Author's note:

First, I want to thank you all for the support over the years. It had been a pleasure writing these stories and it has been even better seeing such a positive response to them even years after Harry's story officially ended. The fandom will live on for a long time, I can tell.

More importantly, about this story specifically. This story may bother some of you.

Why? Well, this story deals with the loss of an unborn child. This is based on my own personal story which I will go over more at the end of the fic but I feel again that it is only fair to warn you about this ahead of time seeing as some of you may have gone through this as well and the last thing I want to do is bring up those memories again. But I hope that this story may also help for those in search of healing as well.

So, without further ado, lets get started.

Apple Seed by Amanda

Harry stood up and looked at the result of his handiwork. "There! It's perfect!" Dusting himself off the dirt and grime he looked down at his wife who was now standing next to him. "It's the perfect spot don't you think?"

Hermione looked around the grounds of Hogwarts and took in a deep breath of fresh, autumn air. The couple stood in front of the Black Lake, watching the Giant Squid lazily wave its tentacles about. This was the spot that they had spent so many of their school days studying and relaxing and now that they were professors themselves, it made the choice that much easier to make for their special project. "Yes, it's always been my favorite spot on the grounds." She looked down at the spot he had just dug with a questioning look. "Do you think that this hole is deep enough?"

Harry nodded. "I had a nice, long discussion with Professor Sprout about how deep the hole should be, how much space we should account for it, how to take care of it and everything in between." He took Hermione in his arms and looked deeply into her eyes. "I know how important this is, so I made sure to do this right."

Hermione smiled, somewhat sadly and patted him on the chest. "I know, Harry, you've been working really hard on researching all of this for me. You are such a wonderful husband and I love you! I've just never done anything like this before and I'm afraid of doing this incorrectly."

"Hey," Harry looked at her over his glasses, "C'mon, give me some credit. I do pay attention when it is for something important."

Hermione smiled slyly. "Is that so?" Harry nodded defiantly. "Well, then, Mr. My-Memory-is-the-Best, what were my wedding vows to you then?"

Harry winced. He knew he was walking into that one. "My point is that I know what I'm doing here."

Hermione laughed. "Uh huh."

Harry reached down into a box at their feet and pulled out a lump of dirt from inside of it that had a small sprout on top of the mound. "It's small now but imagine how big its going to get." The two of them knelt next to the hole in the ground and gently placed the mound of dirt inside of hole. Smiling, they filled the hole with the dirt that had been dug up and patted the ground gently once they were finished. "Can you believe this little sprout came from such a small seed? Imagine what it will look like when it gets to be full sized." Harry looked over at Hermione who had suddenly broken into a fit of tears. He took her into his arms again and began stroking her hair. He could be such an insensitive git sometimes without meaning to. "Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry. I know this is hard, but we will get through this together."

Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled back from him slightly. "I know, Harry, it's just heartbreaking right now. That's why we did this, after all. To heal. It's just still so fresh."

"I know, love." He kissed her and looked at the little sapling. "We will never forget what happened but at least this will make our journey to healing a little easier."

"Am I selfish to think that it won't be the same as the baby would have felt in my arms? This was such a sweet gesture of yours, Harry, I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful, but we'll never be able to have the child that we waited for so long to have." More tears came and this time Harry was the one to wipe them away.

"Love, I know this is the hardest thing we have had to deal with-" Harry began.

Hermione hiccupped before saying, "Harry, you had a battle with the most powerful dark wizard since Grindlewald. Wouldn't you say that was the hardest thing you've had to deal with?"

Harry looked deep into her eyes and said, "Voldemort was nothing compared to receiving that news. Hermione, we will have a child. I know we will, but it will take time. I think the reason this happened was because something was wrong." Harry put his finger under her chin and forced her to look at him. "That is not your fault, I want you to understand that. I know you think that it was something you did or didn't do. Love, this happens and unfortunately it has happened to us. I'm not saying that we should just forget about this and move on. We may never move on, but we can help each other cope and that is exactly why I came up with this idea. This tree will be our way of remembering but will also help us not to dwell on such a terrible time in our lives. It will all be worth it someday.

Hermione sobbed into Harry's chest. She knew he was right, but it felt like the pain would never go away no matter what she did. "I just wish that we could have had an ultrasound of the baby. Something that I can look at and say, 'That's our baby.' But the baby was too small. Something the size of an apple seed was so small that it wouldn't even show up. I think that's why it is so heartbreaking to me."

Harry kissed the top of her head before standing up and helping her to her feet as well. Looking back down at the seedling he said, "I know, love. But once this tree is at its full height, maybe you'll see it in a different way. After all, that's why we made it an apple tree. Our little apple seed." Harry felt tears prickling at the back of his eyes and cleared the lump that was starting to form in his throat. "Hey," he looked over at his wife, "I love you, you know?"

Hermione smiled and took a deep breath once more. "I love you, too. C'mon, let's go prepare for our lessons. I can't believe classes start again next week."

Harry nodded.

As they made their way back up to the castle, Harry put his arm around Hermione's shoulders and brought her in close to him. She put her arm around his waist in reciprocation and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked. "It will be amazing when we have children, won't it?"

Harry smiled. "Are you kidding? With your beauty and intelligence, we will have the most amazing kids."

Hermione returned the smile. "Harry, you know that you are the best looking, right? And you are intelligent yourself."

Harry stopped in his tracks and turned Hermione to face him. "Hermione, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met, and I honestly don't know what you ever saw in me. I was a complete ass growing up and I treated you so badly at times I wouldn't have blamed you for leaving me long ago. When I finally realized my feelings for you, I vowed that things would change. That I would show you just how in love I was with you and that I would not rest until I had proven myself to you." He pulled her to him in a tight embrace, one arm around her waist and the other running his hand through her hair. "Hermione, I fought that war for you. I wanted to give up so many times, but I had to fight, fight to see you again. To be in your arms. To tell you how I felt. And the moment I saw you after I had defeated that bastard, I completely lost every word I wanted to say to you. The only thing I could do was gain the courage to walk up to you, take you in my arms, kiss you and pray to whatever higher powers that existed that you did not push me away." Hermione smiled at him, no doubt remembering that exact moment in their past. She had since regarded it as one of the most romantic moments of her life and Harry had to agree. "Then, when we went out on our first date." He laughed. "It felt so awkward to be able to do something as simple as go on a date after the war. But when I saw you," he kissed her hand, "you were so gorgeous. I couldn't take my eyes off you the whole night." Hermione blushed as he continued. "And then, just when I thought I couldn't love you more, you agreed to marry me, and we got married. I thought I would die of happiness. There was no better moment in my life. Or at least, that is what I thought before you told me the news. We were going to have a baby." Hermione and Harry both dropped their smiles. "I don't mean to make you sad again. That is not my intention by saying that. The happiness we shared in that moment was unlike anything we had felt before. In that moment, I loved you more than I ever thought was possible. You were giving me the greatest gift I could have ever asked for." Harry took both of her hands in his. "Hermione, even though, in the last few weeks, we have gone through the hardest time in our lives, strangely enough, I wouldn't change anything. We weren't even sure if we could get pregnant. We had tried for so long and then when we least expected it, a silver lining. As much as it hurt, we know now that we can at least have children. When we have healed, we will try again. It will happen for us, Hermione. I know it will. And when it does, we can share another magical moment in our lives."

Harry ended his speech by kissing Hermione so passionately, it left her breathless. She wrapped her arms around his neck and forced every bit of love she could muster into this one kiss. He had been her rock and without him, she probably would have spiraled into a depression so deep she might not ever have come back up to the light of day. As strong as Harry had always been, she knew he needed her just as much as she needed him. Together they would get through this, and together they would come to experience the one thing that they both wanted more than anything in the world.

Thirteen Years Later

Hermione looked out of her office window to see that groups of students had been enjoying the beautiful October day. The sun had been shining and the warmth it brought was a nice break from the rain they had received for the entire week beforehand. There was a slight cold breeze in the air, however, signifying the change in seasons but to her, there was no better time of year. Her transfiguration classes being finished for the day, she thought she would get a start on the next days lessons for her third-year students.

Third-year students were her favorite group to teach. They possessed the same childish wonder without the immediate need to express themselves as "cool" yet. It was so difficult to keep her older students interested unless she made an extraordinary feat of magic happen. She often thought about becoming an Animagus like her predecessor to have something to fall back on to keep the students engaged but decided against it. Even Hermione had to admit that the professor from her own Hogwarts days managed to make it look so cool to transform into an animal. It was part of the reason why Hermione was so drawn to the subject in the first place.

Her students all seemed to like her, however, and that was more than Hermione could ever have asked for.

"Hey, there, gorgeous." The voice came from the doorway, and before turning to its source she closed her eyes briefly, letting the deep voice wash over her. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine. How were your classes?" asked Hermione.

Harry was, of course, a natural at teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. All the kids loved him and he in turned loved being able to teach all that he knew to another generation. "Great! We went over Patronuses today."

"Wonderful!" said Hermione. "That was always my favorite part of DADA. Did any of them form something?"

Harry shook his head. "Just a couple of silver mists. But it's only the first day. I'll have them forming corporeals in no time." He walked across the room and took her in his arms, burying his face in her neck. "I've been thinking about you all day, you know."

Hermione chuckled. "Yes, I can feel that." Harry pulled back and winked at her. She kissed him ferociously and pulled away suddenly. "Later."

With a pout on his face, he whispered, "Tease."

Straightening up, Hermione looked at him. "Would you like to go for a walk around the lake?"

Harry offered her his arm and she gladly took it. "I'd love nothing more."

The two of them made their way through the castle and onto the grounds. They stopped when they came to a small hill that overlooked the lake and they had a seat, holding hands the whole time. The Potters looked out at the students sitting by the lake, enjoying the time together when they saw one student sitting under the apple tree alone. It had grown so much over the years and added such a beautiful accent to the scenery. The two of them looked at one another and got up from their spot and walked towards the student.

As they got closer to the spot, they could hear the student saying something barely loud enough for them to hear. They stopped just before they could be heard by her.

"I know that they love me, but I want you to know that they love you, too." Said the girl. "I wish we could have met but I like that I can come here and spend time with you regardless. I feel like nothing will ever replace you no matter what happens. And, guess what, now we have a brother on the way! Isn't that exciting? I can't wait to meet him and bring him here to meet you!"

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, tears filling their eyes. They had no idea that their daughter came to the tree to talk to their long-lost sibling. In that moment, they could not have been more in love with their child. They had told her ages ago about the baby they had lost and instead of being upset, she had talked about how wonderful it would be to be a sister. When they had gotten pregnant again, it felt wonderful to give her something that she had wanted for so long.

Sitting beside their daughter, they embraced her, and she was startled seeing them there since she thought she had been alone. She was now thirteen years old, a young woman but she loved her family and this type of thing was not something she was embarrassed about. She let her parents hug her and when they broke apart, she noticed that they were crying. "Mum, dad, are you alright?"

Hermione was the first to speak. "Eden, we heard what you were saying. It was so beautiful, honey."

"I like to come here by myself sometimes and talk to Zayden." She confessed.

"Zayden?" asked Harry wondering where she came up with such a unique name.

"Yeah." Started Eden. "I was reading a book in the library and one of the wizards in the book was named Zayden and I really liked it. I looked up the meaning of the name and it means 'plentiful and abundant' and I thought that it was appropriate for Apple Seed."

"Apple Seed" had been the name they had referred to the tree and the first baby. They had never really thought of an actual name to give their first child and they could not believe they had gone this long without doing so. However, hearing their daughter's name for her unborn sibling, they realized it was the best name in the world for their lost baby.

"Why a boy's name, sweetheart?" asked Hermione.

Eden shrugged. "I don't know. For some reason, I've just always envisioned him as a boy." She looked at her parents as if they would be upset with her for this decision. "Is that ok?"

The two embraced their daughter again before they both responded. "It's perfect!"

The three of them, including the baby that had yet to be born, spent the rest of their day under that apple tree, talking and bonding until it was time for dinner. And for the parents, they could not have been prouder of their family because they knew despite the hardships they had endured, they family was perfect to them.

As Eden walked in front of them and rejoined her friends, Hermione looked to her husband and proudly whispered, "That's our baby."

Thank you all for reading my story! I really appreciate it. I just wanted to add onto this and tell you my story very quickly.

Two and a half years ago, my husband and I had our own miscarriage. It was the hardest thing I ever had to go through. When I went into the hospital after experiencing some horrific pains, they confirmed that I was pregnant. I had taken a few tests before this and they had all come back positive but since I had my period for a month straight, I didn't want to believe it. Mainly because I knew what that meant for the baby. We had tried for a whole year to get pregnant, but nothing seemed to work so when this happened, part of me was thrilled but the other part of me knew this was bad news.

You see, two weeks before my wedding, I had intense pains in my abdomen. I went into the doctor's office to find out I had a twenty-pound cyst on one of my ovaries. Yes, TWENTY POUNDS! I had to have surgery two days later to get it removed but the bad news was not over yet. The cyst had ended up destroying my ovary and fallopian tube and they had to be removed. Although the doctor assured me that my chances of getting pregnant would remain the same, I couldn't help but feel disheartened by this.

When I went into the hospital for the miscarriage, I knew immediately what was happening. I had just started to accept the fact that I was pregnant after being in denial for a week. I was craving foods, crying at every little thing that I found on the internet, even if it wasn't sad and other tell-tale signs of pregnancy. I had not realized that was what was happening to me until it was too late. They tried to do an ultrasound, but nothing showed up. I couldn't even get a picture of my little seed. There was one more bit of possible bad news, however. It was very possible that I was suffering from an ectopic miscarriage. (For those who don't know what that is, it means that the baby is growing on the outside of your fallopian tube. Sometimes outside of other places in your reproductive organs.) This could potentially kill not only the baby but myself as well. Luckily, that was not what was happening. But in that moment, there were decisions I had to come to terms with if it had been ectopic. All my beliefs, life decisions, and morals were put to the test. I'm just thankful I didn't have to make any choices. Although it was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through, I had a small glimmer of hope. After thinking that I could not get pregnant, I now had a definitive answer. I think about my baby every day and I like to think that the baby was a girl.

While this story reflects a lot of what happened, I made some changes. I did not plant a tree for the baby although I wanted to. I'm not allowed to plant trees where I live. Another difference was that my baby was only the size of a poppyseed. I changed it to an apple seed because I wanted something that would grow to be big and strong. Instead of planting a tree, I got a tattoo. It is a tattoo of the first illustration in the Sorcerer's Stone. Underneath it is a scroll that has the word "Always" in my handwriting. (If you would like to see it, please go to my Instagram tattedravenbarista1028) Also, unlike Harry and Hermione in this story, my husband and I have yet to get pregnant. We are still trying, and we know that it will happen when it happens, but I can't lie when I say that waiting is the worst part.

To all of those who have lost a baby, we are here for you! It is a terrible feeling and it may feel like you will never heal. I won't lie to you. You may never fully heal. But you can cope and there will always be people around you that can help you through it. I hope you consider me one of them. If you ever need someone to talk to, I am here for you! Your time will come! So, hold your head up high and be strong!

Thank you again!

Amanda