Chapter 13: Professor Potter's Secret Tryst
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Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you
- `At the Beginning' by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the movie Anastasia
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"Harry, you know what I've been thinking?" Harry closed his book and looked up at Hermione. He was surprised to hear her say something to him, the past couple of days they hadn't hardly said a word to each other, ever since their conversation a few days prior.
"What's that?"
"Well, I think we should take Teddy to see Andromeda. I think she'd really like to see him, it's been a while."
"Yeah, you're right. We should take him to see her."
"Would next weekend work? We can stay at Grimmauld Place again, that way Teddy can get used to his real home, not this home away from home that we spend the most time at." Harry nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we can do that next weekend." Then the awkward silence fell between them again, and Harry went back to reading, Hermione went back to lesson planning. Every time they were together since last week, awkward silences seemed to follow. Harry tried not to let it get awkward, but it really couldn't be helped. The awkward silence only lasted for a little while, for Teddy was on the move and crawled over to Harry and pulled himself up to stand next to him, holding onto the couch. Harry didn't really pay attention to him, he just kept reading, his mind on other things. But his mind instantly forgot all about his issues and the book he was trying to read when he heard something he hadn't heard before.
"Dad," a little voice said.
Harry's jaw dropped and he looked in shock at Teddy. It had caught Hermione's attention too for Harry heard her close her books.
"Oh my gosh, he said it." Harry looked up at Hermione, still a little in shock.
"You knew that'd be his first word?"
"Well, I've been trying to get him to say it for a while. You never decided what you wanted him to call you, so I've been trying to get him to say dad. I know you're not his real father, but, you're going to be the closest thing to a father that he'll ever have. But if you don't feel comfortable with it, we can get him to call you Harry."
Harry set his book aside and pulled the child up onto his lap. Teddy smiled and grabbed at his glasses. Harry leaned his head back and grabbed Teddy's hand and told him `no'. He smiled wryly.
"I suppose he could call me dad. But who knows, when he's older he might not want to call me that."
"Well, that's when he's older. He can make that decision when the time comes. I hope you aren't angry with me for teaching him this."
"No, I'm not," Harry said, smiling at Hermione, the first real smile he'd smiled at her since dinner the last week.
"Dad," Teddy said again and clapped his hands as his hair turned orange.
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The next week passed by will little excitement. Now that Teddy had learned his first word, he wouldn't stop saying it. On Saturday, when Harry, Hermione and Teddy were going to Andromeda's and Teddy was just babbling away, saying `dad' over and over again, Hermione smiled at Harry and said, "I suppose now you're probably angry with me for teaching him that word, since he hasn't been quiet since."
Harry shrugged and said, "I've gotten used to it. It's kind of become just like listening to his babbling all the time." They walked up the sidewalk to Andromeda's house and rang the doorbell. The woman who answered the door was not the same woman who they had seen a few months ago. Andromeda really did not look well, she looked as though she hadn't been sleeping much, or eating either. But her smile was still just as genuine as it had always been.
"Harry! Hermione! It's so good to see you again! Oh and little Teddy, oh my goodness, you've gotten big!" Teddy looked warily at his grandmother, not really remembering her as he was being passed over into her arms. His hair turned his natural brown as he studied his grandma's face.
Andromeda said, "Come on in you two, have a seat!" Harry and Hermione looked around the room with unease. The sitting room looked as though it needed tidying up, clutter was just everywhere.
"So how're you doing, Andromeda?" Hermione said once they had all sat down. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yes, I believe so. I think that whole matter with the depression was just a week long thing. I feel better. But I don't know if I'd be able to take care of Teddy, though. I'd almost be afraid to. I'd be worried I'd forget something, or do something that would be dangerous for him, so I'm so glad that you've taken him in, Harry."
"I'm glad to do it."
"Do you have someone that comes to check in on you every once in a while?" Hermione asked with concern.
"Yes, my neighbor does. She spends time with me about three or four times a week. She makes sure I eat, and keeps me company sometimes."
"Good, I'm glad there's someone to help," Hermione said, relief evident in her voice.
"Yes, but like I said, I'm getting better. There's no need to worry about me." She smiled down at Teddy and said, "Oh, it is good to see this little man again. I can see so much of Nymphadora in him. But I think he looks more like Remus."
There was silence between all of them, while Andromeda still looked at Teddy. Then she said, in a tone almost equal to Luna Lovegood's dreamy one,
"Harry, Hermione, do you believe in heaven?" Both Harry and Hermione nodded. "I'm not sure if I do or not. I'd like to think it exists, but I don't know. I don't know if the ones we love are watching over us or not." Harry and Hermione looked at each other uneasily. Andromeda had picked a really random topic. Andromeda seemed to come out of a daze and then smiled.
"Well, I probably shouldn't keep you. You've probably got things to get back to." Andromeda rose to let them out, and Harry and Hermione headed for the door. She handed Teddy back to Harry and the three of them left.
As Harry and Hermione were walking down the sidewalk, Harry said, "That was odd." Hermione nodded in agreement, and was about to reply but stopped when they saw a woman walking towards them. The woman saw them and stopped.
"Oh, hello. Is there something I can do for you?"
"Oh, no, we just came from visiting Andromeda Tonks."
"I see. Oh," she looked at Teddy and said, "Let me guess, this is Teddy, and you're Harry and Hermione, right?" Both of them nodded. The woman smiled and nodded. "I'm Bernice the neighbor that looks in on Andromeda. How is she today?"
"She's… a lot different than the last time we saw her." Bernice nodded.
"Yes, she'll try to convince you she's getting better, but she's not. I've actually started checking on her every day, I'm afraid of what she could do if I don't. I'm sure seeing her grandson helps, so if you have time soon, it'd be good for you to bring him out here." Harry nodded.
"Yeah, we'll try and get out here more often. Hopefully it helps."
"I'm sure it will. I'll try and send you an owl if anything else develops. It was nice meeting you two."
"You too." Harry and Hermione apparated back to Grimmauld Place, and spent the afternoon talking about Andromeda. The rest of the day went by without a single awkward silence. It seemed that things were starting to get back to normal. But they had no idea how much things were about to get turned upside down.
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"Way to go, Red," Malfoy said, tossing the newspaper down in front of Ginny while she was eating breakfast.
"What?"
"That's the best you could come up with? I thought you wanted to get back at Granger, not at Potter." Ginny shrugged.
"They're pretty much inseparable anymore, you hit one, you hit the other. But you never know what'll come of it. They'll probably break up."
"You really don't see what you've done, do you? Do you not know what could come of this? What you've done is going to have much bigger repercussions than just having two people break up. You're a fool, Ginny."
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Sunday morning at Grimmauld Place dawned bright and sunny; the leaves continued their color change before eventually getting caught up in the wind and tossed to the ground. Harry and Teddy were the first ones up; Harry had come downstairs and made coffee and given Teddy a few Cheerios to eat, while Kreacher happily busied himself around the kitchen making a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. Harry absently tapped his fingers on the table, glancing through the muggle newspaper, waiting for the Daily Prophet to arrive. The muggle newspaper was ok, but nothing really interested him, it was the wizarding world about which he cared about reading. While he was waiting, Hermione entered the kitchen, sleepily running both hands through her hair and yawning.
"Good morning, Harry." She kissed Teddy on the top of the head and said, "Good morning to you, little guy."
"'Morning." Hermione glanced up at the clock and frowned.
"Prophet's a little late this morning, isn't it? It's usually here when we get up."
"Maybe there was a huge story in it that came in late and they had to "stop the presses" and all that," Harry joked. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I'm not sure that happens much in the wizarding world, if it does, it's something that can be magically inserted into the paper, I think." Neither one realized the irony of Harry's statement, for when the paper finally did arrive, there was in fact a huge story waiting for them on the front page. Hermione grabbed the paper first when the owl dropped it off, and froze when she read the front page.
"What in the world is this?"
"What?"
"Professor Potter's Secret Tryst?"
"What?" Hermione laid the paper down and in big bold letters across the front page were the words, PROFESSOR POTTER'S SECRET TRYST. Underneath the title was the same picture of Harry that they'd been using for years whenever there would be something that the Prophet found remotely interesting.
"I'm afraid to ask, but what does it say?" Harry said, staring fearfully at the article that Hermione was glancing through. "Read it." Hermione took a deep breath and exhaled shakily.
"You're going to want to kill Ginny for this one," Hermione said before she started reading.
"Things at Hogwarts are getting friendlier this year, and this time it's not between students or even between teachers. It's between a teacher and a student. That's right, parents; your children are exposed to scandal at school, things are happening behind closed doors and offices, writes Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet correspondent."
"Of course. Naturally Rita Skeeter wrote it." Hermione didn't answer, just went on reading.
"This reporter got news of such relationship that is going on at Hogwarts that has shocked us all to the core. Sources confirmed that newly appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Harry Potter, has been secretly trying to carry on a relationship with former girlfriend, and now current student, Ginny Weasley. The main source, readers, is none other than Miss Weasley herself. "I never wanted to get involved with him since he's my teacher, but for a while now he's been trying to pressure me into beginning something. I just thought the public should know what kind of a teacher he is. I told him when he first began teaching here that it was over, nothing will ever happen, but he hasn't left the notion alone since." This information leaves us wondering how things have been going with the relationship we read about a few months ago, between Professor Potter and also newly appointed Transfiguration teacher, Professor Hermione Granger. You all recall that they adopted a child together, even though they're not "officially" together…or so they say. Another source, a fourth year who wishes to remain anonymous states, "Professors Granger and Potter may not be together, but they continue to flirt like they're together. You never see one without the other, and along with little baby Teddy, they look like a family, and don't seem to care who notices it." After this new information, this makes us wonder if Professor Granger will stand by her lover's side. If she does, it shows a true side to her character, which would wonder if she's the best choice for her job too. This information also brings question as to what should become of little Teddy Lupin. If his adoptive father is preying on Hogwarts students, what makes us so sure he'd be a good choice to be the boy's parent? This reporter feels that for the best interest of little Teddy, and for the safety of Hogwarts students, Harry Potter should be removed from his teaching post and be removed as Teddy Lupin's legal guardian." Hermione slowly slid the paper away from her, keeping her eyes on it. Shock was etched into both Harry's and Hermione's faces.
"How could she do this? Why would she do this?" Hermione shook her head.
"I don't know. I mean, this is bigger than just trying to break us up. You could lose your job for this. Not to mention Teddy. And this will follow you around forever."
"But none of this is true. You know it's not."
"I know, but even accusations are a big deal. Everyone will take her word over yours, since you're in a position of authority. This happens all the time in the muggle world."
"I can't believe she did this. Of all the ways to seek revenge-"
"I don't think she knew how big of a deal this could turn out to be. People go nuts when they hear things like this. I'm sure tomorrow morning there's going to be floods of letters from parents to McGonagall demanding your termination from teaching."
"But people can't seriously believe this. I mean, it's Rita Skeeter!"
"Yes, but look at who her main source was, Ginny. Ginny is a Weasley, the Weasley's are for the most part a respected family now that the war is over. They're going to believe her." Harry stood up fast and started pacing, his hands balled into fists.
"I can't believe this," he said furiously. "I suppose she believes that everything will just be ok after this, I'll lose my job, lose Teddy, and she can have me all to herself." He stopped pacing and said desperately, "What do I do now?"
"We'll probably have to go talk to McGonagall." Just then, as though summoned, an owl carrying a letter from McGonagall came through the window. Hermione opened it and read,
Professor Potter,
Please be at my office at five o'clock sharp this evening. We need to discuss this. Please make sure Professor Granger comes with.
Sincerely,
Headmistress McGonagall
It was at that moment that that gut feeling Harry had before he was about to head to trial his fifth year returned full force and about ten times stronger.
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A/N: Hey hey! Hope you all had good Easters!! Hey, just wanted to say, a HUGE shout out to my beta, Donna, she deserves a lot of credit for this chapter, she helped put in a lot of ideas!! Give her a shout out if you want!! She's moon_scar89 on portkey! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!! Thanks a bunch, love you all!
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