Orokid: Yeah, this is about two years old, but I just found it lately- so… yeah, it's probably bad, but whatever. I don't care really, so you guys better like it! Lol. Anyway…
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned. I do kinda owned Jenny Lillian Granger-Potter, and you'll find out who it is when you get there (but I think you know already… Heh heh…) so… Yeah! Lol.
BLIND LOVEHe rubbed his eyes, trying to see through his untrained emerald orbs without the prescribed help of his glasses. This certainly was a feat worse than facing Voldemort himself, yet he needed to go through the crowd unnoticed and unknown. He pulled down the recently bought baseball cap featuring some American team by the name of the Angels, hiding his noticeable scar from the world.
He needed to see her. He couldn't just hide from his fame and have her expect a four page letter every other week because Remus said it was still unsafe to move around. Why are they so afraid of the Death Eaters when he had destroyed their leader?
His tired feet stood before her home, his hands shaking fiercely for a reason unknown to him. Questions raced through his mind: What would she do? Would she even recognize him after the war's affects upon him? What would she tell him? Would she even talk to him before slamming the door in his face?
The knuckles upon his shaky hand banged on the front door, and he only heard her heavenly voice call out "Just a moment!", and it only calmed his torn soul. Unconsciously, he played with the Christmas wreath's brilliantly red bow, touching it's sharply cut edges with his calloused and scarred fingertips. Soon, it was pulled from him as the door opened widely, showing a tall nineteen or twenty-year-old woman in the doorway. "Hello and Happy Christmas, chap. Are you our neighbor, sir?"
He grinned genuinely, staring straightly at her, his emeralds focused on her cinnamon colored orbs. It was his first real smile in such a very long time… "Happy Christmas to you too, Hermione."
A baby's (or alarm's?) cry in the background seemed mute to her ears as she realized just who was at the door. "Oh… my… Lord…" she whispered in awe, a palm covering her mouth as she gaped at him in shock. "H-Harry?" He nodded, his midnight black bangs scratching at his scarcely visible lightning bolt scar. Without warning (although it wasn't like he expected any), she hugged him tightly against her, crying happily into his shirt. "I… I can't believe that… that you're alive! Oh, Lord, you're home…" the woman sobbed, only hugging his warm form even harder.
"I'm… I'm not", he sighed into her ear, feel sad that he had to tell her such dreadful news. Her hold upon him seemed to lessen at his words, although the tears fell faster. It wasn't fair to her… "I snuck out of the ministry- that's where I've been all this time- just so I could see you." He chuckled gently as he held onto her, his breath tickling her ear. "That's why I'm potentially blind right now, not to mention strangely dressed like some bloody American." His lips only touched her forehead lightly, his embrace on her tighter than it probably should've been. "There's only two left, Hermione. I… I swear to you that I'll catch them and come home, alright?"
Even though he really couldn't see her face, since it was hidden within the maroon folds of his yearly Weasley sweater, he knew that she was holding back the tears of losing him all over again. For all this time, he could only assume that she had believed his death to be true, even though he had only been at the Ministry for this long. He knew that she was hating those remaining Death Eaters more and more, even though she did not know just who they were. Slowly, as she pulled from him, she bit her bottom lip in hopes to keep her tears within herself. "There's…" she began, although her eyes had fallen from his at this word. "There's someone I'd like you to meet, Harry, before… before you go back where ever you are", she whispered as she stepped out of his grasp, taking hold of his chilled hand as she led him inside the cozy two-story building. She soon found herself running up the stairs when she had finally taken notice of whatever that had been wailing- an alarm or a muggle telly or something like that.
His eyes flittered about the room when he had decided it safe to put on his round glasses on his face, allowing his throbbing orbs to finally see the room he had been led into. There were a countless amount of photos around what he could assume was the living quarters of this quaint home. Many were of their days in Hogwarts, usually posing together or sometimes caught in intimate moments neither of them had understood yet. But there were also new ones in the menagerie- ones that only confused him as he looked at them. Hermione was holding a baby- with green eyes and a mop of messy cinnamon hair- and they'd sometimes wave at whomever had taken the picture, or she found kissing it's forehead. Maybe it was a niece, he figured, trying to sort out the thoughts that would flash through his head.
It couldn't have been hers. They had only done "it" once, and it wasn't as if Hedwig had ever told him if there was a problem with the young woman he loved while the owl was on secret spying missions. Besides, Ronald's letters (which had been as frequent as Harry had dared to send his owl out into the world) never said that she had lost interest in him or anything, really.
Slowly, cautiously going down the stairs as she cooed at whatever was in her arms, the young woman who took Harry's breath away made her way over to his still form. He caught sight of a child, smiling with it's gums, hiding in it's blanket- and he realized almost immediately that it had been the one that was in the pictures. "Harry…" she began, raising the young baby's face slightly so he could see it better, "I want you to meet your daughter, Jenny Lillian Granger-Potter."
The most powerful wizard in the world stood in shock, his mouth hanging open, his emerald eyes wide. Did she just say..? "My… M-My daughter?" he questioned, his voice three times higher than usual. The brown haired woman nodded, her eyes downcast as if she had done something wrong to him. "I…" He cleared his throat, feeling tears come to his eyes. He hugged her softly, their child between them. Hermione could only gasp softly, surprised by his actions considering the fact that she had been so sure that he would've been angry with her. After all, she had done her best to keep her secret from the world, her friends, her family. "I'm so happy", he whispered into her ear, stray tears falling down his cheeks.
"You must go, Harry", she ordered him while her voice cracked with emotion. "I don't want you to be found."
"Let them find me", he sobbed joyfully into her hair, kissing the top of her head. "I… I can't leave now. I can't leave my family. I… I won't leave you two here to end up just like my mum and dad…" He held her even closer, careful not to hurt their infant in the process. "I won't! I… I can't. I refuse to, Hermione…"
The tears in her eyes finally began to fall on his shoulder, knowing that he'd be safer at the ministry than with her, but only wishing that he could stay, that they could be together for even a moment longer. It had been too hard being pregnant without him, he knew. Now, she had to raise their little girl without him by her side as well. Why did life seem so cruel to both she and the Man-Who-Lived.
"Come with me", he whispered to her finally, taking in her scent as he did so. "Back to the ministry. They've put up with me for all this time, so why not all of us?"
She shook her head, defiant to her heart, knowing that they couldn't do that. The Death Eaters would find him more easily, and she wasn't really worth the risk to him to fill her own selfish desires. "No, Harry." She looked up to him, her chocolate orbs glassy and her gaze pained. "But… fight for me. Fight for Jen and me, Harry. Fight for a way you can come home, okay?"
With a sigh, he nodded, averting his eyes to the front door. He knew that she was serious, and that hurt him yet made him feel some sort of strange relief at the same time. "I will, 'Mione", he whispered softly, holding her closer yet. The last thing he wanted to do was to let her out of his embrace, to leave her here with their child alone. "I'll come back as soon as I can. I promise you I will."
With a lingering kiss on her cheek, Harry moved towards the door, pausing just once to gaze at Hermione and Lillian one last time until he could return. In a small forced smile and tears in his eyes, he turned and exited, walking down the street without looking back again.
He knew that he'd get to return eventually. He wouldn't die. It was a promise.
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Orokid: Please review my fic, will you guys? If even to tell me it's bad, but I do like the good reviews too!