Chapter One
The Secret Comes Out
"Did you hear he's coming back?" asked Fred.
"Do you think that means he's defeated Voldemort?" asked Percy.
"Why would he come back otherwise?" asked George. "What do you think, Ron?"
"I dunno. I stopped trying to predict Harry's actions when he ran off and left Hermione and I behind." The youngest Weasley boy looked around at his brothers, and then glanced down at the fifth, and youngest redhead in the room.
"Who's coming back, uncle Ron?" asked the young girl.
"Harry Potter. He was my best friend in school, you're Aunt Hermione's too." Ron's expression grew distant.
"I know, you told me that before. You said he was my mum's friend, too." The little girl mentioned Ginny Weasley casually, as though the young witch hadn't run off to parts unknown years before, leaving her daughter behind.
Pain flashed in the eyes of all the Weasley boys as they thought of their younger sister. Ginny had given birth to her daughter when she was sixteen and had left shortly after. Occasionally she had come back, once when Lee was five, she had given her daughter a gold locket that the little girl never took off. A few years later, Ginny's brothers had found out that there was a picture of the girl's mysterious, name-less father inside, but no one other than Lee had ever looked at it. Even the ten-year-old didn't know her father's name. That was a secret that Ginny guarded almost as closely as she hid where ever it was that she went when she left home. "Well, Harry is coming home. He's been gone eleven years, fighting Voldemort. He hasn't really been back, and no one's even really talked to him in a long time. Harry didn't want anyone caught in the crossfire." George tried to explain as he watched the girl with the green eyes.
"What's crossfire mean?" asked Lee, who had always been a curious child, one who loved to read and learn new things almost as much as she loved it when her uncles would take her on a ride on their brooms, even though her Grandma always fretted over that.
"It means that Harry didn't anyone else hurt in his fight with Voldemort. He succeeded in that, too," Fred said.
"There haven't been any civilian deaths in three years. A few Death Eaters caught a group of Aurors last year, but they weren't really working for Voldemort," Percy said. He was so glad that he had apologised to his family, and that he had gotten to help raise the little girl who was clever and funny and cheerful, despite the fact that her parents weren't the best. If Ginny hadn't been so young, she probably would have made a good mother. As it was, it was obvious that she loved her daughter, when she was around.
"Oh," Lee said, "Then why do we still live in the safe house?"
"Well," Ron said, "The war went on for a long time before Harry could do anything about it. A lot of homes got destroyed, including the Burrow, where our family lived for a lot of years before the war. Even though Harry has stopped Voldemort from killing innocent people, everyone is afraid to start rebuilding."
"No one wants this to be like the first time Harry defeated Voldemort, where everyone celebrated too soon and then no one believed when he came back," George continued.
"Right, I remember Remus telling me about the first war, and about Harry Potter and his parents. That was when we were learning history," said the young girl as she finished up her milk. Lee skipped over to the sink and put her cup in there. Four of the Weasley brothers watched their niece cavort around the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place, chasing Hermione's cranky old cat, Crookshanks.
"Boys, are you down there?" called the voice of the cat's owner from the stairs.
"We sure are!" Ron replied, leaping up to meet his girlfriend.
"I am too, Aunt Hermione," Lee added, running to hug the witch who had been more a mother to her than Ginny had. In fact, their were a lot of people who had more been Lee's parents than her own, including her grandparents, uncles, Hermione, Remus Lupin, and Minerva McGonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Hi, sweetie," Hermione said with a smile, "Did you work on you're lessons today, or did you're uncles just take you flying again?"
"Both!" giggled the girl.
"Boys, you know that Lee should concentrate on her studies, if she's to go to Hogwarts next year." Hermione scolded. She had always thought that they should have sent Lee to a muggle public school when she was younger, just so she would learn enough about both worlds. There was always a chance that her father wasn't a wizard, and that Lee might some day like to see what it was like to be part of that world. Still, that seemed like a remote possibility because Lee had proved herself to be a powerful witch from the time she was a few months old.
"Hermione, she just turned ten at the end of April, and the school year just started up last week!" protested Fred.
"Don't try and turn our sweet, mischievous niece into you! Besides, if anything, we should start explaining all the secret passages at Hogwarts to her. That could actually take some time to memorise. Not that a prefect like you would know, Hermione." George was giving Lee an appraising look that made the girl giggle.
"I'll have you two know that I spent a great deal of time at school breaking rules with Ron and Harry!" cried Hermione indignantly.
"With the both of them, eh? Didn't take you for that kind of witch, Hermione," Fred said, waggling his eyebrows.
"Speaking of Harry," Ron interrupted hastily before Hermione could hex Fred into oblivion, "Did you hear he was on his way back, Hermione?"
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPIt soon became obvious that everyone knew that Harry Potter was on his way back to civilisation after years of battling Voldemort in isolated little places around the globe. The only question in the minds of the wizarding public was whether Harry had defeated the Dark Lord or not. It seemed to them as though something like Voldemort's defeat wouldn't slip by unnoticed until the hero returned to tell of it. Yet a few quiet rumours started and a small group began celebrating. Still, most the community remained cautious.
Even the residents of Grimmauld Place didn't know what was going on, and they lived in the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Still, the war had become less and less about what the Order was doing, and more and more about what Harry was doing as the years had passed. For the most part, the Order was in charge of cleaning up the occasional pocket of Death Eaters that would turn up, tattered and unorganised while their leader fought and fled for his life.
So the first Ron, Hermione and the other Weasley's know of Harry and Voldemort was on the rainy Saturday afternoon on which he simply appeared in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. They were all lounging, from Mr and Mrs Weasley, to all their sons, Hermione, and Remus in the basement kitchen of Grimmauld place when Harry simply appeared, ignoring all the laws that said he shouldn't be able to do so in that secure of a place. After many silent moments, suddenly everyone broke through their shock and piled around him. Harry greeted everyone, laughingly, telling them over and over that Voldemort was gone. Finally they all settled down again, and Harry was able to turn to Ron and Hermione. "What's gone on? Where is everyone else, who's still around? Tell me everything."
"Well, all us Weasleys survived. Really, after you went to confront Voldemort, there weren't many casualties. He got too wrapped up in beating you to even keep his Death Eaters in line. Without him, the Order rounded most of them up pretty fast. Really, there's only the occasional small group that rallies together once a year or so and tries to break into Azkaban," Ron let Hermione take over the explanations as his mother put heaping plates in front of everyone, despite the fact that they had all eaten a few hours before.
"It's actually been quite convenient. They'll start throwing spells at the lake and at the fortress, then the Aurors will swoop down and just throw them in cells of their own," Hermione stopped to eat herself. Harry was going to ask after the missing Weasley, when the kitchen door banged shut and a red haired child entered.
"Who's that?" asked Harry, just before his green eyes met hers. She gasped, and her hand flew to the locket that hung around her neck.
The little girl paled and choked out one word, "Dad?"
"What?" roared many voices.
"Lee, what did you say?" asked Hermione, noticing for the first time that Lee's strange and beautiful eyes were a lot like Harry's.
"The picture, he looks just like the picture she gave me," Lee said, fumbling to pry open the golden necklace's heart shaped frame. Everyone crowded around the girl to see the picture she revealed. Harry smiled up from the frame, shyly, waving a little. Opposite was an inscription, but no one looked very closely at that. They were all more concerned to find out that Harry might be the mysterious father that they had all always wondered about.
"Who gave you that locket?" Harry rasped out, though he thought he recognised it. If it was the one he was thinking of, it could only have been given to the girl by-
"My mum," Lee said, searching Harry's face, "Ginny Weasley."
That nearly confirmed it for Harry; still, he asked, "How old are you?"
"I turned ten last April," said the girl, "And my name's Lee."
That did it. Harry didn't even bother to count backward to make sure. He didn't think he had to, not when Ginny left such obvious clues like the child's name for him. "Well, Lee, I'm Harry Potter, and it seems I'm you're father."
"I know. You look like the picture," said the girl, amazing Harry. If he had just met his dad after ten years of not knowing who he was, he would not sound so matter of fact.
"This is ridiculous! Harry and Ginny barely dated a month," Ron said, reminding the green-eyed pair that they weren't alone.
"They dated?" asked Fred, George, Percy, Bill, Charlie and Arthur Weasley all at once.
"They dated?" echoed Mrs Weasley even more dangerously.
"Scarcely. We were together for about a month at the end of my sixth year. I broke up with her so I could go after Voldemort. We weren't together long enough that anyone really knew, and so I knew she'd be safe as long as I stayed away from her. It was so short that it barely counted as a relationship," Harry said with a bitter smile.
"Oh, it was too short to be a relationship, but long enough for you to sleep with Ginny and get her pregnant!" cried Charlie.
"It wasn't like that!" protested Harry, not happy that they were making him defend himself if front of his daughter, especially when it came to the circumstance of her conception.
Before anyone else could yell, Hermione broke in "Harry is telling the truth! He broke up with Ginny at the end of June, at Dumbledore's funeral. Lee was born at the end of April, nearly eleven months later. Harry would have had to sleep with Ginny at the end of July, and we left then."
"I did," said Harry quietly, really wishing that Lee wasn't in the room.
"What?" asked Hermione, not sure what he was saying.
"Ginny and I slept together once. My seventeenth birthday. She knew we were leaving the next day, and said something about giving me a reason to come back, something about having a memory of what love can do to help me defeat Voldemort." Harry was looking anywhere but at the red haired result of the night he had spent in Ginny's bed eleven years before.
The kitchen was silent.
Lee broke that silence. "Did it work?"
"What?" asked Harry, surprised into looking into the girl's eyes again.
"Did remembering Ginny help you defeat Voldemort?" asked Lee seriously, her green eyes solemn.
"Yeah, more than anything," Harry admitted with a soft, half-grin on his face. "Where is Ginny?"
"I don't know," said Lee.
Harry was surprised by that response and looked around at the others. "No one knows. She has come and gone since just after Lee was born. Last we saw of her was, what, two years ago?" Ron said gently, looking around at the others to confirm that date.
"Four years ago, actually," Lee said casually, though Harry got the impression that she knew done to the minute, when she had last seen her mother.
"I won't let-" but Mrs Weasley cut Harry off before he uttered any promise.
"How can you be sure?" she asked gently, having long come to terms with the fact that her daughter wasn't quite who she thought she was.
"Several reasons actually. One, Lee has my eyes. Two, Ginny and I were in love. She wouldn't have slept with anyone else within the time frame that someone else could be Lee's father. Three, I gave Ginny that locket that last night before I left. And four, Lee's name," Harry said, standing up and gesturing for his daughter to do so as well.
"What's so special about the name Lee?" asked Bill.
"Honestly, Bill, you're wife is French." Harry said, "What does lee mean in French?"
"But its not spelt that way," argued Hermione, "Lee in French is L-I-S. Lee's name is L-E-E."
"That's only how you guys spell it. Ginny spelt it L-I-S in my locket," Lee said quietly.
"But what does it mean?" asked Ron impatiently. He hated how out of the loop he felt when Harry and Hermione understood something he didn't just as much now as he had the last time he had seen his best friend.
"It means Lily," said Hermione.
"Ginny named her daughter for my mother," said Harry quietly. "Lily is my daughter, and I'm guessing Ginny called her Lee so no one but me would guess."
"So my name really is Lily," said Harry's daughter. "I'd wondered."
"Why did you wonder, Lee, dear?" asked Mrs Weasley.
"My mum said something about a nickname the last time she was around, and Auntie Fleur sometimes calls me Silly-Lily. Not often, but once or twice." Lee said it all, standing opposite her father, looking at the people who had raised her.
"Lily, would you come talk with me somewhere in private?" asked Harry.
"Alright," she agreed, kind of liking the fact that Harry called her Lily. It almost seemed like some sort of private pet name between them. "We can go to my room."
"You live at Headquarters?" asked Harry amazed, and bothered. The last person he had loved who had lived here was still a painful memory for him. He resolved to get Lily out as soon as he could, not questioning how right it seemed to make plans for his daughter less than an hour after he had met her.
"I have all my life. A few of my uncles are usually here, and some of my aunts as well. Grandma and Grandpa are here the most." Lee said, leading them up to a small bedroom, painted a pale shade of pink, with fairytale characters covering the walls. The twin bed had a green bedspread that didn't really match, but looked warm and comfortable.
"Lils, I'm sorry I haven't been around," Harry said quietly, not sure how to go about talking to his newfound daughter.
"Its okay, Ginny said she never told you about me. She said so when she explained who the person in the locket was. She wouldn't tell me you're name, because she didn't want anyone else to know. She said that it would be dangerous for me if anyone found out who my parents are," Lee liked 'Lils' even better than Lily, and was quickly growing to like this stranger who was her father.
"I suppose Ginny was right about that. Maybe that's why she stayed away from you, too. I warned her when Voldemort found out that I loved Ginny more than anything that he might come after her. Maybe she wanted to keep you safe and removed entirely from Voldemort." Harry wasn't so sure he could have done the same thing. Then again, he had managed to leave Ginny behind.
"Lily, now that I know about you, I want to be you're father. I want us to be a family, even if it's just the two of us. Is that okay with you?" Harry asked.
"Yes, so long as its okay with you that I already have a family. I have a very big family," Lee seemed a little uncertain for the first time. Would Harry make her choose between those who had raised her and the chance to get to know her father?
"They're my family, too," Harry said with a grin, "Or, at least they were eleven years ago."
"They still are. They all talk about you a lot, except Ginny, she never said anything about you," then Lee smiled, "Except I guess she meant you every time she said 'your father'."
"I guess she did," said Harry grinning, his plans for the little girl before him already forming and growing. He would be a good father to this little girl, if it took all it had, because Harry was sure it would be worth it.
The next step was to convince her large bag of surrogate parents that he was totally devoted to his daughter, and that she should move in with him as soon as he found a new house. Maybe something in Hogsmeade so that he could be close to Hogwarts when she started school…
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPA/N: I've just redone this chapter a little, cleaned up a few typos and things that didn't quite make sense, partially so I could get a feel for this story again so I can write the third chapter. I'm going of the second one next, and then I'll tackle actually writing the third! Sorry to anyone who thought this was a new chapter or something…