Unofficial Portkey Archive

A/N: Hullooooo! I'm still alive! So sorry for taking so long to update. Life happened! So how did you guys like the previous chapter? Anyhoo, here's the next chapter. It's a bit short but I think the next chapter will be quite long. Anyway, I won't keep you waiting anymore. Enjoy! :)

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The following morning Harry found himself in his office looking out the window at muggle London. He barely slept a wink as he kept repeating his encounter with Hermione the night before. He still couldn't believe that he finally found her after all these years. Taking a seat on his leather chair, his eyes fell on the picture of him, Hermione and Ron on his huge desk. He thought his best mate needed to know that he's found their female best friend so he searched for a piece of parchment and scribbled a short note saying he wanted to meet Ron for breakfast. After folding the note, he attached it on Anemone's leg, the grey eagle owl he and Hermione got for him before he started law school.

"Take this to Ron, okay? Fly safe, girl," he said as he opened the window to let the owl out into the morning sky. He went back to his chair and stared into space as he waited for Ron to arrive.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there when the fireplace roared to life and a figure of a man emerged from the green flames. Harry stood up and walked around his desk to greet Ron.

"Good morning, mate." He held out his hand to shake with Ron but the other man took Harry's hand and pulled him into an embrace.

"Hullo, mate," his best friend greeted him before pulling away, "Glad you asked me to meet you for breakfast. Luna's gone early to The Quibbler office so I dropped off little Henry at Mum's before coming here."

"How's Luna and my godson? I'm sorry I haven't been to see you lot in weeks, been a bit busy with work," Harry smiled sheepishly as they sat down on the chairs in front of his desk.

"Luna's as good as any other five-month pregnant woman should be. She's not as temperamental as she was with Henry but still drives me batty sometimes," Ron laughed, "Little Henry loves going to primary school. Definitely taken after his mum, you know how I am about school."

"Who could forget?" Harry retorted as the two of them laughed.

"C'mon then, breakfast hour will be over soon and we both have work to do," Ron said as he and Harry stood up from their seats. They went to a small café behind the Ministry which they frequented a lot due to its privacy, good food and coffee. As their cups of coffee arrived, Harry looked out the window, gathering his thoughts. Ron noticed his friend's serious expression and knew something big has happened. He was about to ask when Harry took a deep breath and looked straight into his eyes.

"I found Hermione."

Ron wasn't sure if he'd heard it right. He thought he heard his best mate say that he'd finally found their female best friend. He just stared at Harry with his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"W-what?"

"I said I found Hermione, Ron." Harry's serious expression turned even more stern.

"W-when? D-did you see her? Did she see you? Did you talk to her? What happened to her? W-where-"

"Slow down, Ron. I saw her last night. You know how Neville's been helping me look for her?" After Ron's nod, he continued, "He gave me her new address here in London. I wasn't sure if it really was her but the look on Nev's face when he told me about the lead made me anxious to find out if it really was her, so I went straight to the address he gave me."

"And? What happened?"

Harry sighed, "I knocked and when the door opened, she was right there. Standing in front of me-in the flesh. My whole world just… stopped right there. We just stared at each other for what seemed like forever wh-," he suddenly stopped.

"What, Harry?" Ron prompted.

Harry swallowed the lump that seemed to have formed in his throat as he remembered his daughter, "She has a daughter now, Ron. A little girl with brown, tousled hair and green eyes."

"WHAT?! She has a daughter?!"

"Keep your voice down!" Harry hissed, "WE have a daughter. The little girl's my daughter."

Ron's eyes grew wide and Harry thought they were going to pop out of his head. The situation would have been funny if they weren't talking about Hermione and his daughter, who he met for the first time last night.

"Whoa. You and Hermione… have a daughter?"

Harry just nodded.

"Wait a minute. Hold up," Ron put his hands up in front of him. "Lemme get this straight. Hermione left five years ago, right? Then you found her back in London last night, after years of searching for her, with a daughter? And not just anyone's daughter, but your daughter?"

Harry nodded again, not trusting his voice at the moment.

"Bloody hell, mate. Are you sure she's even yours?"

Fury filled Harry's eyes but he kept his expression calm and simply raised his eyebrow at Ron.

"Yes, Ron, I'm quite sure she's mine because Iris…" the anger and frustration leaving his body as he remember his daughter's wide, emerald eyes very much like his, "because those green eyes of hers are exactly what I see when I look in the mirror."

Ron slumped back on his chair and let out a whistle. Harry let out a deep breath and shook his head.

"I have no doubt in my mind that she's my daughter, Ron. Just one look at her and I knew. I just knew," he paused and looked straight at his best friend, "I never believed in falling in love at first sight. But when I saw her, all I could think of was I'd give everything I have to make her happy, keep her healthy. I'd do everything in my power to protect her, even give my own life if I have to. I've never felt this much love for one person."

Ron was nodding his head in understanding. He knew how Harry felt because those were his exact feelings when he first laid eyes on his son, Henry. He also knew how big of a deal this is to his best friend. The thing he wanted the most, a family, was already within his reach. They were silent for a few moments during which their food arrived.

"Why did she leave, Harry?" he suddenly asked Harry.

Harry sighed, put down his fork and looked down at his plate as he thought of the conversation between him and Hermione when he asked the same question, "On the night before the final battle at Hogwarts, she bumped into Trelawney and she had a premonition that when Hermione achieves her heart's 'greatest victory', she'd also inflict the greatest sorrow."

"She actually believed that?" Ron exclaimed, shocked that Hermione would actually believe anything Trelawney said.

"Well, she did make the prophecy about me and Voldemort and a few of her predictions actually came true even if not many people knew about them."

"Yeah, but Hermione hated Divination."

"She did but she said that after learning about the prophecy about me, she gave Trelawney a bit of credit. She left because she thought that being with me, she would just hurt me. We also forgot the contraceptive charm that night, so that added to her resolve to leave. She thought that being with me plus if ever she got pregnant, which she did, would only burden me, hinder my career and cause me pain."

Ron shook his head in disbelief, "So her 'heart's greatest victory' was…?"

"The night we told each other our feelings," Harry simple answered.

"And the greatest sorrow was…?"

"The pain she caused me when she left."

"Bloody hell. She misinterpreted the premonition. And she's supposed to be the smart one," Ron said as he rubbed his temples.

"She was acting rather irrationally that night," Harry nodded.

"Or she was acting more like you? Must've rubbed off on her, seeing as you spent almost all the time together," Ron teased.

Harry chuckled, "You bloody well know I'm not like that anymore. I was, but not anymore."

As their laughter died, they were silent again for a few minutes before Ron spoke again.

"Have you forgiven her for leaving?"

Harry sighed again, "The moment I saw her, I've forgiven her already. It's stupid, I know. But I…" he raked his hand through his messy locks, "I just love her too fucking much to stay angry at her."

Ron simply nodded in understanding. Hermione was the only woman Harry has ever loved. Even he knew that his best friend never loved Ginny when they were dating. "Did she ask you for another chance?"

Harry nodded, "She did. She can be the most prideful person but she asked for another chance for us to try again. But I don't trust her, not yet. I can't trust that she won't leave again, that she's here to stay. I can't trust her to tell me the truth because she's going to try and protect me."

"Why did she come back, then?"

Harry frowned and shook his head, "That's what's been bothering me since I got home after my visit. She said that the reason she came back was because of me and Iris, that she missed me terribly. But she also said that she had some things she needed to do."

Ron cocked his head to the side as Harry looked up to him. "If you're thinking I believed her, no, I didn't buy that for a second. She must have forgotten that I'm a lawyer and most importantly, her best friend. Even after all these years I can still tell when she lies or when she's hiding something from me, and right now, she's keeping something from me: the real reason she came back."

"You don't think she'd actually come back for you?"

"You know how we can be both irrationally and intensely protective of each other. She'd stay away as long as she can from me if she thought that would keep her from hurting me. I'd do the same for her, if I were in her place."

"That's going to be a huge problem for you both, being overprotective of each other."

"It is. And we're going to have to work things out if we want to make our family whole. She's going to have to tell me the real reason why she came back."

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A/N: So what did you think? Let me know! Reviews please! :)

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