I sat there for a few moments, staring at him in a stunned silence.

"Mummy," Baker said, causing my neck to snap back in her direction. "This is Hawwy."

"That's Mr. Harry to you, Baker," I corrected automatically. "Now, go wash up; supper's ready." She dashed away obediently, singing loudly to the Weird Sisters latest hit.

"Hello, Hermione," Harry repeated.

"What are you doing here, Harry?" I asked, knowing how rude I sounded.

"I'm your new neighbor," he answered. "You want to tell me about-?"

"Can't it wait till after I get Baker to bed? You can stay for supper," I said quietly as Baker skipped back into the room.

"Mistew Hawwy for suppew? Yey!" She took his hand and tried to pull him into her room. "You wanna see Mistew Snuffles?"

"After supper, sweetie," I said, pulling out another plate.

I ate in basic silence, listening to Baker's animated chat with Harry. "...and me and Mrs. Awdsley finished my book..."

"Really?" I inserted in mock cheerfulness. "How was it, Baker?"

She gave me an intense look and turned toward Harry. "Eweybody in my books always has a daddy. Eweybody but me." She ate another thoughtful bite of her potato. "Do you have a daddy, Mistew Hawwy?"

"Not anymore," Harry answered, watching me blush furiously.

"Then, we will be fwiends," Baker said patting his head consolingly.

"Yeah, we will," Harry answered. *******************************************************

"'Night, Baker," I said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Mummy."

"You too. Forever and always," I whispered, blowing her a kiss, and shutting the door behind me. I walked back into the den.

"She's amazing," Harry said, gazing at me as I sat down on the couch next to him.

"Yeah," I replied, not quite meeting his eye.

"How old is she?"

"She turned three on March 3rd," I answered.

"Wow, that's a long time." He scratched the back of his neck. "Who's her father?"

Why did everyone always ask that question?! It was so frustrating! "A man I met in France. I don't want him to have anything to do with her," I told him in my rehearsed speech voice. Harry raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"You should tell him."

"The man in France?"

"Ron."

I stared at him. He knew. How did he know? "How did you-?"

"Oh, c'mon, Hermione," he interrupted. "The hair, the eyes. I'm not stupid, you know. Then, there was the fact that you two always had that secret love going on."

I snorted. "Secret love? One night of lust is more like it."

"You wouldn't give up your whole future for one night of lust."

"Harry," I whispered desperately, "I'm twenty-one with a three-year-old daughter. This isn't my dream come true. I had big plans. And they're gone."

Harry looked at me sincerely. "He would want to know."

"Oh, come on! Don't be thick. He doesn't give a damn!"

"I think he would give a damn about his own child. He isn't heartless. Surely you know that after all these years."

"What do you know about him? You two have hardly spoken since fifth year."

"Sorry to rain on your parade, Hermione, but we're best mates again."

"What?!"

"Yeah, we met up again at auror training first fall after graduation. We've spent three years together; only just finished in December. Now, we both work for the Ministry of Magic."

I began to cry again, and he looked perplexed. "So, he got to spend three years accomplishing his dream while I was stuck raising a child. I had dreams, Harry! I had goals!" I was screaming at him, and he looked sort of scared of me.

"I know, Hermione. I'm sorry. But, you have Baker," he reminded me. I didn't say anything. Would I really give up Baker to have my future back? My immediate thought was, never! But, a sneaky voice in the back of my mind whispered, remember those dreams? What about your book?

"So," Harry said, breaking the awkward silence. "Nobody's ever said, 'That baby looks a hell of a lot like Ron'?"

"Nope."

"She does."

"Well, I know that."

"He'll know when he sees her."

"Harry, I know a thing or two about boys and their lovely little denial minds."

"Who else would you have slept with?" Harry asked. Did he have to put it like that? He made me sound loose.

"He'll think I went wild in France. That's what everybody else thinks. 'That poor little Hermione. She just got to France, got so sick of being perfect, and just rebelled. Poor dear.'"

"I knew."

"Congratulations." He twiddled his thumbs, looking sort of disgruntled. "So, we're neighbors now?" I asked.

"Yeah. Professor Dumbledore owns this place across the street; he's letting me rent it cheap. I still own the land down the road where my parents used to live, but I just couldn't bring myself to build there. So, Dumbledore told me to get used to the place, the atmosphere, and move back when I'm ready."

"He's terrific. Did Baker come over to your house earlier?" I asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"Yeah, she just came over and introduced herself. Honest to God, I thought I had run into Ron's child, but then I said Ron doesn't have a child. But then I saw you, and I knew."

"Did Ron tell you about our little meeting in Diagon Alley that summer?" I asked awkwardly.

"He mentioned it, but he didn't mention that part. I just can't believe you didn't tell him."

"Nothing to tell."

Harry looked as though he had more to add but shrugged his shoulders resolutely. "Well, I'd better be off."

"Yeah, people might start to worry. Everyone thinks that way about me now. Anybody sees you leaving this late at night, half the town will just know I'm pregnant again tomorrow."

"Well, I'm not telling Ron."

"I know."

"I'm not telling him because you are," he said matter-of-factly.

"Good night, Harry," I said, getting up.

"G'night."

"Do you think you would want to come to dinner on Thursday? We're having meatloaf."

"I'll be there," he answered, "with bells on." I slammed the door behind him and locked it tightly.

Baker walked into the kitchen, her thumb stuck in her mouth, dragging Mr. Snuffles. "Mummy, I'm having nightmawes." **************************************************

No one visit had ever shaken my morale so much. I had never been unsure about keeping Ron out of Baker's life before. Then, on the very same night, Baker had questioned why everyone but her had a daddy, and Harry had reentered my life, saying it was essential I let Ron know. And, sure, I had denied it all these years, but I saw Ron every time I looked at my child. He was in her every smile, tear, and laugh of triumph. She stole my heart, much the way he had all those years ago.

Early Thursday morning, I got an owl from Harry.

'Hermione, mind if I bring a friend to dinner? Sincerely, Harry.'

'What friend?'

'Not Ron, I swear.'

And that was good enough for me. Mrs. Ardsley accompanied us home when I came to pick Baker up, as she always did on Thursday nights. She helped me set the pots and pans to baking in the kitchen, and we retreated to the den to talk about the happenings lately and the newest article in the Daily Prophet.

At seven, there was a knock on my door.

Ginny Weasley stood, holding a huge crock-pot filled with food. "Hello, Hermione!" she said cheerily, bustling around into the kitchen, followed by a guilty looking Harry.

My mouth dropped. No. No, no, no, no. He was not bringing Ron's sister in here. She would report everything. She would understand and tell everything; she would ruin my perfectly constructed life built around one tiny lie.

I followed Harry into the room slowly, using patience not to throw him out of my house.

Ginny was squatting down, looking at my little girl. "Well, hello, Baker," she said, much to my shock. She picked the red head up and held her in her arms. "Harry's told me all about her, Hermione." My gaze shot to Harry. Just how much was all?

"Mistew Hawwy is my new fwiend," Baker informed Ginny. "We play togever."

"Hey, good r sound, sweetie," I told my daughter proudly.

"Well, Mr. Harry's my friend too," Ginny said, winking at Harry. "Now Baker, I just absolutely love your hair."

"Well, I love youws," Baker said, noticing the same color they both sported. My heart busted with pride. She was going to be smart; I knew it!

"Oh," Ginny said, looking impressed.

I introduced Harry and Ginny to Mrs. Ardsley. Harry looked between Ginny and me and said, "Well, I think I'll go see how supper's going."

Mrs. Ardsley, following his lead, smiled, and added, "Baker and I will go play outside for a while. Come on, darling." And with that, Ginny and I were left sitting on the couch with only each other to talk to. She gave me an awkward grin.

"Wow. You had a baby."

"Yeah." I nodded. "I had a baby."

"She has red hair..." Ginny began.

"Her father had red hair," I said, totally truthfully.

"Oh. She has blue eyes..."

"My mum has blue eyes," I repeated, honestly again.

"Yeah, I wish I had blue eyes. They really go great with red hair; I mean, look at Ron."

"What's he up to these days?" I asked, glad for the change in subject.

"Oh, he's hot stuff," Ginny said, winking.

"I'm sure," I said, sadistically. Ginny just laughed.

"Nah, he's sexy as hell, but all your old boyfriends are these days."

"You can't be talking about Terry."

"Oh, damn yes Terry, and even more so Anthony. Whoa," she said, fanning herself with her hand.

"Harry's looking pretty good himself," I added in an undertone.

"Ah, he's all right."

"Come on, Ginny. You used to be head over heels for him."

"Keyword there is used to be. Anyway, haven't you ever heard of playing hard to get?"

I looked out on my front porch where Baker was playing and motioned for Ginny to look that way as well. "No."

"That's not funny," Ginny muttered, shuddering. "Imagine me with a baby. And at my age?"

Her eyes grew wide as I continued to look at her. "Imagine me with a two year old at your age. That was last year."

"I didn't mean anything bad by it," she threw in hastily.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nobody ever does." I gave her a reassuring pinch on the cheek. "I'm just kidding, hun." She smiled weakly but continued to study Baker.

"You were the last person I ever thought... all this would....you know- happen to you. I could've seen... well, I dunno. Anybody but you."

"Imagine it," I told her slowly. "You're so in love with this one person, you can't help yourself. And the next morning you wake up, and he's gone."

"Gone?"

"And you're alone. You're alone with this little girl and you're so confused. Should you love her because she's yours or hate her because your dreams are spoiled? But don't get me wrong, I love my daughter. I've got my own little girl to fill that void in my heart he left me with. Not that I'm recommending you have a baby or anything," I added quickly, "This would've been a lot easier with help. Never believe anything a boy tells you, Ginny. They're scum."

She laughed and got up. I followed, having finally said the things out loud I had been thinking for years. Love had gotten me. It had tricked me. Life just wasn't fair like that. But, then again, all's fair in love and war.

God was that true. ~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

A/N: Bad news, guys. First off, this is the worst chapter of the eight I have written. Sorry. If you don't feel that way, please give me a big ole shout-out. Moving on, I am moving next Saturday. I will not have the internet for around three weeks, and therefore cannot post any new chapters. I'll make a deal with you though. If I can get eight reviews for this chapter, I will get chapter 5 up before I move. They all have to be in before Friday though, so review, review, review, and encourage your friends to do the same. I love all of ya! ~LauriAnnMarieCharles

Mione grint: Any time! You know you rock, girl! I'm glad you liked the chapter. I'm glad it surprised you! Hermione does rock; she's so brave! Yey for girl power! Where is Ron? Well, he's in big trouble when I find him and now he's gonna have Harry on his case too!

Tiffiany-45: Omigosh! I can't believe you thought, I, LauriAnn, would write the same old thing. Haha! D'you think it should be edited so people don't lose interest before they get to this chapter? Hmm... I'm so glad you ended up liking it! Trust me, it's goning to be a while before you find out abou the rift causer. Like I said, now nearing Chapter 8 and no answer. Other good stiff though. You could be right about the name recognition. I just hate when you think you've written this really great story and you get like no reviews (not saying nay of my stories are really great). Anway... I think I got a little over-excited with your reply. Tehe...

Punkbanana13: Oh, thank-es so much!!! I'm glad you liked it that much. Aren't you happy to see Harry back? Guess who comes back next?!?!?

Mione Weasley the original: It's important you like it more n more each chapter! Here's the new one you asked for!

MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus: *crosses fingers* I hope this is going to get good. Lol~ thanx!!!

CraPpLeb33: Ooh, no one's ever lurved my story before. Awesome! Yey, I've written something different. Let's not let it get boring then!!!