A/N: WOAH! First chapter's a bit startling, am I right? Well, it eases up a bit, I guess. I'm still not entirely sure where this story is going, but I have an idea of the next couple of chapters, so it's not like I'm going to completely cut it off. Well anyway, you know that this is more of a serious fic, as opposed to my "Zelda Characters Discover Purell Hand Sanitizer" and so on. I hope you enjoy it! Please review; I love reviews! It's been lonesome. Ya, whatever. Ok, so please r/r!

Chapter Two: And They Called Her Virginia

Twenty-three year old Hermione Granger woke up to sunlight streaming in her eyes. She opened them and noticed that Ginny was standing above her, and she was holding a baby in her arms. The baby was small and soft. She had quite a lot of curly blond hair and sharp green eyes. She was smiling. "She's yours," Ginny whispered, and handed the baby to Hermione's open hands.

"Hello there," Hermione whispered, half crying, to the little girl. The girl just lay there.

"She's beautiful," Ginny said to Hermione. Hermione couldn't respond. She just sat there looking at her daughter for a time until a friendly nurse dropped by.

"Hogwarts, dear?" the nurse asked Hermione.

"Hmm?" asked Hermione.

"Do you want me to put her name down for Hogwarts?" There was a moment of awkward silence after that, in which Hermione looked at the sleeping child and Ginny glanced around nervously. The nurse looked as if she felt very stupid. "Of course, she doesn't have to go to Hogwarts…" continued the nurse, rather uneasily. Ginny looked down at Hermione. The look in Ginny's face kept telling Hermione to send the child to Hogwarts even though she didn't want to go back to the wizarding world. But deep down, she really did. She wanted her daughter to go to Hogwarts; she wanted to go back to that world too. But there was something keeping her from going. The last thing she thought was 'oh well'.

"Um, no, that's fine," said Hermione, "but she - she doesn't have a name yet." The nurse chuckled.

"Alright dear, I'll swing round later to check. She's beautiful!" Then she walked away, her old-fashioned high heels clicking all the way down the hall.

As soon as she was unable to hear the nurse, Ginny spoke. "She's a witch, Hermione. You know it. She belongs at Hogwarts, and you know that too."

"I know," said Hermione wiping tears from her eyes. "I want her to have the best life as she can. She'll thrive at Hogwarts, just like I did. And I would have thrived afterward if it weren't for that rat-bastard Elijah... It's just that -"

"It's just that what?"

"It's just that I don't think I can face going back to the wizarding world. It was great and everything, but I've been away for so long, and I don't know what everyone would think of me when I return."

"I don't think much different of you," said Ginny. "I'm a witch."

"True," said Hermione. "But you came to me, I didn't come to you."

"I came to you for a reason, Hermione. I had a question for you, and you didn't answer it. I had a dream for you to ponder, because I knew you could. You think you've changed, but you really haven't. Inside, you're still the Hermione I knew at Hogwarts. I mean, look at me!" Hermione looked at Ginny. She indeed looked different. She looked somewhat worn, but perhaps that may have been her hangover. But nonetheless, Hermione smiled. Ginny smiled back.

"You're right," said Hermione finally. "I'm having her name put down for Hogwarts as soon as that nurse comes round again." She looked down once more at the sweet baby angel in her arms. "And I will call her Virginia." Ginny smiled, and she started crying as well. "Virginia Lily Granger." Virginia after Ginny, Lily after Harry Potter's mum, and her last name would be Granger, as the child didn't have a father.