I'm sorry it has been a while since I have updated. I was not sure how I wanted to continue, so it took me a while to write this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or his world.
Hermione was enjoying some morning tea at the table. She always enjoyed the time before the rest of the family woke up. As she smelling in the deep scent of her tea, she thought about the previous night. She was thankful her children would never know the judgment she endures, but they would have learn about it at some point. If she did not tell them, they would hear about it from another source. She was so deep in thought she did not hear her daughter coming down the stairs.
"Mom?" Rose asked, a little concerned that her mother was staring off into space. "Mom? Hello?" She waved her hands in front of her mom, finally shaking her out of her stupor.
"Rosie dear, I didn't hear you," She smiled at her daughter. "Do you want something to drink?"
"How about some pumpkin juice." Rose sat down next to her mother, as Hermione summoned a cup and the pitcher of pumpkin juice. "Mom, you seemed a little distracted last night." Hermione sighed. Her daughter was more perceptive then most young girls of 11.
"I love sharing these stories with you two, however there are some things that happened to us that are not easy to share. You see dear, the world we live in today is very different then the one I grew up in. I was treated differently because I was muggle born. Not by everyone, but by enough people that it hurt."
"Did they make fun of you?" Rose asked.
"They called me a horrible name. They used to call people who were muggle born mudbloods, meaning we had dirty blood." Her daughter's eyes widened. "Your father actually tried to curse someone who called me that. Unfortunately it did not work out so well for him." Hermione gave a small chuckle.
"What happened?"
"Remember we told you about how your father had broken his wand?" Hermione asked. Her daughter nodded.
"He flew a car into the Whomping Willow." Rose replied.
"That's right. So when he tried to curse Malfoy, his wand backfired. He ended up cursed himself instead. Your father was spewing slugs for a long while." Mother and daughter laughed a bit at the idea of Ron vomiting slugs. "However it was the first time I became aware of how much your father cared for me. It took us another five years before we admitted that we cared for each other however."
"You mean you and dad didn't date at all while you were in school?" Rose asked. As most young children, she assumed her parents had always loved each other, and it was hard for her to fathom the thought that her parents had not always been like this.
"No, in fact there were times when we did not like each other very much. During our third year, for some time your father did not speak to me at all. We argued a lot during our fourth year as well. Our sixth year brought about our biggest rift. Your poor Uncle Harry was constantly having to mediate between us, and suffer out constant bickering." Rose stared at her mother, dumbstruck by what she was hearing. "We eventually realized our fighting was trivial and we started to do it less and less."
"I can't believe you fought with dad. I mean I know you two have arguments, but it sounds like you hardly got along at school."
"I honestly believe that if it wasn't for Uncle Harry, your father and I may not have stayed friends. Thankfully we got through all of those times and here we are, happy together." Hermione saw her daughter looking at her. "One day you will understand. Why don't you help me get breakfast ready?" They both got up and started cooking, which quickly brought down two hungry boys.
"Good morning. It is wonderful to see my two beautiful girls cooking in the morning." Ron went over and kissed the top of Rose's head and then gave his wife a kiss. Rose watched, still unable to believe what her mother had told her. He then sat down and joined his sleepy son at the table. "Are you going into the ministry today again?"
"Yes, unfortunately I have to. But I will be home tomorrow. I promised Ginny I would watch her trio tomorrow. Do you need to go to the shop today?" Hermione asked as she set the food on the table, and her daughter set out plates and cups.
"No, I can stay home today. Tomorrow though George asked if I could come in a little early." Ron and Hugo both started to pile up their plates, even before Hermione and Rose sat down at the table. They ate and talked for a bit. After getting some food in his stomach, Hugo finally woke up.
"Mom and Dad, you told us about the Chamber of Secrets and how it was opened. Did you make the Polyjuice potion to figure out who opened the chamber?" Hugo asked.
"That is indeed what we did. We thought that a student in Slytherin was behind the chamber incidences." Hermione replied. "We thought that if we disguised ourselves as his friends, he would confess to us."
"Unfortunately, Malfoy was not the culprit. We did all that work for nothing." Ron said with his mouth full. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Please don't talk with your mouth full Ron, your teaching your son bad habits. And we did find out that the chamber had been opened before."
"Wait, the chamber was opened before?" Rose asked. "But it was thought to be a legend. If it had been opened before, then people should have known it was real."
"Not everyone knew that it had been opened before. It had been opened 50 years prier." Hermione told her daughter
"Wait, you said Malfoy. He was the one you thought opened the chamber?" Rose asked. "Mom, wasn't Malfoy the one dad tried to curse because he called you that name?" Ron coughed when he heard this.
"You told her about that?" Ron said with a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks.
"It was a sweet gesture. Even though you ended up cursing yourself instead of Malfoy." Hermione said as she finished up her breakfast.
"Why did you think Malfoy was the one who opened the chamber?" Hugo asked.
"When we were in school, Malfoy held the same belief that Slytherin had. He felt those that did not come from pure blood wizarding families were inferior. So we assumed he was either the one doing it, or he knew who was doing it." Hermione explained, a lot more diplomatic than Ron would have explained it.
"So the person who opened the chamber wanted to get rid of everyone who was muggle born?" Rose asked
"Well, kind of. Yes when the chamber was opened and the monster released, it was to get rid of muggle born, but the person who was doing it wasn't doing it on purpose." Hermione started to clean up.
"Who was it?" Both children asked. The two adults looked at each other briefly before answering.
"Your Aunt Ginny was the one opening the chamber." Hermione said. Her children stared at her dumbfounded. "Remember I told you that she received an enchanted diary. Well, that diary held the memory of the person who had opened the chamber 50 years earlier. The diary fed off of your Aunt's emotions, and possessed her occasionally. She opened the chamber, but never knew that she was doing it." The children still looked with unbelief in their eyes. They then looked to their father for confirmation.
"It's true. She unintentionally opened the chamber. We never knew she was doing it, although she was not herself all year. Thankfully your Uncle Harry saved her from the diary and no one was seriously injured or hurt. Those who were petrified were revived."
"Who was petrified? You only told us about the cat. What was the monster? How did Uncle Harry help Aunt Ginny?" Rose started to rapid-fire questions.
"Unfortunately I do not have the time to get into all of that right now. When I get back from work we can talk about it." She kissed her two children and her husband before Flooing to work.