Eve and Lilly, all of what he and his wife had shared in that house would be gone because of this... person.
"Why?"
"Because I can't kill you, and it's the one thing I can do to ruin you. And my Father will be so happy to hear that you have nothing left, all because of me. What do you say Potter?"
"Can you give me a day to think about it?"
Malfoy smiled, "I'll give you two."
Malfoy left and Harry sat there for a few moments, feeling rather numb.
* * *
When Harry finally made it back to the Burrow he went up the stairs to Ron's old room and watched as his daughters slept. He watched Eve, and how her small breaths were making the sheet move up and down.
He thought back to the time when she came home from the hospital. Ginny had gone to sleep, she was quite tired, and he sat in the rocking chair next to Eve's crib and watched as she slept. He was sitting there for many reasons. One, SIDS, and if she woke up in the middle of the night he would be right there to take care of her. He heard the soft noises she made when she breathed, and watched her tiny chest move up and down with every breath.
And that night in the Burrow it was the same as it had been then. She was so small, so vulnerable. He had to be there in case she needed anything, and he needed to be there in case she was hurt.
And he needed to be there to be her father.
Memories of his wife would be nothing if he didn't have his daughters.
* * *
Draco Malfoy set two butterbeers down and sat across from him. Harry shoved the butterbeer back to Malfoy.
He set two Gringotts keys in front of Malfoy and shoved two papers over as well.
"Every cent Ginny and I have ever made is in my parents vault."
"Thanks ever so much Potter. Glad to do business with you." Draco was smiling from ear to ear. The satisfaction in his accomplishment seemed to ooze from every pore.
Harry did not wait a second longer. He apperated out of there and back to the Burrow.
As luck would have it, he apperated right next to Molly Weasley.
"We may have to stay a while, I'm a little strapped for cash."
A look of confusion went across her face, "that's all right dear. Stay as long as you like. I've missed cleaning up after children."
Harry nodded and went upstairs to Percy's room. Somewhere he was sure no one would look for him.