A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, I was writing another story that I will not put up until I finish with this one. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I know its short, but I will get the next chapter up ASAP.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Areyah.
Chapter 1: Three Years Later
"MUMMY!!!!!!!!!"
Hermione instinctively turned as she heard her daughter's voice calling for her. The others stared as she picked up her daughter and spun her around, smiling as her daughter giggled loudly.
Harry, Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin, Sirius and the Weasleys all stared at her with confusion. McGonagall put a hand on Hermione's shoulder and said quietly, "I think it's time to tell them."
Hermione nodded and sat down at the table in Grimmauld Place with her daughter's face in her neck as she fell asleep. "This is my daughter," Hermione explained. "Her name is Areyah Eileen Granger. She's named for her cousin and her great- grandmother. She's three years old this December."
"How did you have her if you were still in school," Snape asked coldly and curiously; something only he could accomplish.
"I left for Christmas break. The magical clothes that Madam Pomfry gave to me covered up my condition."
"When did you become…pregnant," Ron asked, clearly crushed at the news.
"It happened over summer break when I was sixteen. There was only one time that we didn't take precautions, but it was enough. Areyah was born five months later. The doctors thought that she wouldn't survive because she was so small and because she was premature, but she has her father's strength," Hermione said whimsically.
Everyone stared at her as if she had grown horns and a tail. As she had predicted, they were not displeased, they were disappointed. They had thought she would have been smarter than this; they had been wrong.
Ginny was the first to speak. "She looks just like you."
Hermione smiled. She knew that Ginny wasn't one to give up. She would get an earful when Ginny went back to the room they shared. Instead of badgering her with questions, they only watched as she stood with her daughter in her arms and walked out of the kitchen, into the hall to take Areyah to a bed.
HGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSS
Ginny came into the room five minutes after Areyah had been laid down for a nap on Hermione's temporary bed, looking as if she had been interrogated by everyone after Hermione had left.
"Who is the father," she asked quietly, well aware of the sleeping figure on the bed.
"You know him, actually."
"Is it someone I know personally, or have I just heard about him?"
"Personally, though not closely." I hope, Hermione thought to herself.
"I don't understand," Ginny said cautiously.
"If I tell you this, you have to swear to keep it quiet. You cannot tell a soul, alive or dead. Understood?"
Ginny nodded her head in understanding and waited. In return, Hermione told Ginny about her sixteen year old summer and how she had discovered who her child's father really was.
"Do you mean to tell me that you are the Emma that Severus was talking about," Ginny asked.
"Yes," Hermione said, not realizing that Ginny had used Snape's first name.
"You have to tell him," Ginny said.
"No. You heard him yourself, He said it was a mistake and I don't want him to think that Areyah was a mistake."
Ginny was silent for
a minute, debating with herself. "What sis you tell her about her
father," Ginny finally asked, gesturing toward Areyah.
"I told
her that he was away on business. I don't ever want him to know. I
could never face the reality that he thought our daughter was a
mistake."
"Does she have any glamour on her to cover up her parentage?"
"Yes," Hermione answered hesitantly. Then, with a wave of her wand, her daughter's features changed dramatically. The only features that were similar to her mother's were her nose and curly hair. If anyone saw her in her present state, there would be no doubt in their mind as to who her father was.
"I put glamour on her because whenever I don't, he is all I see when I look at her. I don't want Areyah growing up knowing that her father thinks she is a mistake."
There was silence in the room except for the soft breathing of the child on the bed.
