Chapter One: A Father's Suspicion
The morning fog lay thick on the forest floors of Hufflepuff. The air was cool, clean and crisp. The ground had the faintest trace of frost that fought its losing battle to the upcoming spring. The fog's lazy swirling was disrupted by the pounding of hooves that rode on a beaten path to the town of Hogsmeade. Bells tolled in the air, ripping the silence and the gates parted inviting the horses in.
They were a group of riders that filed in, all under the red and gold banner of Gryffindor. At the head of the line was a young man with raven hair, a shadow on his face from not shaving in a few days and emerald green eyes. The townspeople bowed respectively as he rode in followed by his men. As the man dismounted and strolled to the Great Hall, two others fell just behind him. Both were young men of equal age, one with red hair and brown eyes, the other with brown hair and blue eyes.
"I wonder what all this is about?" Ron asked referring to the bells clanging.
As if in answer to his question, Luna Lovegood and Ginevra Weasley ran out to meet the young men. Months ago, Harry and his riders headed toward Ravenclaw just before the orders for the Knights of Ravenclaw to be executed were carried out. They fled in the middle of the night. Ron, feeling his family was in danger, fled with his sister, mother, father and brothers to Hufflepuff where they were now under the protection of the Gryffindor King.
"Oh Harry, Ron! Have you heard?" Ginny said excitedly. "Dumbledore's just received word from Slytherin. Hermione's had her baby! It's a boy! A baby boy!"
"Huzzah!" shouted the riders who were formerly soldiers of Slytherin. Ron let out a shout of joy and picked up his sister swinging her around. He put her down and picked up his intended, Luna, and did the same.
"What's his name?" Ron asked.
"I don't know," Luna said breathlessly. "Dumbledore didn't say. He had just received word this morning. The child was born a fortnight ago."
Harry felt Jason's eyes on him, gauging his reaction. "A boy," he said, his voice in the neutral tone he had perfected where it concerned his Hermione. "Malfoy and the Queen will be very pleased." There was no way in heaven or hell that he was going to acknowledge Draco Malfoy as her husband. He walked ahead to the Great Hall, feeling the others watching him as he left.
Entering the chamber, Sirius and Remus approached him, smiles on their faces as well but Harry held up a hand, indicating that he did not wish to be spoken to at this moment. He walked into a small room off the side of the Hall and closed the door.
He stuffed a fist into his mouth to suppress the yell that wanted to escape his lips from the moment he had learned that she was with child. That Malfoy had tainted his Hermione with his seed and got her with child. The bastard didn't wait long.
That was Harry's first flag of suspicion. His second came with Jason.
Jason was formerly a Knight of Slytherin charged with the protection of the Slytherin King's bride, Harry's love, the Queen Hermione of Ravenclaw. Jason had fled Slytherin and helped Harry escape the clutches of Lord Voldemort, rescuing him from Bellatrix LeStrange. Although, he had pledged fealty to him, Jason's true loyalties lay with Hermione. It was enough to trust him but it was a bitter acceptance. How close Hermione and Jason truly were was a mystery to Harry that troubled him deep down. Their relationship was enough that Harry and his riders had soon found out that the Slytherin King had put a substantial reward for the person who would bring forth Jason's head, attached or not attached to his body.
And Jason held many of Hermione's secrets. Secrets that Harry didn't know and it took a lot of self control not to be jealous of the man. He knew for sure he was holding back a big one, one concerning him. One Hermione must have told him not to tell anyone except one person. Bellatrix LeStrange.
Before she was beheaded, Jason bent down and whispered a message Hermione had given to him to give her. Harry remembered the look of shock on Bellatrix's face and the way her eyes fell on him. The secret concerned him. And Harry had a suspicion of what that secret might be.
Over the past several months, snippets of news from Slytherin would filter in. Some of it concerning the Queen and her child. Harry noticed that whenever Hermione's pregnancy was mentioned, Jason's eyes would briefly flicker over to him. So quick that no one else would notice, except for Harry, who was beginning to expect it.
The third flag was a real mind turner. And it had come from the most unexpected source. Ginevra and Luna had been talking about Hermione's pregnancy and lamenting on how they couldn't be there by her side. It was far too dangerous for them to think of crossing into the southern and northern parts of Ravenclaw. Harry had heard their complaining before and he told them again that it was too dangerous to go, that Ron would have his head if he let them, etcetera.
"I can't believe it," Ginny said angrily as they stomped away from the King. "We're supposed to sit here and wait for nine months!"
Nine months. Harry filed that bit of information away in his mind. The child, her child, would be born in the spring. She would be happy about that. A strange thought suddenly came to him, coming into his mind like a beam of sunlight into a darkened room.
What if the child was mine?
Harry laughed off the absurdity of the thought. He had no right to question the paternity of the child.
Or did he?
Yes, he did have a good reason. He had lain with Hermione the night she bound herself to him. He had taken her maidenhood, marked her as his before anyone else could. But Hermione would've told him. He was taken prisoner inside Slytherin, she visited him that night and gave him a plan of escape. She knew he was the True King, knew that he was being taken to the False King. She had sent Jason to free him because Voldemort would've killed him on the spot, just as he killed all his fathers before him…
Just as he would kill any offspring.
It all fell into place, her hasty marriage to the foul creature, Jason, Bellatrix, it was all a cover up. Anger at Hermione had blossomed within him. How dare she keep the child a secret if it was his! It was his right to claim the child as his own and…and then what? The thought of his beloved Hermione, possibly pregnant with his child all alone in that hateful castle, filled him with horror. He thought to go to Dumbledore and send him to the castle to oversee Hermione and the child. But it would be too obvious, it would be like pointing the False King directly at them. He could now appreciate what Hermione was doing by not telling him.
Hermione loved him, Harry never wavered in her love for him. And he loved her enough to appreciate the secret she was keeping. And if it was his child, it was his responsibility to keep them both safe. Instead, he had asked Dumbledore to send a trusted witch to be by her side. If Dumbledore thought the request odd, he didn't show it and he didn't question him. Being King, after all, did have some perks.
Now, all Harry had to do was wait.
And today, the news had come. The child was born a fortnight ago. A little over a month earlier than expected. The child was his. The yell Harry was suppressing was not one of rage but of triumph. He silently put a triumphant fist in the air.
A boy! A son!
Hermione had birthed him a son. He took a deep breath and composed himself before walking out of the door. His next plan of action was tricky and needed to be well thought out. He had to find some way of getting Hermione and his son out of Slytherin without Hermione knowing what he was doing. It was dangerous. Hermione had her own ideas about protecting the child obviously. And it was very dangerous to cross a lioness when it came to protecting her cub. And there was Jason. If Jason somehow got wind of his plans, he wouldn't hesitate in alerting Hermione.
But he had to do it. The safety of his child and the woman he loved was at stake.
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