(A/N:) I once read an author's note in a story that I agreed with. In that sense, if I were to own Harry Potter, there would be no way that Harry and Ginny would end up together. (Sorry, H/G fans...) I am merely constructing my own sandcastle in the sandbox of one J.K. Rowling.

The sky had darkened as the figure of a man walked up the entryway of the house. Raising his hand, he knocked on the door and waited for it to open. He felt the wind start to pick up, blowing a warm gust of air through the trees as a crack of thunder rumbled overhead. It had been 10 years since he had been to this house, not since the day they came and took him away only a day after the worst of his young life. There were a few fat drops of rain that started to hit the pavement around him as the door opened to reveal a brunette bushy-haired woman that had changed so much since he had last been here and seen her.

"Harry?" the woman asked, only barely believing her eyes.

"Evening, ma'am," Harry Potter replied, not looking directly at her.

"Please come in," Emma Granger said, as she moved out of the doorway to let him in. At first he didn't move, but could feel her gaze on him as he gingerly stepped over the threshold and into the house. It wasn't even a second after the door closed that she broke down into tears and grabbed him in her arms, tightly.

"Oh, Harry," she cried, "I never believed the crap that those people were saying. I know how much she meant to you and how much you meant to her." Harry though just stood there, trying as hard as he could to not listen to the honesty that was being expressed in her words and emotions. After a few minutes, her tears subsided and she released him from her grip leading him into the kitchen of the Granger household. Pulling out a chair, she motioned for him to sit as she got him something to drink.

Emma opened her mouth to ask Harry a question when the front door opened, and a deep male voice called out.

"Emma, honey, I'm home,"

Richard Granger walked into the kitchen and started to pull a beer out of the refrigerator, but stopped short as he looked at who exactly was in the kitchen with his wife. The beer slipped out of his hand as his eyes grew wide, and he started to move towards Emma, trying to pull her away from Harry.

"What in God's name do you think you are doing here, Potter? How dare you come here!"

Harry's whole demeanor darkened as he stood, knocking the chair over. He held his hands out away from him, trying to appear non-threatening, but it didn't help as Richard moved almost in the blink of an eye and slugged Harry across his face, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"Richard!" Emma cried out, "For God's sake, stop this right now!"

"No, Emma. How can you even say that when you know what he did? Hermione is –"

Emma cut him off with a sharp slap against his cheek, her eyes narrowed and she almost radiated anger, "How dare you even suggest that I forgot what happened to my daughter? Harry had nothing to do with it. I don't care what anyone says about him, and trust me, Richard, I have heard a lot, but I believe Harry Potter. Harry, I want to apologize…," but as she turned around, she realized that she was talking to air, as Harry had disappeared. Quickly, she spun around back to face Richard, "Are you happy now?"

Without waiting for an answer, she stormed out of the kitchen and stomped up the stairs to the bedroom. Grabbing a bag, she threw some clothes and essentials in a bag. Throwing the bag over her shoulder, she had made it back downstairs and to the front door before hearing Richard's voice call out to her. Taking a breath to center herself, she turned and faced him with an icy glare.

"What, Richard?"

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know right now, but I need to not be here. We need time, Richard. For ten years, this has been building up. We pretend that everything is okay, while at the same time we both repress what we are really thinking. Tonight, I think was the first time that we've been honest to not only each other but to ourselves in how we've approached this situation with Harry and Hermione. Can you tell me right now that I am wrong?"

Richard stared at her, not saying a word, because, while he didn't want to admit she was right about this, he couldn't refute it. Taking his silence as his answer, she readjusted the bag on her shoulder, and opened the front door. As she took a step over the threshold, she looked back at him before shutting the door, getting in her car and driving away.

(A/N:) Good evening, readers of Harry Potter fanfiction. This is an idea that has been rumbling around in my head for a while. This first chapter is setting the stage, but I will only add to the story as long as I keep getting storyboards in my head of where I want to take this and if I can turn those images in to good enough prose. I hope that you all stick with and enjoy the story as I plan on having quite a few chapters for this story.