DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
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Shocked was not the right word to describe the look on Hermione's face at Harry's admission. Stunned, shaken, and even a little bit angry would be a more proper description. Harry thought that if her eyes got any wider, they would almost certainly pop out of her head.
"Your . . .daughters? They are your DAUGHTERS?"
"Yes, twins. They're five, they'll be six in the summer. In fact, their birthday is only a week before mine."
"Five . . .that means they were born . . . "
"The summer after I left."
"T-the summer after . . . THE SUMMER AFTER YOU LEFT?" Hermione finally exploded at this newest revelation. "You just gave me some sob story about how you left Ginny because you weren't ready for a family, yet with in a year after leaving her you were married and had children? How could you? You stupid, selfish, son of a bitch! How long after you left her, huh? How long before you were married and getting some other woman knocked up?"
"Hermione, please, it wasn't like that." Harry tried to interrupt her ranting.
"It wasn't like that? Well, Harry, it seems that way to me. You're the one who said it, you said you weren't ready, but now I find out you have a family? Answer me Harry, how long after you left her?"
"Three months."
"Three months? That's IT? You were with Ginny for two years, and three months after you walked out on her you were married and had kids on the way?"
"No! It wasn't like that. I wasn't married at the time."
"Not married? Then how do you explain THEM?" Hermione demanded, gesturing toward the two little girls, who were still talking, but kept throwing glances in the direction of their father.
"The twins . . .they were an accident, the result of a fling."
"A . .. fling? You had a FLING? Harry . . . .I never would have expected that from you!"
"I know. But, I wasn't myself then. I was enjoying life for the first time, maybe a little too much. I'm not proud of who I was, or the things I did. It was only meant to be a brief thing, but after she got pregnant, I knew I couldn't just leave her or the baby. We were actually planning on being married."
"Oh, well isn't that just nice? The all noble Harry Potter, leaves his long time girlfriend, but is willing to marry his pregnant whore? Well congratulations to you!" Hermione snapped out in anger. She was beginning to wish that she had never found him. This wasn't the Harry she had known in school, the one that she had once loved like family.
"I know, I know, I made some crappy decisions, and I regret them. I don't regret my girls, however. All the mistakes I made, all the poor choices, they are the one thing I did right."
"Who is their mother?"
"Don't worry about it, Hermione. It's nobody that you know."
"Try me. You might be surprised."
"Trust me, you don't know her. She was a Muggle."
"A-a Muggle? You got a MUGGLE pregnant? HOW did you manage that?"
"After I left Ginny, I ended up in Muggle London, and it was wonderful. Nobody there knew who I was, nobody had ever heard of the famous Harry Potter. This scar meant nothing to them. I could feed them the same story that my family had, that I had gotten it in a car accident, and they believed me. I found myself going back, day after day, to the Muggle bars and clubs. That's how I got into all the trouble, I was drinking every weekend and taking different girls home with me all the time. I met the girls' mother at one of the bars. I took her home with me a couple of different times, and then a couple of months later she came back to find me, she told me she was pregnant. She moved in with me after that, and we started making plans to get married. But then, when she was five months along, she found out. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, she went into the storage closet for something and found my school trunk. Then she knew, she knew what a freak I was . . .that I had this abnormality. She totally freaked when she found out, asking if the babies . . .we knew there were two by then . . .she asked if they would be the same. When I told her yes, she lost it. Asked how I could go around getting people pregnant, contaminating the world like that. She didn't want the babies, told me that after she gave birth she wanted me to take the things . . .she actually called our babies THINGS . . .she wanted me to take them and leave, never contact her again. After the girls were born she signed off her parental rights and I took them and left. We've been on our own ever since."
Hermione looked at him, eyes shining with unshed tears. Even as mad as she had been at him, she still felt his pain. After all, this had been her best friend for seven years. She knew the way he had been raised, told that he was a freak. To know that somebody thought the same of his children . . .their own mother felt this way . . .it had to be killing him inside.
"Oh, Harry," She whispered, not trusting her voice. "I had no idea. You've been living in the Muggle world, then?"
"No . . . no, I couldn't stay away from the wizarding world, especially now that I have children. I wanted them to know, they deserved that much . . .to understand their heritage. I couldn't come back around here though, I knew you all would find me. As much as I love my girls, I didn't want you to find out about them, and about my past. So, I took them and moved to France. I've been working at a wizarding youth center there."
"And you've been raising them on your own?"
"Yes. Or trying too at least. I don't know how good of a job I've been doing."
"I'm sure you've been wonderful, Harry," Hermione reassured him and laid a hand on his arm. She looked over at the two young girls and studied them for a minute. "They're beautiful."
"Would you like to meet them?"
"Yes, please."
"Filles," Harry called across the store. "Venu ici, sil vous plait."
The two little girls ran across the store and stopped in front of their father, turning tiny angelic faces up to him.
"Oui, père?" The responded in small, delicate voices.
"Je veux que vous rencontriez un ami à moi. C'est Hermione. Pouvez vous dire bonjour?"
"Bonjour, Mademoiselle."
"En anglais, sil vous plait."
"Hello, miss." The two girls greeted Hermione.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you. You are both beautiful girls." Hermione returned their greeting, smiling brightly at the two girls.
"Merci." The girls told Hermione.
"Do they not speak English, Harry?"
"Yes, they are quite fluent at it. However, sometimes they forget." Harry responded before turning back to the girls. "Que vous deux fonctionnent en arrière plus d'à où vous étiez, papa serez le long dans juste une minute."
The girls wandered back through the store, and Harry watched them go, a look of pride and love on his face. He only turned his attention from them when his thoughts were interrupted by Hermione's voice.
"What are their names?"
"The little red head is Abigail Rae, the other one is Rachel Isabelle."
"They're beautiful, they really are."
"Thank you. Abigail reminds me of pictures I've seen of my mother. Rachel looks exactly like me, except she has her mother's blue eyes."
"Harry, not that I'm not glad to have you back but . . .what are you doing back in London?"
"We've moved back here. I want the girls to attend London Primary Wizarding Academy. They won't be starting for another year, but I wanted them to have time to get used to the language. We've only been here a week. We're staying in a room above The Leaky Cauldron, and the girls wanted to get out today, so I brought them down here."
"You've been staying above The Leaky Cauldron? Harry, you can't be living there with two little girls!" Hermione scolded him. She couldn't believe he would keep his children there.
"I know, but there is no where else to go, Hermione."
"Of course there is. You're going to come with me, back to The Burrow."
"No . . . No, I can't! They would never accept me back!"
"Oh, bull, Harry. You know that Molly would love to have you! Everyone would want to see you again, to know that you're okay. I've told you, everybody has been worried about you! You owe it to them to at least let them know that you're still alive!"
"Hermione, please. I can't go back there."
"Harry, you can and you will. Either you come with me, or I will go get them and hunt you back down!"
"Okay, okay, fine. I'll go, but only to let them know I'm still alive and okay. I'm not staying there." Harry insisted. He didn't think he could handle staying at The Burrow again. Not after so many years, and especially not when he knew how much they all must hate him.
"It will only be for a little while, until you find a place of your own."
"No!"
"Whatever. Just go get the girls' and your things, and meet me at the back entrance. We'll discuss this later."
"Fine," Harry grumbled. "Abigail, Rachel, obtenez celui que ce soit vous nous veuillent, et aient laissé partir."
The two girls ran over to him, clutching their finds in their hands. After he had paid, Harry took them back the their room and gathered all their belongings, wondering how it was that even after all these years Hermione could still talk him in to doing whatever she wanted.
"Girls. Come here, please?"
"Yes, father?
"I want you to meet a friend of mine. This is Hermione. Can you say hello?"
"Hello, miss."
"In English, please."
"Thank you."
"You two run back over to where you were, daddy will be along in just a minute."
"Get whatever it is you want, and let's go"