FATHER

Chapter 7 - Hermione

They were guided into a dining room which blazed with homeliness. Back when she had lived there, it had been a decrepit sitting room, full of rotting furniture and dust-covered portraits which had stared at her with unfriendly eyes. Now though, it was a paragon of warmth and as Hermione sat down, she couldn't stop herself from turning to Harry and saying quietly, "Sirius would have been so proud".

Harry smiled and then took up her hand and landed a kiss against her fist. "Thanks Hermione", he muttered, the emotion tight in his voice.

They settled into a rowdy dinner during which Harry and Ginny's two sons, Albus and James, shouted loudly and flicked peas at one another. Ginny talked excitedly the whole time, stopping mid-sentence to shout at her children before turning back and picking the conversation up as though it had never stopped. Elodie was quiet at her side, though when Harry engaged her in a conversation about school her eyes lit up and she talked animatedly to him, her arms waving as she described a recent class project. Harry smiled and nodded and occasionally glanced over Elodie's head to Hermione, his eyes full of warmth.

Afterwards, when James and Albus were upstairs in their rooms and Elodie had fallen asleep in the big armchair next to the fire, Harry handed Hermione and Ginny a glass of wine and sank into the sofa opposite them.

"Cheers" he said, raising his glass. "To old friends".

"To old friends", they echoed, leaning forward to clink their glasses.

There was a content silence for a minute as they each sipped their wine and then Harry smiled towards Elodie's sleeping form. "She's wonderful, Hermione. You should be so proud".

Hermione felt a bubble of joy fill her chest. To hear Harry say so felt like coming home, like stepping back into a warm embrace. She smiled as her eyes flicked over to her daughter. A lock of hair had fallen across her cheek and was floating ever so gently under her deep sleeping breaths.

"She's a lot like me".

"You say that like it's a bad thing".

Hermione bit her lip and turned her gaze back to Harry. "You remember what it was like, that first year at Hogwarts. I wanted to be right at everything. I was awkward. It was hard… making friends".

"But you did though", Ginny said gently, placing a warm hand on her knee.

"Yes, but sometimes I wonder what might have happened if it wasn't for that troll. It was sheer luck that we even became friends. What if… what if Elodie doesn't find anyone?"

"Stop", Harry said firmly, pursing his lips. "If it wasn't the troll, it would have been something else. Elodie will be fine".

Hermione nodded though the worry still sat in her chest like lead. She had raised Elodie the way that she had thought best and she was immeasurably proud of the young woman that her daughter was becoming. Smart, curious, brave. It was everything that Hermione had ever hoped her to be. But she was still like Hermione in so many ways and Hermione knew from first hand experience just how some of those traits could be perceived by others, especially children.

"I'm sure you're right", Hermione said with a thin smile.

"Harry's right, you've got nothing to worry about, but even if you did, James will be there and he'll look out for her. She's as good as a cousin to both of the boys", Ginny said, reading Hermione's apprehension. Hermione nodded and sipped at her wine.

"Does uh... have you, you know -", Harry began awkward and Hermione caught Ginny's sharp glance at him from her side. "told Elodie's dad, that you're back?"

"I'm sorry about my husband", Ginny said with a furious look at Harry before Hermione had even had a chance to draw breath. "You don't have to answer that".

"It's fine. Um, no actually. I heard he left the country some years ago anyway".

Harry sighed out a breath and leant back. "Well, that's good I suppose, isn't it?"

Hermione made a small noise of agreement and took another gulp of her wine. Not only had she never told her friends who Elodie's father was, but she'd also not told them that he had no idea that he had a daughter. In their eyes, he was simply a mistake who had turned out to be a lousy person who wanted nothing to do with his child. It was not that she had ever lied to them, but more that they had assumed and she had never bothered to correct them. After all, who would ever had thought that Hermione Granger would be the sort of person to not tell another about their own child.

Did she feel guilty? She knew enough to know that her silence was tantamount to a lie and for that, she felt a pang of discomfort. But guilt at not telling Elodie's father? No. No there was no guilt there because she knew that she had done him a favour. If he had found out that he had a daughter, with her of all people, well she could be quite sure of his reaction and it wouldn't be a pleasant one.

As far as she was concerned, Elodie didn't have a father. It was just the two of them and that was all either of them needed.

As much as it pained her to admit it though, if you knew what to look for, you could see him in her. Her daughter's cheekbones were higher than her own, her hair softer and her skin just a touch paler. Though she'd inherited Hermione's own petiteness, her fingers were long and delicate. Finely suited to piano she'd been told on more than one occasion.

And then there were those traits that were more than skin-deep. The lop-sided smirk whenever she was proven right. Her strange pensive silences which Hermione had learned to wait to pass. Her sudden biting anger which arose only rarely, but when it did was like a storm in the smallest of teacups.

No amount of wishing would ever change the fact that biologically, he was as much as part of her daughter as she.

"More wine?", Ginny asked and without waiting for an answer, re-filled her glass.

They spoke long into the evening until the fire had died to low embers in the hearth and Ginny was stifling yawns behind her hand. Elodie's father had not been raised again.

"We should go", Hermione said, finishing off the wine in her glass and standing. "I promised Elodie I'd show her Diagon Alley tomorrow. She's been dying to see it ever since she saw the picture in Wizarding Britain when she was four".

"Let me help you back", Harry said, likewise finishing his own glass.

"If that's okay".

"Of course that's okay", Ginny said from her side before pulling her into another hug. "You'll come and visit again soon?"

"I promise", Hermione said, squeezing back.

Elodie made a small contented sigh as Harry brought her sleeping form into his arms. The sight gave Hermione a sharp pang in her chest and she could have weeped. Having Harry and Ginny back in her life was a blessing. She hadn't realised just how much she'd missed them over the years until they were there next to her.

Harry and Hermione stepped into the fireplace together and Hermione took a handful of the gritty power from the pot which Ginny proffered.

"Thanks for having us, Gin. It's been… wonderful. Truly".

"We're here anytime", Ginny said.

"Say goodbye to the boys for us. We'll see them soon", Hermione said and then throwing the powder down, the three disappeared amongst the roaring flames.

A/N: Please leave a review if you liked this chapter. It's always great to hear what people think and to keep the motivations for writing up.