Breaking The Truth
Chapter 2: Unexpected Surprise
N/A I already had this chapter written so I decided to put it up
The morning held a bit of chill to it. Hermione's case wasn't scheduled until eleven which meant she didn't have to be at the courthouse until ten-thirty. She'd taken off work for the whole day and decided to make Rose pancakes before she took her to preschool at nine. The little girl came skipping in at the smell of the pancakes cooking, her fair curls bouncing as she did.
"Mummy, k'I have blueburries in mine?" she asked happily.
Hermione ruffled her curls. "Of course you can, Buggy." She opened the freezer, grabbed the frozen blueberries, and sprinkled them in the pancakes on the grittle. Standing by Hermione, Rose placed her tiny hands on the counter, stood on her tippy-toes, and peered over. Hermione couldn't help but smile at her curious, little girl. Rose inhaled deeply.
"Dat smells goodie," she commented in her tinkling voice, clapping her hands together. "I'm hungy, mummy."
"Good," Hermione murmured, flipping a pancake onto a plate for her daughter, "'cause it's ready." She carried the plate over to the table and set it down. Rose climbed up on the chair and waited for her mother to cut the pancake. After Hermione did that, Rose smothered it in syrup and shoved a forkful in her mouth. Soon, the brunette joined her.
"Mummy?" Rose asked.
"Mmm?" was her reply.
"Is daddy coming ova today?" Her deep brown eyes stared at her mother, her expression wondering.
"Yes, Buggy. Ron's picking you up from preschool today," Hermione told her. She popped a bite of her pancakes in her mouth. Rose chomped before talking again.
"Mummy? If Won is my daddy, why doesn't he live wif us?" Her expression was now innocent as she gazed at her mummy.
Hermione's mouth fell open a bit. How should she respond? She guessed with the truth. She didn't need to worry Rose with the little details about her suspicions concerning Draco. "Because," she started, "mummy isn't ready to marry Ron. I love Ron very much, but it just isn't the right time. Plus…he hasn't asked in a while."
Rose seemed to decipher Hermione's words carefully. Her brow furrowed. "I want daddy to." One thing Hermione liked about Rose was that she never held in what she felt. She told her how it was in her mind.
"We'll see about it, Buggy."
Should he ask again? Or would that be crossing the point of desperate? He wanted this so bad. He loved Hermione and Rose. Just the thought of the little girl brought a smile to his face. She was a little angel. The cutest little thing, too. Ron had a soft spot for her. Anything she wanted, he gave her. How could he not? When she used her puppy dog face, it was impossible not to love her more. He definitely spoiled that girl rotten. And Ron knew she knew it. She used it to her advantage. There was not doubt that being sly was one of her personality traits.
But back to the thing that had been nagging him for the past few weeks. He still had the ring, and it was a beauty at that. A simple, silver band with a large diamond in the center. All he had to do was pop the question ¾ for the third time. Would he be able to handle another rejection? That he didn't know. Rose was his daughter; Hermione had been his girlfriend. It only seemed fitting that they get married and start a long, happy life together as a family.
But Hermione didn't seem to see the picture. She seemed hesitant and used a lame excuse like, "I'm not ready". How could she not be ready? Was she concerned about Rose? About their differences? Yes, it was true, Rose didn't look like him. He didn't have his fiery hair color. She must have just gotten it from Hermione's side of the family. But the little girl had some of his personality. She was stubborn and had a little bit of a temper on her. Rose was his child.
He pulled the car up to the Twinkle Star Preschool and got out. Just as he entered into the building he heard his little girl.
"Daddy!" she shouted, hurdling herself into his open arms. A mass of blonde curls was all Ron saw as the girl hugged him closely.
"Hi darling, how was your day?" Ron asked tenderly.
"Goodie. We drawed and learned our shapes and I played wif James," Rose told him happily. James Potter was his best mate's son. Rose had become good friends with him because Hermione took her over to Harry's quite often. Ron took her hand and led her out of the school. He strapped her in the car seat and then sat down in the driver's seat.
"Daddy? When will mummy be home?" Rose asked after a bit of silence.
"Uh, sometime later in the afternoon," Ron replied. He glanced back at her through the rearview mirror, like he did every two minutes. She stared out the window, her eyes wide with joy.
"Daddy? What's for lunch?"
"Uh, whatever you want, Rosie," Ron said, a smile playing on his features.
"Pizza?"
Ron shook his head. "I dunno if mummy would want you to have pizza. We just had it a few nights ago."
Rose's eyes widened and her lips pouted. "Pwease? Pwease daddy?"
She hit Ron's soft spot. He caved. "Alright, but don't tell mummy or she'll kick my butt."
Rose's tinkling giggle came from the back of the car. "Okie, I won't tell mummy."
Ron rubbed his forehead but couldn't stop the smile from forming as he glanced back at the little girl. She was grinning from ear to ear. How did he get so lucky? She was his.
The afternoon passed pretty much uneventfully. Ron and Rose enjoyed pizza from a muggle parlor in London and then had ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Then he took her around Diagon Alley to show her some of the places she'll get some stuff from for Hogwarts. She skipped happily beside him, their hands interlocked the whole time. After an hour or so, Ron took Rose back to Hermione's house and the two played games and watched Barney. Rose had to bring her stuffed purple dinosaur down to watch. It was cute.
"Daddy!" Rose squealed, jumping up and down while pointing at the TV screen. "I wanna be on dat wif Barney!"
Ron chuckled. "Of course you do, sweetheart." Rose clutched her Barney to her chest and crawled onto Ron's lap to continue watching. A little bit later, they were out cold on the floor.
Her day had been long. She was extremely exhausted and anxious to see her little girl. Her feet ached from wearing heels and standing all day. But on the bright side, her client one the case. He got legal rights to see his little girl. She smiled as she wrenched the front door open. She'd just helped a man be able to spend time with his three-year-old daughter. It felt good.
Walking through the foyer, her heels made a clicking noise on the cherry hardwood. She placed her briefcase, bag, and jacket on the kitchen table and turned towards the living room. Ron was sprawled out on the carpet, Rose cuddled on his chest. She grinned. For some reason, she always found them sleeping. Rose's eyes flickered open. When she saw her mother, a toothy grin appeared on her face. She leaped off Ron and flung herself at Hermione.
"Mummy!" Rose wrapped her arms around her mum's legs and hugged her. Hermione hoisted her up on her hip and stroked her curls.
"How was your day?"
"Goodie," Rose giggled.
"What'd you and daddy do?"
Rose smiled slyly and bit her lip. "Went to Dagan Alley and…and played games and watched Barney."
"Oh, you went to Dagan Alley, did you?" Hermione cooed, tickling the little girl's belly. Rose let out another giggle that soon turned into full laughing. Ron sat up and spun around, then let out a sigh of relief.
"How'd your case go?"
"It went well. My client won. I was pretty good, if I do say so myself," Hermione chuckled. She put Rose down and slipped off her heels. "Merlin, my feet are killing me." With a sigh, Hermione fell into one of the comfy chairs and lifted her feet up on the ottoman. She took the remote and changed the channel to the news.
"No! Mummy, I was watching dat!" Rose complained.
"Hush, Buggy, I want to see the news." Hermione held up her finger. Rose sat on the couch, her little legs dangling over the edge, with her arms crossed and a prominent pout on her face.
As the news man talked, Hermione watched, just to check on anything suspicious. Muggle news wasn't really helpful with the Wizarding world but if a wizard to doing significant damage, the muggles would report it, not knowing it was magic.
"Mysterious murders have been taking place here in London," the man went on. Hermione's ear perked up and she listened for any signs. "We haven't figured out the source yet, but it seems a whole village has been wiped clean. The victims have been, well, basically frozen. We will continue this investigation. Back to you, Margret."
A whole village wiped clean? Victims basically frozen? Avada Kedavra. That spell could easily have done the trick… Hermione glanced at Ron. He was staring in disbelief at the TV. Then she looked at her little angel. Her pout was gone. She gazed at her mummy. Hermione stood up immediately and hurried to the phone. Rose followed. She picked up the phone and dial the Potters' number. The only reason Harry had installed one was because of her. An easy way to communicate.
"Um…h-hello?" A voice, unsure what she was doing, came from the other line.
"Ginny? Oh Ginny, is Harry there?" Hermione asked, desperately.
"Um, yes. Hermione, uh…what's wrong?" she muttered, her voice worried.
"Nothing, I just need to talk to Harry, please, Ginny," Hermione told her. Rose tugged on her black pencil skirt.
"Mummy, what's going on?" Hermione held her finger to Rose's lips.
"Hermione? What's up?" Harry's voice came from the other line.
"Harry, I could ask you the same question. You're the Auror. You tell me. I was watching the muggle news and there's…well there's been mysterious murders and it sounds like it was done by a wizard with the Avada Kedavra curse." Her voice choked one the last word.
Harry's voice came out slightly harsh. Hermione could just picture him with his teeth clenched. "No, this is the first I've heard of it." He relaxed. "I'm going to Apparate in to the Ministry of Magic and I'll get back to you when I've figured some stuff out. Thanks for letting me know, Hermione."
"Okay, bye." She hung up and phone and turned to Ron, who was standing in the kitchen staring at her. "He's not sure. He hasn't heard anything. He said he was going to go to the Ministry and find out." She picked up Rose, who'd been nagging and whimpering.
"Alright, I'm gonna go down too. I'll call from the Ministry when we get some information." He placed a quick kiss on Rose's forehead and Apparated out.
Hermione didn't like the idea of staying at home, waiting for a call. She wanted to find out herself or at least be there. Her tension and quickness scared Rose. She was now sobbing into her chest. Hermione rubbed her back with circular motions.
"It's okay, Buggy, it's okay." Rose sniffled and wiped her eyes. Hermione placed her on the ground. "Why don't you go play."
Rose nodded and ran off to her bedroom.
The hours seemed to drag on. Hermione felt helpless as she sat by the phone, waiting for a call from either Ron or Harry. She needed to know what was going on. She didn't like feeling out of it all. Usually she was right up with everyone, hearing the plan as it was being formed. Not this time. She was stuck at home, feeling sick to her stomach.
Once the ringing sound echoed through the house, Hermione leaped up and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" she asked desperately.
"Hermione? It's Ron." She sighed with relief at the sound of his voice.
"What's going on?"
"Well, the murders were work of a wizard. They have their suspicions but I won't worry you with the details that they aren't even sure of. All they want you to do is get somewhere safe because who ever it is will probably come after us three, since we're legendary." Ron's voice sounded smug.
"Okay, I could stay with my parents…or -"
Ron cut her off. "The Ministry is determind to send you to this one place. I am furious but they will not budge. They threatened to fire me if I interfered. Ugh, I can't believe it! Him out of all people!" He groaned angrily.
"Ron, who is it?" Hermione asked, afraid to know.
He took a deep breath and when he spoke, his voice was filled with the utmost loathing. "Malfoy."
One week came and went. The thought of living at Malfoy Manor was horrifying to Hermione. She'd begged and pleaded with the Minister. But there was no hope. His mind was set. He wanted Hermione to be safe and apparently she would be safe there. Ron had promised to come and take her and Rose out almost every day. She was grateful for that. The only thing that struck her curiosity was, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to know, to finally know the truth. She could compare Rose with Malfoy and figure out if he really is her father. Though she was sure she knew the truth, she just wasn't ready to accept it.
She'd heard about Draco's divorce with Astoria Greengrass. It had been all over the news. Divorce wasn't common in the Wizarding world and was frowned upon. But, apparently Astoria had been sneaking around behind his back. What a shocker. With a sister like Daphne, it was sort of expected. So Draco lived with his parents and his son, Scorpius Malfoy. He was about Rose's age and that scared Hermione to death. Who knows what kind of a little boy he is? He could be a bad influence on her little girl. But, then again, he would be her step-brother. Hermione shuddered.
So, for the past few hours, Hermione had been packing her and Rose's things. Rose had been so good. She dressed herself and now was sitting in the living room drawing pictures. That way, Hermione could pack in peace. She was no where ready for this big change. Draco didn't worry her as much as his parents, Lucius and Narcissa, did. Lucius obviously hated Hermione for her lack of magical parents. As did Narcissa, but she didn't seem as against them as her husband.
She glanced at the clock. The Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, would be arrive in fifteen minutes. She grabber her wand and non-verbally cast a spell that put all of the remaining clothing in the suitcase. Then she levitated the bags down the stairs, placing the nicely in the foyer.
"Rose, honey, can you put your shoes on?"
"Yes, mummy." Rose strapped her white sandals on, for it was April, so it was warm enough. She sat back down and went back to her drawing.
The doorbell rang and Hermione hastily answered it. There stood Kingsley Shacklebolt in robes of brilliant purple and gold.
"Minister," she said politely.
"Miss Granger, are you ready go?" he asked in his deep, booming voice. He didn't try to be loud, he just was by nature.
"Yes," Hermione replied. Two wizards took their bags outside. Hermione hoisted Rose onto her hip and carried her outside as well. Holding tightly to her precious cargo, she pictured Malfoy Manor, shuddered at the memory of it, and Apparated.
N/A Thanks for reading. Review please?