Hope you guys had a great Stuff Your Face Day as well as Kill Yourself Over Junk You Don't Need Because It's Cheap But You Keep Forgetting About Good Old Safe Cyber Monday Friday.
Imma weirdo. It is what it is lol.
Wanted to give a shout out to two of my favorite writers as well as supporters, ScarletProphecy14 and thatwitch64. Both great Romione writers, so for all the Romione shippers out there, go check out their work, as well as AzaleaBlue who is a tremendous Romione writer also. Check out her stories!
Let's get to it :)
Chapter 12: The Secret Keeper
"Merlin, I need a stiff drink." whispered Ginny as she fanned herself. Molly, who normally didn't condone drinking, especially from her children, nodded slowly in agreement.
Ron and Tatiana seemed to be locked in some sort of impromptu staring contest. He couldn't help but to take in every single feature of the girl to find himself. The hair was a dead giveaway, every Weasley, even Victoire, with her heavy strawberry blonde hair has some variation of the Weasley hair. Tatiana's hair actually reminded him of Percy's. He could also tell by her eye shape, face shape, and ears. He owned both of those, while the eye color, nose and mouth was all Hermione.
"Bloody hell." whispered Ron as he continued to stare.
Tatiana scrunched up her nose. "Mummy says it isn't polite to use naughty words." she said to him, making Ron want to laugh and cry at the same time.
"She's Hermione's daughter alright." said Ginny, amused.
"What do you know of naughty words dear?" asked Molly, finally broken out of her trance.
"Father Krum says a lot of naughty words to Mummy and she gets sad." said Tatiana, looking down at the ground.
Ron started to feel the anger in him take root, but he knew he had to keep his cool in front of the child.
His child. He had a child. A daughter. And he didn't even know it.
Molly was curious as to why Tatiana addressed Viktor in such a manner "Has your-"
"No." interrupted Ron.
"No?"
"She's tired, probably hungry, and scared. She needs to be cleaned and rested before we give her a million questions, don't you think Mum?" asked Ron as he stood up, taking Tatiana's tiny hand into his massive one.
Both Molly and Ginny looked pleasantly stunned. "You're right, dear." she said, looking at Ron proudly.
She then focused her attention onto Tatiana. "Would you like some tea and biscuits, dearie? And then maybe a hot bath and a nap?"
Tatiana looked up at Ron who looked down at her and smiled. She then walked over to Molly and nodded her head.
After Molly filled the little girl with tea, a chicken sandwich, and some small pies, she helped her wash off and then found something of Ginny's and shrunk it down to her size. As soon as Tatiana's head hit Ginny's pillow, she was asleep immediately.
"Is she okay?" asked Ron as his mother came back down to the sitting room.
"Poor baby was exhausted. Went right to sleep." said Molly, sitting down in her chair.
"Okay, that's all well and good." said Ginny, ready to get to the bottom of the issue. "Now, Ronald Weasley, what the bloody hell? The letter says that she is yours? We haven't seen Hermione in seven damn years, how is this possible?"
Ron pushed his hair back from his face while he did the math in his head. "Actually, if Tatiana is six, it makes a lot of sense. Hermione and I did have sex the day before she left."
"Ronald Bilius Weasley! Of all the idiotic things to do knowing that girl was going to leave the very next day!" yelled Molly, remembering that embarrassing day.
"Oh so spending time with the girl I loved before she was ripped out of my life forever is idiotic now? I was 18! Neither one of us were thinking that she would end up pregnant!" voiced Ron.
Molly threw up her arms. "Oh honestly Ron, there are more ways to spend time that to have sex!" said Molly.
"What is pissing me off is that she never fucking said anything the entire time she was writing Ginny. Not even a bloody hint!"
"And what would you have done, Ron?" asked Ginny.
"I would have went after her of course!"
"Exactly! She didn't want you to do something stupid like try to find her. She was thinking about protecting you, Ron. And you can't blame her for that. Obviously she did well with Tatiana because she is here now." said Ginny.
"But something must have happened for her to send her here knowing the risks." said Ron. "She said 'bad men in black'. That sounds like bloody Death Eaters to me."
"More than likely. But I wonder what has happened now? And what of Hermione?" said Molly tearing up.
Ron sighed. "Do I tell her?"
"Tell who what?" asked Ginny.
"Do I tell her that I'm her father?"
Molly and Ginny looked at one another and then back at Ron. " I think you should." said Ginny. "She knows that she is a Weasley. As soon as she finds out that we are also Weasleys, she's gonna wanna know between Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and you who her father is."
"I think she already knows in a way, Ginny dear." said Molly. "And I think you knew too before the letter, Ron."
"Eyes like hers, hair like mine? How could I not know?" said Ron, giving a small chuckle.
"So what do we do? We can't just keep her here and not do anything." said Ginny.
"She stays with me, of course." said Ron.
"Ron, you don't know how to take care of a kid." said Ginny.
"I do too! I practically helped Andromeda raise Teddy and you know it! And I've taken care of Victoire, Dominique, Freddy Jr. and Orion so what the bloody hell do you mean?"
"You give those children back at the end of the day, Ron. And you've known them since birth. You don't know anything about Tatiana, other than she is you and Hermione's daughter." said Ginny.
"So I can't learn from my own kid? So what do you suggest, she stay with you? Hell no. You already have one and about to drop another. Plus I don't want Lucius anywhere near my daughter." yelled Ron.
"I could keep her here, dear." said Molly, calmly. "She could keep me company."
"Why can't I have my own child, Mum? Why can't I have the only thing that I have that is a part of Hermione? She's mine. And you can't tell me that I can't have her." said Ron in a threatening voice .
Ginny and Molly looked at each other. Molly couldn't help but smile a little.
"You'll need a bed." said Ginny. "Clothes, toys, the right food. I can help you there. Knowing any child of Hermione's, she'll probably be content spending days in Draco's library."
"I can pay you back Gin."
"Never. Consider it baby shower and six birthdays worth of presents." said Ginny, hugging her brother. "Whenever she is here, she can have my old room. It's just sitting there after all."
"And you'll need to put her in school in a few weeks. I say that only because she needs time to get used to everyone, as well as time to figure out how to find Hermione." said Molly.
"Shit, Ron. What about Lavender? You know she can't take care of a pigmy puff. How is she gonna help you take care of a kid?" asked Ginny.
Before Ron could answer, they heard the creak of a step. They looked over and seen Tatiana standing there, clutching her bunny with one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other.
"I had a bad dream." she said slowly. "The bad men were after me again."
Ron got up immediately and walked over to her, taking her hand. "Come on little love, let's go talk about it and see if we can get rid of them, yeah?"
Tatiana nodded and allowed Ron to pick her up and carry her up the stairs to Ginny's room. There, he sat down on the bed, sitting her down on his lap.
"Now, what happened?" he asked in a soft voice.
"Mummy and I were hiding in Auntie Ari's house. They found us and they took me away. I was scared." said Tatiana, trembling.
Ron stroked her hair and smiled at the fearful girl. "Well, you're safe now. No bad men will come and get you here. Not while I'm around, do you understand?"
Tatiana nodded and laid her head on Ron's shoulder.
"So, what's your mate's name?" he asked, pointing to the bunny.
"Mozart. But I call him Momo. Mummy made him for me when I was a baby." said Tatiana proudly.
"Did Mummy name him too?" asked Ron.
Tatiana looked surprised. "Hey, how did you know that?"
Ron chuckled. "Lucky guess."
"He hides secrets too. Do you want to see?" asked Tatiana, feeling like she could trust him.
"Sure, love. Let's see then."
Tatiana turned the bunny over, unzipped the back, and pulled out what looked like papers and photographs. Ron was amazed. He didn't think she meant the term literally.
"These secrets are Mummy's and this one is her favorite." said Tatiana, handing him the photographs.
Ron almost cried as he looked at a picture of Hermione, holding a baby. More than likely their daughter. She looked a bit weak, which led him to believe she had just gave birth. She seemed to be rubbing the baby's face and then telling the person who took the picture to back off, as she put up a hand, laughing.
The next picture seemed to be of her, Tatiana, and some black lady that he had no idea who it was.
"Who is this?" asked Ron.
"That's Auntie Ari. She's really nice and she helps Mummy and I when Father Krum is upset." said Tatiana in a sad voice.
Ron wanted badly to know what Krum had done to his girls, but he thought it best not to ask for the time being.
He went to the next picture and couldn't help but laugh. It was a very old picture, taken by Colin Creevy. They were in their fifth year. They were sitting in Gryffindor tower laughing about something, he didn't quite remember what.
"That's Mummy, that's Uncle Harry, and that's you." said Tatiana, smiling. "Mummy says that before me, this was her favorite picture. Wanna know why?"
Ron tried hard not to get emotional. "Why is that, little love?"
"Because she was with her friends. You and Uncle Harry are her best friends, and you went on a lot of adventures. She told me some of them like the one with big chess pieces and the one with the evil teacher who always wore pink."
Ron laughed loudly at that. " She was a nasty lady, she was. What else did your Mummy tell you?"
"I know who you are. Mummy told me. She always tells me." said Tatiana.
"And who am I then?"
"You're Ron Weasley. And you're my daddy. Didn't you know that?" asked Tatiana.
Ron couldn't help but let a tear go. "I do now. Your Mum's letter told me. And so did your hair." he said, gently pulling on a curl.
Tatiana handed Ron a folded piece of paper. He opened it and seen that it was Tatiana's birth certificate.
Name: Tatiana Rose Weasley
Born: June 10, 1999
Place: Sofia, Bulgaria
Mother: Hermione Jean Granger
Father: Ronald Bilius Weasley
"Wow." whispered Ron. "She didn't even use Krum's name."
"Mummy doesn't like Father Krum." said Tatiana in what Ron guessed she considered a mean voice. "And I don't like him either."
"Neither do I. Let's talk about that another time, yeah?" said Ron, feeling like she didn't really want to go into detail at the moment.
"Okay." said Tatiana, putting the papers and pictures back into Momo and zipping him back up. She put the bunny down on the bed and started playing with Ron's hand.
"Can I call you Daddy?" asked Tatiana, making Ron's heart melt. She had wrapped him completely around her finger tightly with a bow at that moment.
"If that's what you want to call me, that's what you call me." said Ron.
Tatiana smiled the biggest smile she had the few hours she had been there and hugged Ron tightly. Ron wrapped his arms around her and breathed the scent of what he instantly knew was Hermione's shampoo. She must have used it in their daughter's hair.
Ron felt like he had grown up 10 years in that moment. He felt a huge weight of responsibility on his shoulders. He had discovered his daughter, he had to find a way to get to Hermione, and also do what he had been planning for years to be able to finally have a family: Get rid of Voldemort once and for all.
But for the moment, his only concern was the miniature blend of he and Hermione in his arms, and how he was going to make to for six years lost to the both of them.
