Author's Note: Sorry I have only been posting every other day, I am trying, I really am. Continued thanks to my regular reviewers and of course to those of you that reviewed for the first time, I am glad my story is touching so many of you. I will admit I was having a hard time trying to come up with a clear direction for all this but I think I at least have the next few chapters mapped out in my head. Hope this continues to please!

Chapter 28

Christmas break came and went and before they knew it, Hermione and Ginny once again found themselves on Platform 9 ¾ with their children waiting for the Hogwarts Express. Naturally mere moments after Rose revealed her secret boyfriend, the entire family knew she was dating Scorpius Malfoy. Not surprisingly most of the objections came from the older generation, Harry and George especially. The kids on the other hand really didn't find it very scandalous. Albus even stepped in to say that Scorpius was a pretty good guy as far as he could tell, not at all the insufferable prat his father had always been described as.

Scorpius apparently had the same conversation with his parents as Rose did because he did not hesitate to join her while waiting for the train. His mother, Astoria, approached Hermione and Ginny tentatively, "Good morning Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Potter, I don't believe we've ever been properly introduced, I'm Astoria Malfoy" the dark haired witch said extending her hand to both women. It was true, despite his suggested change in demeanor, neither the Weasleys nor the Potters had much contact with Draco Malfoy in the years since the war aside from seeing one another here or there on the street or at school functions for the children. And even though Astoria had been in school with them she was a year younger than Ginny and two years younger than Hermione so they certainly hadn't had many encounters with the woman then.

Hermione shook the offered hand, "And to you too Astoria. Please, call me Hermione. So I take it that your son shared the same news with you as Rose did with us?"

"Yes, indeed he did. Certainly no offense to you or your family but to say Draco was somewhat displeased with the announcement is a bit of an understatement." Astoria said this with a warm smile indicating that she however did not share her husband's feelings. "My husband may have come a long way since the two of you knew him but he is still as stubborn as an ass at times."

Hermione let out a chuckle at this statement and was pleasantly surprised at how different this woman seemed from her older sister Daphne who had been one of the Slytherin girls that had always tormented her back at Hogwarts. "Well I can't say that my husband had a very positive reaction either, but I quickly reminded him that our Rose was a smart girl and certainly wouldn't choose to be with someone less than wonderful."

"It may take me a while to get used to the fact the my son is now grown up enough to be 'dating' but at least he seems to have good taste. Any who, I just wanted to say hello, I leave you two to say your goodbyes to your children and perhaps we will be seeing more of each other in the future! Have a nice day!"

"It was nice to meet you Astoria, I hope you have a lovely day as well," Hermione said to the woman who was no walking in the direction of her son passing Rose on the way.

"That woman married Draco Malfoy?" Ginny finally spoke, somewhat incredulously, "she seems far too nice, and normal."

"Yes, she was rather friendly wasn't she? Well let us hope then that Scorpius takes after her," Hermione added, the train was now pulling into the station inciting a flurry of activity from all the waiting kids.

Goodbyes were exchanged between mothers and children and last minute instructions and warnings shouted out. Hugo and Lily hung back to ask their moms one last thing.

"Hey Mum, I was wondering if maybe you could make some of those cinnamon rolls and send them to us at school, the ones the house elves make just aren't as good," Hugo asked shyly as if it were some impossible request.

"Haha of course dear! I would be happy to! Now hurry, you're going to miss the train!" Hermione said trying to shoo her son in the direction of the train.

"And Mum, maybe you could help Aunt Hermione make them so they would be from you too," Lily suggested. As much as they did enjoy the cinnamon rolls it was hardly the real motivation behind the request. Lily had confided in her cousin how sad her mother had been lately and how her father suggested it was because she was lonely with out the kids around the house so she thought that if Hugo's mom would spend more time with her she wouldn't be so down. Lily had noticed that her aunt always seemed to put a smile on her mom's face and all she wanted was for her mother to be happy.

"Yes, yes I will help! Now go! The train is already pulling out!" Ginny said hurriedly, Hugo and Lily now sprinting to hop on the train, "we love you! Be good!"

The Hogwarts Express steamed out of the station leaving behind the waving parents. Ginny turned to Hermione and let out a deep breath, "I suppose we should get working on these cinnamon rolls then, we have a big order to fill."

"I guess you are right," Hermione responded somewhat hesitantly. The two witches had not spent anytime alone in each other's presence since that night in the kitchen, and for good reason. The brunette woman was wondering if this was a good idea at all but certainly didn't want to disappoint her son or niece.

They decided to go back to the Potter house because they had a pair of sturdier transportation owls that were better equipped for carrying large loads. The red head and the brunette got to work in the kitchen keeping as much distance as humanly possible between them. They both knew that even the lightest amount of contact could send them into a frenzy.

They managed to get through all the baking and packaging but while cleaning up Ginny dropped a mixing spoon and both women simultaneously bent down to reach for it. This resulted in Hermione grabbing the other woman's hand and their faces ended up being mere inches from one another's. Ginny could taste Hermione's sweet honey breath and that was all she needed before lips met lips and hands were tangled in hair and the two witches were standing up, the red head pressing her hips into the brunette's forcing her back up against the edge of the counter. The kiss deepened and soon the older witch was sitting on the counter top with the younger woman's hand moving quickly up her inner thigh.

Before it could go any further they heard a loud crack coming from the living room causing them to pull apart and Hermione to get down off the counter.

"Ginny? Ginny I am home!" Harry called as he walked into the kitchen, "oh Hermione, it is nice to see you here. What have you ladies been up too?"

Hermione had moved over to the sink and was trying to busy herself with washing a clean dish while Ginny tried her best to stand casually against the table covering her mouth with her hand knowing her lips were probably red and swollen.

"Baking! We were baking cinnamon rolls, for the kids, Lily and Hugo requested them. We're nearly finished, just need to clean up" Ginny said somewhat out of breath.

"Ah I see. Cleaning the muggle way I see, any particular reason?" Harry asked curiously.

"No we were just chatting away, not in a rush I suppose," his wife answered, Hermione still hadn't turned away from the sink.

"Well I hate to be rude and interrupt but the reason I came home early from work is I am feeling a bit under the weather, so I am not entirely up for entertaining at the moment," Harry said genuinely sounding unwell.

"Of course!" Hermione spoke up, "I have a lot to do at home anyhow, not having been there in over two weeks. Harry, I hope you feel better and Ginny, I trust you can get these out to the kids?"

"Yes, I think I can manage," the red head still hadn't completely gathered her composure.

"Ok then! I'll be off!" And with a wave and a crack Hermione apparated home.

Ginny now was walking over to the sink to finish the cleaning, "now Harry, you go upstairs and lay down. Is it your head? Your stomach? How about I bring you some tea."

"How long?" Harry asked calmly taking a seat at the table.

"For the tea? Just a few minutes, I won't bother doing it the muggle way, now go on and get into bed."

"No. How long have you and Hermione been shagging one another behind Ron and I's backs?"

Had the sink not been there to support her, Ginny surely would have fallen over because her knees buckled upon hearing these words. "What? Harry, what are-"

"Don't lie to me Ginny. I saw you." Some of the calm had left Harry's voice but he was still remarkably stable. "Stupid me I came home early from work because I was worried about you. Lily had told me about your crying spells and I had always been suspicious of it myself and figured with the kids all gone again you would be wallowing at home alone. So I apparated a bit down the street so you wouldn't hear me coming, to catch you in the act so to speak. Imagine my surprise when I saw you and Hermione through the window. I didn't want to do this in front of her so I apparated into the living room to give you some warning."

Ginny hadn't turned around to look at her husband, she couldn't. Her mind was searching for the words to say to him but they wouldn't come.

"Now that I look back on it, it all fits. Your depression over the summer in her absence, wanting to going away for the weekend with her, acting all weird around one another, the constant touching like you can't keep your hands off her. Just tell me, how long have you been fucking her?"

"Harry, it's not like that," Ginny started, moving from the sink towards Harry but she had been caught, there was no need to lie. "Well, it is like that but it was just the one time. I swear."

"One time? This time? Or one time in addition to this?" Harry asked, still keeping a relatively level head given the circumstances.

"One time, in addition to this afternoon. But that was just two weeks ago, nothing before that. And nothing really happened today beyond kissing."

"Oh what a relief! So if I hadn't have come home you are telling me you would have stopped and not fucked her?"

"Yes, I mean, no. Harry just let me try to explain." Ginny had begun to plead.

"No, don't. Just tell me this. Were you ever in love with me? Or has it always been Hermione?" As Harry said this Ginny could see tears beginning to wet his eyes.

"What would make you say that?" The red head was slightly confused, she had just said this all happened just a couple of weeks ago, how could he have known about how long she'd had these feelings.

"Ginny, don't treat me like an idiot. Before, when the two of you were together at Hogwarts, it was more than just a meaningless fling, wasn't it?"

"How did you know about that," Ginny was leaning all her weight against the back of the chair, still unable to support herself.

"Seriously, have you lost your mind? You told me about it, when I came back for your graduation. You said that you and Hermione had been lonely in Ron's absence and mine and had found a solution to it and were together. But it was just a silly thing between friends, I believe your exact words were 'cliché lesbian experimentation.'"

"I did? I said that?" Ginny couldn't believe that one, she had told Harry about her being with Hermione and two, had reduced the most powerful love she had ever felt to a mere sexual experiment. But as she sat there gaping at her husband it all came back to her, the conversation she had had with Harry when the boys had surprised them by showing up at graduation. He had seen her kissing Hermione and she had to come up with something. That was when she started to panic and think about how much easier it would be to just be with Harry. He had just lapped up the story and promised never to tell Ron, agreeing that he could not be as civilized about the whole thing. Now however, Ginny saw no way out of this other than the truth. "I lied to you back then too. I was in love with Hermione and I am now too."

She saw her husband's resolve start to disappear and the tears began to run down his cheeks, he broke eye contact and just looked down at his hands on the table. "So that answers my question, you never loved me and our whole marriage has been a lie."

"No Harry! I did love you, I DO love you. And our marriage wasn't a lie. Until very recently I had forgotten about everything I had with Hermione." Ginny knew this was going nowhere good.

"You forgot? How is that exactly?" Harry looked up at her again, truly puzzled.

"It is complicated and I don't really-"

"Please, enlighten me, you owe me that."

"Right well, like I said, I loved her back at school. But I couldn't see a life with her, not an easy, uncomplicated life like I could with you. And I did love you and I knew I could be happy with you. So I left her for you. But I could see how much it hurt her, and how much I was hurting too so after we got married I had someone remove all the romantic memories I had of Hermione from my head. Even though I always felt weird around her, I was happy with you and the kids. But then, one day, before summer, I remembered everything and I felt awful. And I couldn't help but think of all those old feelings that really hadn't ever gone away." Ginny was crying now too and was out of breath, she didn't know if this was making any sense at all.

"Wow Gin. You're a real piece of work you know that? So you betrayed Hermione to be with me, then you betrayed me by really still loving her, then you betrayed her again by forgetting everything, then you betrayed me again, not to mention Ron and our children, by cheating on me with her."

When it was laid out like that Ginny thought that she truly seemed like a horrible person. All she could manage to say was a weak "yes."

"Does she know about the whole memory alteration thing?" Harry asked. Ginny simply nodded her head in response. "And she forgave you for that?"

Ginny honestly couldn't answer this, they hadn't really discussed it since the initial revelation. One could interpret Hermione immediately having sex with her as forgiveness but then again that could have simply been a result of all the pent up heat between them, "I don't know. Harry, I don't know what to tell you to make this any better."

"Ha, I can assure you there is absolutely nothing you can say or do at this point to make this better. Did you ever think about anyone but yourself in this whole thing? Me? Ron? The kids? Hell it doesn't even seem like you always had Hermione's best interests in mind and you claim to love her." Amazingly Harry had done nothing more than slightly raise his voice during this whole altercation and Ginny thought it was a testament to her husband's character, most men would be flying off the handle, she could see her brother now.

"Of course I did! I have been a wreck about all this, and I know Hermione has too. I never wanted to hurt you or the kids," Ginny could hear Harry scoff at this, "but I knew it was inevitable. Trust me, this was not how I intended you to find out."

"Yeah I am sure you would've rather I never find out right? So the two of you could carry on your sordid affair in peace."

"No Harry, Hermione and I were going to tell you and Ron we just needed to figure everything out." Why couldn't he just yell at her or walk out or something? It was as if Harry's near total composure was making all this even harder for her to bear.

"So then you were always planning on leaving me then?" Harry asked, plainly as ever.

"I, I don't know. Yes, yes I guess I was. I know that Hermione and I are supposed to be together but I also know that the path I took to get here happened for a reason too. I was supposed to be with you, and now, I guess with her."

Harry just started shaking his head and let out a few wet laughs, "really Gin? Really? You going to feed me some bullshit line about fate? How you're destined for this? That is the best you got?"

At that moment there was a faint tapping on the kitchen window, and Ginny turned to see Athena, Ron and Hermione's owl sitting on the sill with a letter tied to her leg.

"I'll let you take that, it's probably a love note," Harry huffed, not moving from his seat. Ginny got up to open the window but the bird flew to her husband.

Harry read the letter to himself and Ginny immediately thought that Hermione had felt so guilty upon leaving that she had told Ron everything.

"It's from Ron telling me he won't be at work for a few days," Harry stated and Ginny held her breath, "he's going to Australia, Hermione's dad is in the hospital. I can't talk to you anymore, hell I can't even look at you right now. I'm going for a walk and when I come back, I want you gone." Her got up and walked out the door leaving his wife at the table, sobbing with her head in her hands.