A/N: Please forgive me for any and all mistakes in this chapter, I have a test this afternoon and frankly, I think I've gotten to the point where I'm tired of looking over the same words. Bad, I know, but again, please forgive me… there shouldn't be that much though.
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Never was and never will be. *cries*
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The Trio Reunited… To Some Extent
Hermione would awaken to the sound of her children's voices in the hall, and frankly, it was the most precious sound in the world. So long had it just been the sound of one, so long had it been so sad and lonely sometimes.
She just had to lie there for a moment and listen.
Someone ran and squealed, from what she could hear they were playing a noisy little game, and probably had been before. Another bossily demanded they behave, normally something she would agree to, though now she relished the activity. She could listen to them all day, for the rest of the day, if she had to.
But just as they came to her door they hushed abruptly, apparently not wanting to wake her. Their footsteps were muffled on the carpet, their loud whispers floated in under her door a somewhat incomprehensible murmur and she could almost sense mischief. Strangely though, she could not bring herself to find out what.
That could be done later.
Just as she settled herself back into her bed though, not at all concerned for their scheming, she heard something that brought her out of her maternal haze and furrowed her brow. Was she hearing things or did one of three just say, "Papa"?
She sat up quickly, and immediately regretted it as the much cooler surrounding air rushed against her bare skin. Goose pimples arose at once, and with them the memories of earlier activities. She blushed, but redirected her attention as she distinctly heard another child say, "Are you only here today… Harry?"
It was Caspar, and her breath caught. Harry was here, and he was talking to Caspar, awake and playing Caspar. She had forgotten all about her son before… what kind of mother was she? What had she been thinking?
"I think so… I upset you the last time I was here, she told me… I was actually planning to sneak out when you all caught me…" Harry replied.
Hermione wrapped the sheets tighter round her and rose off the bed heading for the door. She stopped at Caspar's next question.
"You didn't upset me, but you made Mama cry… after you left, she cried," Caspar replied.
Harry paused for a painful silence before telling him, "I'm sorry about that, that's the last thing I wanted to do. I've made a lot of mistakes that hurt her, and the biggest one of all… I am truly sorry Caspar. You're a good, brave boy, just like your father, a much better man than I'll probably ever be."
Then he seemed to turn to his daughters, and said, "And you two, I'm sorry too. For not being there, for not allowing you to know personally the love she has for Caspar-you know she loves you right?"
"We know that Papa, Tantie Marie told us all the time, and in your letters-" replied one.
"Letters…? You shouldn't have had to depend on letters, after what I… my children deserved better, and instead, I let someone else make my decisions for me, take you away from me. But it was so easy, too many people I loved had died because of knowing me, the two of you… my children, they would have… I never wanted you to know that life, but instead you had worse," he told her.
"Believe it or not, but not every child resents their parents for not being around. We know why you couldn't," said another twin.
"You shouldn't have had to, if I hadn't left you we would have been a family like we were supposed to be," Harry insisted. A moment later he added, "I'm sorry Caspar, I… I'm just very sorry Caspar, for what this must be doing to you. I'm sure your mother loved your father; Hermione's never been one to do these kinds of things halfway. She wouldn't have married him if she didn't; I barely know why, with all the trouble I was bringing, she married me."
"We were coming?" asked a twin who could only be Maia. If it was one thing that Hermione had seen in the short time that she knew her, it was that she had adopted a lot of Harry's wit.
Hermione could hear him blush as he replied, "Well, she didn't have to…."
"Grand-mere Weasley would have had a heart attack," said the other, Aimee. All she needed was her sister to start her up.
"Well, I guess so, maybe not a heart attack but… if she hadn't married me you all would at least have known her love, like your little brother here does," Harry replied.
"But we do know it, and now especially," insisted Maia. "And we'll get to know it again with you, here, as a complete family."
Harry noisily cleared his throat, noticeably discomfited by his daughter's confidence.
"Listen, girls… I don't want you to get your hopes up-"
Hermione cut him off, calling through the bedroom door, "Can somebody please tell me the time, I stayed home today to spend time with you and everybody here let me sleep?"
At once she could hear them starting away from it, but Caspar replied, "Its two-fifteen, did you know Harry was here?"
The twins snorted, though they abruptly halted a moment later at what was surely a look from Harry. But nothing could stop Caspar's question and Hermione had to reply, with much embarrassment, "Um, yes… I knew he was here… we talked while you two were sleeping."
Again the twins snorted, and Hermione had to wonder when they had grown above innocent meanings to answers. When she was twelve she didn't read the innuendo in adults' sentences… often.
At this point though, Harry spoke up, "You're awake… sorry about trying to-"
"I understand… Harry Potter might be Paul Nicolas but nobody else knows that yet. But you could stay with us for the rest of the day… you don't have to leave yet. No one else is coming by for days… or rather, for the rest of the day, considering Mrs Weasley…" she told him, and let her voice trail off for him to consider it.
The twins though, would not give him the chance.
"Come on Papa, we'll have fun, all five of us," began Aimee, excitedly.
"Yes! We can have dinner together, and Caspar can show you his Quidditch room, you should see it, I wish we had one!" added Maia.
"And we have to tell you about school, everything we couldn't tell in the letters," Aimee continued.
"And you have to tell us where you've been this time-Paul Nicolas?" asked Maia.
Hermione smiled at the door, they were wearing him down and she had a very strong feeling that he would never have the will to refuse them.
Sure enough, moments later, he caved.
"If your mother will let me…" he replied, feebly.
The three around him immediately released a triumphant, "Yay!"
*****
For the next three days, despite the chill of a determinedly frosty winter tightening its hold upon Wiltshire, Northbridge Manor was filled with warmth. There were the fireplaces and radiators for heating, of course, and warm woollen jumpers and hot chocolate where there was a short-coming, but this warmth came from something else. After nearly twelve long years of absence, the Potter family was finally together again, and this time hopefully for good.
Harry alternated his time between his house across the street and the manor carefully. To any who saw him he was just a friendly neighbour paying a visit to a lonely widow and her three children. It was almost Christmas, the perfect season for such gestures, and a few of them vowed to pay a visit as soon as they could.
Well, the few who hadn't gone away to warmer refuge for the holiday that was.
Hermione made as many excuses as possible to be at home when he came over too. It was not that she didn't trust him alone with them, or that she was worried for Caspar-who apparently wasn't bothered by Harry after all-but that she wanted to spend as much time with them as he did.
And she did not too much mind the time they spent alone together too.
As much as it was wonderful for her to see her children playing together, a game of Wizard's Chess, Exploding Snap or Monopoly charmed to animate the pieces like Wizard's Chess, it was even more so to just sit with Harry as they did it. To see him smile, to touch his face, to hold his hand, to know that when those beautiful green eyes turned their gaze on her they filled with nothing else but love for her… that was more than anything she could ever want. After eleven years of living in a dark world where he was not, that was all she could ever want.
Well, that and watching him play with Caspar.
Something told her that as soon as the world once more knew that Harry lived they would immediately begin to speculate about his and Caspar's relationship. She had horrifying images of their faces plastered across front pages all over the Wizarding world under banners that proclaimed possible spats. Wedges, real or imagined, would be the theme of their every report, their absolute belief. How could the son of Viktor Krum accept Harry Potter as adoptive father when his would never return?
If they could see them, they would know how.
But then, before they got through all of that, they had something far more formidable than the media to contend with: Ron.
As it was at the moment, she had clearly forgiven Harry… somewhat. Her traitorous heart insisted that she had, but her stronger mind was determined that their relationship be conducted at some measure of arm's length. As much arm's length she could before he dared to kiss her, of course.
Ron though, had never spoken to him. Not once since he had finally received the twins' message, had he sent an owl to Harry announcing an intended visit. Harry did try his best not to show his disappointment, but he had never been able to lie to her. They both understood that Ron had every right to be angry, as she had, but they had hoped that maybe, somewhere inside him, he would be happy to have Harry alive as she did. It was probably asking a lot, but Ron had, technically, been Harry's friend for just a little longer than Hermione, so surely he would be glad to see him, right?
Well, at least they hoped so. But just in case he accidentally misplaced the address, or didn't show up, at the end of this week they would go to him.
Ron though, saved them the trouble.
Four days into the Christmas vacation, he arrived at Northbridge Manor unannounced, with Luna, Matilda and Little Harry. And how fortunate was it that the person who opened the door to admit him, was none other than Harry himself?
Harry had arrived at the Manor shortly after breakfast; Hermione finally unable to stave off work any longer had to leave and didn't want to find a sitter. Harry was more than happy to oblige, and was treating Caspar and the twins to a light rendition of his Fourth Year experiences at the Triwizard Tournament (he took care to avoid mention of Cedric Diggory and Voldemort's rise) when the doorbell rang.
"Expecting company today?" he asked Caspar.
Maia replied for him, "Nope, Mama's not home and no one knows you're here."
"So who is it then? Are there wizard telemarketers too?" he asked with a grin.
"Just answer the door, you're not funny you know that?" said Aimee.
He rose from his place with them on the floor and headed for the door, "I'm coming, I'm coming, sorry about the wait, these three and I…"
His voice trailed off when he saw the four standing out in the doorway and for quite some time they all stood staring at each other, shocked.
Assuredly, neither had expected to find the other there. Ron's apparent blanket dismissal of Harry seemed to extend to Hermione as well since the week had begun. He had not written or Floo-ed, had mentioned neither of them in a surprise interview with the WWN about his reactions to the twins (on whom he had mostly declared "surprise and pleasure knowing that they actually did have something of Harry left") or even when the Weasleys visited and asked about him. (Hermione learned the last bit one evening after Harry left.) It very much appeared that as far as he was concerned they didn't exist.
For Ron, it was just the fact that he had been hoping Hermione was not so quick to forgive. He honestly had hoped that she was as angry as he was, that she felt as betrayed as he was and so much so that it would be months before they both decided to let him back in. But instead he would find him standing here, in the foyer of her home as if he belonged there and the past eleven years had just been a twisted nightmare.
And he was quite content believing that too… until Caspar, Maia and Aimee, apparently realising that Harry had gone to answer the door too long, appeared behind him.
Aimee began, "Oncle Ron, Tanta Lune? Bonjour! Why are you standing out there, come in, its cold outside…. Oh Maia, look, they've brought the baby, and Little Harry… come in…." Her voice trailed off as she realised the strange silence and her sister's lack of movement, and then she made a mistake, "Papa, what's wrong?"
Almost immediately Ron launched himself threw the door and slammed his fist into Harry's face, knocking away his glasses. Aimee screamed, Little Harry, Caspar and Maia rushed to part the two men and Luna anxiously hurried into the house pleading with Ron to stop.
"Ron, please! Ron don't do this, please stop… Ron… someone will hear this… Ron!"
Ron though, was seeing red and too furious to care, he merely shrugged away the two boys and Maia. With a violence he had only on rare occasion let others feel, he pounded Harry like a rag doll. Harry made no attempt to fight back though, which unfortunately urged him on, and added words to the assault.
"For eleven years! ELEVEN YEARS! You let us think you were dead! YOU LET US! And even though you weren't with us you left them behind too! YOU BASTARD! YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU LEFT US!"
Aimee continued to scream, "Stop it! Please! No! Daddy, fight back! Uncle, leave him alone! Please, stop it! Please!"
The fight carried on as if neither man had heard her, but the one who did, Matilda, immediately began crying loudly so that Luna had to rush to the living room to quiet her. Aimee followed her there too, but only to rush to the fireplace and anxiously Floo St Mungo's to call her mother.
Back in the foyer though, as the other children rushed back in for a second attempt at stopping the fight, Ron's arm flung out wildly and collided with something soft. He halted immediately and drew off of Harry as the victim, Maia, crumpled to the ground beside them and unto Harry's glasses. They broke as she landed on them, sending a splinter up against her face, cutting a thin, red line across her forehead.
The fight was over.
Ron quickly scrambled across the floor to the limp girl with Harry on his heels, though gingerly so. It was with horror that they quickly noted three things: one, that Ron's punch had apparently broken her nose, a tell-tale thin line of blood trickled out down her cheek to the carpet below; two, he had also apparently knocked her unconscious, and three, there was a cut across her forehead that had potential to become a scar.
With life that had not been apparent moments before, and apparently forgetting that he had just been on the receiving end of a beating, Harry shoved past Ron, scooped Maia up into his arms and raced to the living room. Luna and Aimee looked up as they came in, but he ignored their horrified gasps at the sight of Maia in his arms as he headed for the fireplace.
Ron cut him off as he got there, and without waiting for permission snatched up the bowl of Floo Powder. Harry gave no resistance, and Ron poured some of it into Harry's open palm under Maia's knees and then climbed in with him to give the command, "ST MUNGO'S HOSPITAL FOR MAGICAL MALADIES AND INJURIES!" In a violent roar of towering emerald flames, that were they hot would have badly scorched the ceiling, they turned and vanished.
As soon as they appeared in St Mungo's though, on the Spell Damage Floor, they nearly collided with Hermione on her way out to answer Aimee's call. She took one look at them, as she tried to steady herself from their near-miss, and gasped. It then took her only a second more to snatch Maia from Harry and hurry her over to a gurney near reception. There, she was quickly joined by Healer Abbey and another who hurriedly made sweeping waves of his wand over Maia's body before declaring, and with a noted sigh of relief, "Nothing, nothing… just a broken nose and a cut on her forehead."
"That's not nothing, why is she unconscious?" demanded Hermione, anxiously, tears already spilling down her face.
"It's from the blow," replied the Healer, and then he asked, "Wait, who brought her here? Maybe, they can answer your question?"
Hermione froze at once, realising with alarm the answer to that question, but thankfully Healer Abbey mistook her pause for hesitation and said, "Go, find out what happened, we'll take care of her, and if you want we'll send for the Aurors."
"No! No, that's not necessary… I'm sure there's a very good excuse for this," she said, quickly, hoping that he would not pick up on her anxiety.
He seemed not to, and pushed her away again, "Okay then, go on, she'll be all better by the time you get back."
She stopped a moment then, to stroke Maia's hair and clear it away from her forehead, before turning away and hurrying back to Ron and Harry standing in the hall. But when she stood with them she asked no question, and promptly slapped them both.
Ron said nothing, but Harry finally lost his footing and collapsed before her.
Before they could stop them he was descended upon by a passing group of Healers, who lifted him unto a gurney and set their wands to work over him. Harry could do nothing to stop them; the beating had finally taken its toll. Hermione and Ron were left to stand for a few tense moments then, hoping against hope that he would not be recognised. The Healers seemed not to though; they were more concerned with discovering the source of his injuries.
It felt like forever before finally one of them turned back to them and said, "He looks like he was just in a fight…."
One of them turned to Hermione and asked, "Was he the one who brought in your daughter?"
Ron replied for her, "Yes… um… he was in a fight… with me…."
Hermione turned sharply towards him, but he ignored her as he replied, "I… I accidentally hit Maia… she was trying to stop the fight…."
The Healer looked him over for a moment, as if trying to decide whether he should trust him or not and then finally replied, "Well, this is not exactly our area of expertise, but we'll fix him up as best we can… should we call the Aurors, by the way?"
Ron shook his head, "No… um, he's a friend… we just had a misunderstanding…."
The last thing they needed was for the Ministry to get involved, it was bad enough that Harry's natural instinct to protect his child had sent them rushing into St Mungo's as it was.
The Healer nodded, and then wheeled him away to Healer Abbey and Maia, who themselves were heading towards a room out of the hall. Ron and Hermione quickly hurried after them, but not before Hermione angrily whispered to Ron, "We have to talk!"
He angrily whispered back, "Yes, we do!"
By the time they had settled Harry and Maia into a room, separated only by a curtain, Maia was awake and trying to sit up. Ron and Hermione came in just as she began to ask, "Where's Mama?" and at the sight of them she tried to hop off the gurney to go to her.
Healer Abbey held her back, "Oh no, you don't, lie back, this pain-stopping charm might have taken out the sting but we still have to attend to your nose."
Almost instinctively, she reached a hand to inspect the damage, but Hermione and Healer Abbey both rushed to stop her, Hermione saying soothingly, "No, no, just wait a bit and let him work, this will only take a second."
And it did.
One muttered charm ("Episkey!") and a moment of hot and cold later, and Maia's nose was set. A quick "Tergeo!" cleaned the blood from her face and the cut on her forehead, which had already begun to heal, and with a grin Healer Abbey announced the good news, "There, all done."
Ron breathed a silent sigh of relief as Healer Abbey continued, "Nothing to worry about, no scars here, not deep enough… I can confidently say it will not ruin her wedding day."
Maia scoffed, and they all laughed… until Healer Abbey asked, "What caused it?"
At the sombre mood that seemed to descend round them, Healer Abbey dropped his voice and repeated, somewhat sternly, "What caused it?"
Ron swallowed before replying, "Glass, (his voice faltered slightly as he looked past them to the curtain) she fell on a pair of a glasses. They broke and cut her."
"Glasses? What happened to the owner, are they alright?" he asked, frowning slightly at Ron.
"He's behind the curtain there," Ron replied, "we had a little disagreement."
The Healer turned to Hermione, "You had a gentleman over?"
Not entirely sure why she was doing it, she replied, "Yes, I did."
At once he smiled, "About time, you're too pretty and far too young to become a twice-widowed spinster. Who was the lucky… or should I say, unlucky, young man?"
"My father," replied Maia, casually.
Hermione and Ron looked to her in alarm, but refrained from speaking. Ron was wondering though, if his blow had done more damage that the Healers knew. Or was it that she was having a bad reaction to her medicine? How could she just admit to something like that?
Thankfully though, Healer Abbey had taken it for some form of strange joke and was laughing… until he realised that they weren't. And not only that, but were staring at him with looks of interest, though Hermione's and Ron's were alarm.
His laughter died slowly as he glanced at the three and his eyes widened in surprise. A moment later, he silently walked over to the curtain.
Almost immediately he sent the other Healers out, waited until they left, drew back the curtain and asked one question, "Is he?"
"Her father…? Yes…" replied Hermione. "Duncan, this is my husband, Harry Potter."
Harry feebly turned and looked at him, but Healer Abbey said nothing, and just stared right back. It took him a moment or two more then to quietly set to work cleaning and mending some of Harry's injuries, which were mostly bruises, save for one broken rib.
Not once did Harry take his eyes off of him, though it was doubtful that he could actually see him now that his glasses were broken. It was a wonder alone that he had come all the way through the fireplace with his daughter in his arms.
Finally, Healer Abbey said, "I can't be sure that anyone out there didn't recognise him, so be prepared for anything. I will want to keep the child; she has a slight concussion from the blow, and him as well-you have very strong fists, Mr Weasley."
Hermione breathed her gratitude, "Thank you…."
He stopped and looked back at her almost incredulous, "It is I who should be thanking you, all of you…. I don't need to know why… I've never asked, and I won't… but they will. For me, it is enough that I can see you, sir (he returned to Harry) and know that that bastard didn't take you with him. That is all I need."
And with that said, he smiled at Maia and nodded at all of them and left.
As the door shut firmly behind him, a silence fell over the room broken only intermittently at the sounds of hospital activity without. There wasn't yet, the sound of frantic footsteps, but they were surely to start soon.
How innocently had today begun?
And then finally, Hermione asked, "What happened?"
No one else said a word immediately, but before she could repeat her question, Ron replied, "I hit him-"
"I deserved it," Harry spoke up, quickly.
Hermione looked at the both of them, and replied, "I don't care. If your excuse is that you were mad at him and his is that he deserved it, I honestly don't care. You have every right to your beliefs, and I respect that, but wasn't it you, Ron, who said that you didn't need to know what happened when I came to tell you about Maia and Aimee?"
He carefully avoided her gaze, but she put her hand to his chin and made him face her.
"Now I love you both, I do with all my heart, and will for as long as I breathe. And yes Ron, I do love Harry more still, even after all that has happened, and mostly because I had long before I even knew it, before we let each other know it. I know you are angry, and have every right to be… but if you can't even look me in the eye as I acknowledge that I know that, you don't hate him as much as your anger wants you to," she declared.
He still would not look at her, trying to keep his eyes anywhere but on her face.
She continued, "So, knowing that, I expect that we never have something like this happen again. I truly do, because I swear to you both, Harry James Potter, and Ronald Bilius Weasley, that if anything ever happens to my children again because you just want to work out your anger, you will both wish that Voldemort had killed you."
Maia inhaled sharply, but said nothing. Harry and Ron were silent too, but only for a moment before they both nodded.
Hermione studied them a while, as if trying make sure that they weren't lying, and then asked, "Now then, where are the others?"
As if to answer her question, the door suddenly burst open behind her and in poured a deluge of red, blonde and brunette. Someone must have called Mrs Weasley, for she marched in at the front of the group with Aimee, Caspar, Little Harry, Luna and the baby. Behind her were Mr Weasley, Ginny, Fred and George and a sheepish-looking Neville. They crowded in as best they could, shut the door solidly, and after taking a moment to process the sight before them, Mrs Weasley said, "I guess I deserved this… but what about them?"
Hermione stubbornly refused to feel guilty as she replied, "We wanted to speak to Ron first, you must understand."
Aimee detached herself from Luna and brought Harry his glasses, "I fixed them as best I could…. But Maia's got a big head, so it was missing a piece."
"I found it!" cut in Caspar, "Your big foot was covering it."
Maia smiled while her twin scowled, "Thanks Caspar."
The children's temporary distraction did little to change the tone of the adults' conversation, not even Fred and George seemed capable of comment.
Ginny protested, "We must understand? We must understand? How can you stand there and expect us to-"
"The same way I had to understand that I lived eleven years without anyone bothering to tell me that I had two children, or for that matter, was married!" snapped Hermione, angrily.
Mr Weasley put a hand on his daughter's arm to stop her retort, and when she reluctantly fell silent, said, "Well, we know now."
"Yes, we do," repeated Mrs Weasley, sadly.
*****
Hours later, they were all quietly seated in Hermione's living room determinedly not looking at each other. Maia and Harry were released early, but on Hermione's and Mrs Weasley's insistence, were both sent up to bed with a Sleeping Draught. At the last check father and daughter were both comfortably spread out on Hermione's bed, held captive in the dreamless world of their potion-induced deep sleep.
The other children weren't there either, sent up to Caspar's room so that the adults could talk, and were not happy about it. Hermione had cast a charm at the stairs to prevent eavesdropping.
Bill and Fleur had been summoned no sooner than had they arrived at the Manor, and arrived while Hermione and Mrs Weasley attended to Harry and Maia. They immediately went up to the bedroom to verify the report they had received, and returned shortly after white-faced and disbelieving. When they came down Hermione recounted the last few weeks (carefully omitting the afternoon of the twins' arrival) and Ron explained his little bit (taking care to omit the part about telling Padma) and that led to now, where all were quiet and unable to look at each other.
Harry was alive, and for some reason, that changed everything.
Finally, Bill began the discussion, "How long until the WWN make their announcement?"
"As long as it takes for the Healer who may have recognised him to tell them, complete with the fight we had and the injury to Maia," Ron replied. "I didn't mean to hit her, my arm just swung out-"
"I know," said Hermione, silencing him.
"What are you going to tell them?" asked Ginny, when a short silence fell again.
"Well, the truth is a good place to start… or at least most of it," Hermione told her, though not as harshly as Ron irrationally expected her too.
"At least your children will be out of the spotlight now," Ginny replied.
"Oh no, I don't think so," said Hermione, "I'm quite sure that there'll be a serious demand for pictures of Harry and his daughters. Or Harry and Caspar, just to see if the son of Viktor Krum will rebel against the step-father he never knew he already had."
Again there was silence, and then Mrs Weasley asked a question that broke it, "Are you going to renew your vows soon?"
Hermione, and all for that matter, looked at her as if she had lost her mind, but then she replied, "I don't know. We've barely begun to reminisce, to catch up yet, there's no need to rush. Besides, Neville and Ginny are getting married, we're not going to overshadow their wedding, you've all been planning it for months-don't give me that look; you know full well that the press would be all over Harry and me the moment they find out."
And just then, as he had actually been doing since Hermione had first recounted Harry's story, Ron cut in, "He said that Snape's behind most of this? Snape didn't know much about separating you and the twins but he had thought for a long time that you two had been under a love potion? What the hell for?"
And as just as she had all those times before, Hermione sighed, and replied, though with a noticeably red face, "I was not under any love potion, and if you want the answer to the last part ask Snape. Harry told me that that was Snape's motive the whole time, he suspected something and chose not to warn Harry, but thought action was necessary anyway. No doubt some nonsense about Harry being like his father and not trusting him to make a mess of it. It seems that he made the bigger mess."
"I hope you two are planning to send him to Azkaban then?" asked Ron.
"He'll find some way to argue that he had only the best of intentions, not to mention that technically it wasn't illegal… but anyway he will be the least of our worries in the next few weeks. I can imagine what's going on outside now that they probably know about Harry. The Ministry will want to see him, the school will want to see him, and goodness knows my former in-laws will want answers…" Hermione replied, with an exasperated sigh.
"Are you complaining then?" asked Ginny, making no attempt to conceal her disdain.
Hermione looked up at her with an arched eyebrow and shook her head, "No, I'm not, but they will. I'm an adulteress, Caspar's illegitimate… he might be their grandson and they love him, but if there's anyway to cut him out of the Will, I'm sure they not going to have a problem finding it."
"You shouldn't have married him, I warned you," said Ron, with a distinct look of displeasure.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "You've been 'warning' her since your Fourth Year, but you were still wrong because he treated her rather well didn't he?"
"His parents aren't though," he replied, stubbornly.
"Okay children, pointless argument-" started George before he was cut off at the sound of footsteps hurrying down the hall above to the stairs and a child called, "Mum, take off the charm, you have to hear this!"
Another cut in, "She won't, just tell her."
"Fine then-Mum, switch on the radio, you have to hear this…" called the first.
With furrowed brow Hermione rose from her seat and headed over to the end table where her little radio was and switched it on. Mrs Weasley began to call up, "What is it?" but her question never left her lips as it crackled to life and the announcement filled the room:
"Shock, disbelief and pandemonium, those are just a few of the reactions reverberating the Wizarding World in light of a claim made by a Healer at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. We are unable at this time to completely confirm this, but according to the Healer, Harry Potter is alive. Not only this, but was just treated in the hospital for injuries of unknown origin along with twelve year old daughter Maia. Friend, Ronald Weasley, and wife, Hermione, was with him. They left before reporters could arrive, but we promise to get to you confirmation of this claim as soon as it is available. Again, Harry Potter is alive…"
Ron cut in then, decidedly unhappy, "Just great, we've just met him again and already they're on his tail."
Despite herself, Hermione had to fight a smile at his choice of words.
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