Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not, and never will, own Harry Potter.
IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE
This story had several changes to canon. I will leave them here for readers to understand a few things.
One: Sirius never died. I love him too much so, Sirius is still alive and being awesome. He is the Charms Professor at Hogwarts and married a muggle, Cassiopeia "Cassie" White who lives with him at Hogwarts. He has a daughter who is James' age named Corina "Cori".
Two: Fred also never died, because I am in complete denial. He married Alicia Spinnet and had five children, all girls. The oldest is eleven at the start and a first year named Georgia. Then it is Isabelle "Izzy" who is four years younger than Georgia. Then he had twins two years after that, Faith and Grace. The youngest is a one-year-old Jessica. George's son is still Fred, though he goes by Freddie.
Three: Remus and Tonks didn't die (you see a pattern here?). They raised Teddy and Teddy is a Hufflepuff. They also had one other child, a girl named Caroline who is eleven and starting Hogwarts. Teddy will be going into his fourth year.
Four: Harry is not an auror. He is a teacher at Hogwarts. He teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hermione teachers Transfiguration, Draco Malfoy teaches Potions, Sirius, as I said, teaches Charms, and Neville still teaches Herbology. Astoria, Draco's wife, is practicing to be the new Hogwarts Matron.
Five: Neville and Luna are together. They have four children: Frank (8), Alice (5), and Lorcan and Lysander (4). Luna is a wand maker and works at Ollivanders.
Six: Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones were killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. Hannah was killed by Fenrir Greyback and Susan was killed protecting a younger student who had stayed to fight.
Anything else that you might see in this story will be clear, such as Ron and Hermione's divorce. If you have any questions, leave them in a review.
The day was bright and there was not a single cloud to be seen in the sky. The neighborhood of Godric's Hollow was quiet, save the birds whose songs filled the early morning sky. The peacefulness of the area was a far cry from the horror that had occurred thirty years prior. Gone were the memories of the burning home and the horrified screams of neighbors. The graves of James and Lily Potter were just another grave in the graveyard.
Well, to everyone but their son. At thirty one, Harry Potter visited the graveyard near his home that he had settled in after the war at least once a week. Ginny often came with him and lately, so did his children.
At the Potter Cottage, Harry and his wife were in the kitchen, talking quietly. The smell of bacon and pancakes permeated the air, drawing their three children from their beds. An ecstatic eight-year-old whom had been given the name James Sirius hopped into the kitchen, ready to eat. He was followed by his little sister, four-year-old Lily Luna, whose big brown eyes were drawn to the food. Six-year-old Albus Severus sleepily shuffled in moments later.
Harry smiled nervously at his children. They had gone all out with breakfast, hoping to get their kids in a good mood before explaining the news. He wasn't looking forward to it. Sirius, his godfather, had suggested that he come for moral support, but Harry knew that this was something he and Ginny needed to tell them themselves.
As Ginny piled food on the children's plates, Harry let his eyes wander of them. James was getting so big. He had messy hair like Harry's and big brown eyes like Ginny's that shined with mischief. Ever since he had been born two months early, that little boy had been nothing but trouble, and it didn't help that Sirius had pretty much taken him under his wing and taught him to be the best prankster ever.
Albus was much different than his brother. He was kind and quiet, always willing to help, but he was also painfully shy. It was hard to take the child out into public. The fact that he was nearly a carbon copy of Harry made him the apple of the Public's eye and he was always hiding behind Harry's legs when people would stare.
Lily was his little princess. With her long, Weasley red hair and bright brown eyes, she looked just like Ginny had when she was younger and she was a fiery little four-year-old. She wasn't shy and was always looking to make friends with people. She usually could, as well. Everyone instantly fell in love with her outgoing personality and she lit up the room whenever she entered.
He'd tried his best to make sure they had an amazing childhood… and now they were going to ruin it.
He felt horrible.
Sitting beside Ginny, he sent her a look. She nodded. They both knew that they had to do it. They couldn't keep on like this anymore.
"James, Albus, Lily," Harry spoke getting their attention. Usually, it took a while to get them quiet down in the excited chatter (especially James and Lily) but they obviously noticed something in their father's voice.
"We have something to tell you," Ginny continued. Her hands shook slightly and she put them on her lap, keeping them steady.
Harry took a deep breathe. He could see the curiosity gleaming in the children's eyes.
It took him a minute but he finally managed to speak again. It would be better to just get this over with. There was no use trying to hide it anymore, "You know that your mother and I love you all very much, right?"
They nodded, looking confused.
"Well, lately your mother and I have realized that things aren't working out between us," Harry said slowly, "We've decided that the best thing for us to do is to… get a divorce."
"What's a diborse?" Lily asked, not understanding. It was obvious that James understood though, if the horrified look on his face was anything to go by. Albus knew, as well. They could remember Ron and Hermione's recent separation better than Lily could.
Ginny decided to explain this, "Well, your father and I are going to be living in separate places. We're going to be separated."
"But," James spoke up, eyebrows scrunched together, "I thought you loved each other."
"We do," Ginny assured him, "But, it's not the same. We love each other as friends but not how we used to. Do you understand?"
James shook his head. His lower lip wobbled, "But what's going to happen to us?"
Harry sighed, glancing at Albus and Lily. Lily still looked confused, but he could see that she was slowly starting to understand. Albus was silent and Harry could see tears in his eyes.
"We're going to have joint custody," Ginny explained softly, "You will stay with your father for one week and then me for another week. We've already decided that I'll keep the house and Harry is going to be staying at Hogwarts. That means that you three will get to live at Hogwarts when you're with him."
That seemed to cheer James up a little. Harry was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts but he had never actually lived at the castle before. He had his own quarters for between classes but he would always floo home once all his classes were over, and on the weekends. The three children had visited Hogwarts before and absolutely loved it.
"Really?" James asked excitedly, though there was still a tinge of sadness in his voice.
The news, however, had Lily elated as she stood up and started bouncing up and down, "When do we go? When do we go?"
"Well, I'll be staying here until the summer is over," Harry explained to his daughter, "But we will be going over to Hogwarts this weekend to set up your bedrooms in my quarters. I've already talked to McGonagall about adding three more bedrooms. Would you like that?"
Summer still had three weeks left. They had chosen on telling their children the plans early. The divorce was already going through.
Unlike Hermione and Ron whose divorce had been the result of an epic fight when Ron discovered that Hermione was now on friendly terms with Draco Malfoy (Hermione was the Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts and Draco taught Potions so they kind of had to be), Harry and Ginny had both simply come to the realization that they didn't love each other anymore. Of course, they still cared about each other but the original love was gone. Their divorce was clean, not messy. Harry had offered her to stay in the house and they had split everything evenly and without conflict.
Hermione and Ron's divorce had been a bit messy. Ron was convinced that Hermione was cheating on him with Draco, despite her insistence that she would never do that. They fought over the house and the money and even the kids. Eventually, Harry had sat them both down and they had managed to come up with an agreement. Ron kept the house and Hermione now lived at Hogwarts. Hermione had gotten primary custody of the kids, as Ron's job as an Auror had odd, long hours and the then three and five year old's needed a parent to be with them more often.
Still, they saw their father every other weekend. Ron and Hermione had gotten over the horrible fight but had realized that their marriage would have never worked out. Ron was currently dating Katie Bell and they got along much better than he and Hermione ever had.
He knew it would be much different between himself and Ginny. It wasn't messy. Things were mutual. They had an understanding.
Harry's eyes found Albus' matching ones. They were filling up with tears and he quickly stood and gathered the small boy in his arms. He had known that Albus would be the most affected by this. He was always more sensitive than the other two.
He hugged his middle child to him and rubbed his back soothingly as the boy started to cry.
"Hey, don't worry, bud," he whispered in his ear, "Everything's going to be okay."
So, yeah, I decided to write something a bit different. I broke up Ron and Hermione as well as Harry and Ginny. Usually, I like them to be happy together but I really wanted some drama and also decided to write a Harry/Hermione story. However, this will not be Weasley Bashing story. I tried to make it as believable as possible. Ron is the jealous type and I always felt that he and Hermione wouldn't really work out (though there is a part of me that ships them badly). Honestly, I really love Hinny but I like Harmony more so... this is what happened!
More, like the ages of cousins, will be explained as the story goes along. It will focus on Harry and his kids and the drama that will enter his life. I have lots of plans *laughs evilly*.
If you have any questions, concerns, or anything you want to hear more about in an upcoming chapter, leave them in a review!