After the War - By Erin

Disclaimer: - I do not own anything except Harry's 3 children and the plot. The rest that you recognise belongs to the wonderful JK.

Chapter Eight - Hermione's Tirade, Ron's displeasure and Harry's surprise.

Harry slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his wand. It was just past dusk and the evening air was humid, it had begun to get gradually darker. A soft tug on his arm reminded him of his parental duties, he looked down into his son's soft brown eyes. Fear swam all over him; this had been the place of Ginny's downfall from sanity, and now the memory of not all of the death eaters being accounted for that evening when he lost her, struck him painfully. His heart clenched, James had Ginny's eyes, and his children were the last connection he had to her. He couldn't stand to lose them.

"James, take your sisters around to the back of the house, slip in through the backdoor, grab my invisibility coat from the cloakroom and hide in the cellar, but don't turn the cellar light on, be sure to close the door behind you. Stick to the darkness, and above all, be sure to be quiet." Harry's fighting instincts came flooding back to him, he observed the change of emotion playing over his sons face, it went from fear, to righteous anger, to rebellion and then it settled on determined. James nodded, and quickly followed his fathers command pulling his sisters along with him.

Harry quickly moved silently, in the shadows, to eventually reach the front porch, in his teenage years he had called this the 'Snape shimmy,' however now he was grateful at the headmaster's insistence on learning from the ardent potions master.

Reaching the banister he took a moment to peer over the side. It seemed that there was only one visitor, covered by a cloak, and, asleep? He couldn't be sure. The man's face was blocked from recognition by the shadow of the sun. Could this be a ploy to lure him into a false sense of security? He pointed his wand at the intruder, who began to laugh, it seemed he was deeply amused.

"Harry my boy, why don't you stop skulking around in the shadows and greet me properly, after all, it must be nearly nine years since I last had the pleasure of speaking to you." A familiar voice said warmly, "And I have aged a great deal since then, I had hoped to greet you in a more friendly manner but alas, I fell asleep showing my true age. Had I not been startled by your children arguing with one other, then I daresay you would have stunned me by now and my old bones are aching enough as it is, but I digress, it is a pleasure to see you again Harry." Harry took a step backwards shocked, the visitor stood up and beamed at him.

"But how? You disappeared, we thought you had died." He said blinking rapidly; a dumbfounded expression flittered across his face, for their standing in front of him was his old mentor, Albus Dumbledore.

"Nonsense, I survived through three Dark Wars Harry, and both Dark Lords wanted me 'disposed of,' if they couldn't do it, did you really believe that their servants could? Now, how about a spot of tea? Call your children back up from your cellar; I would dearly like to meet them again. Sherbet Lemon?" The man asked, his eyes twinkling as he reached into a bag and popped a sweet into his mouth smiling benevolently.

Harry found that he couldn't begin to form a coherent sentence; he simply stared at the man in wonder.

"What the ruddy hell do you mean Hermione?" She hit him again, hard. "Stop that!" Ron shouted, flushing with anger. Hermione snarled, "You pigheaded moron! What do you think I mean Ronald Weasley?" She shouted back. The rest of the occupants of the table were silent, the adults paled several shades whereas the children were looking at the two fearfully.

Sophie began to cry softly to herself, she hated it when her parents rowed, and Ron and Hermione rowed frequently however her brother Ryan was not here to stop them. Sophie wished, not for the first time, that she had enough Gryffindor courage to stop them like Ryan did but he was miles away at Hogwarts and oblivious to his sister's distress.

"You are a bitter man, but I didn't think you were cruel, and I certainly never dreamt that you would do that to Harry!" She snarled inches from his face, almost blinded by her hatred for him. "What the hell do you mean woman? Make some sense! I'm not telepathic!"

"The night Ginny was tortured! Harry owled me for help, he had three children Ron, a toddler and twin two, month old babies! You sent the letter away didn't you, you sodding prat!" She clumped him around the head again for good measure.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" He said crossing his arms in front of his chest, which was oddly enough slightly puffed out; and did she see a triumphant fleck in his eyes? Her fists balled instinctively and she allowed her intense hatred for the man he had become to flood through her soul. Hermione believed at that moment in time that she would have given all of the gold in Gringotts to make him hurt as much as he had hurt her, and if such a thing was possible, she believed that in that split second he had torn her heart from her body and stamped over it until it was nothing more than a bloody mess.

"You liar! Who…else…could…it…have…been!" She ground out through clenched teeth. "If you remember, we were cohabiting at the time! I was training full time at the University, and you were on leave from the Auror training program!" She snarled again, poking him in the ribs.

He threw his arms up in the air, in annoyance "Fine, yes, you're right again Hermione! I committed the crime! I sent the letter back to him, because I didn't want you fraternizing with the enemy!" He smirked, and it took all of Hermione's willpower not to hit him again, instead she spoke quietly, enraged with her husbands actions, whilst aching for the young man she had fallen in love with so many years ago. She felt confused by her conflicting feelings, and more vulnerable than she had ever felt in her life, but she vowed that she would never admit that to him. She would never allow herself to look weak in front of him ever again because she realised that like a parasite he fed on it, craved it, he consumed it happily, he loved to be dominant and in control.

"Harry was never the enemy for Merlin's sake, he was our best friend but your jealously knew no bounds did it? What started the fight between the two of you?" She asked sarcastically, "Oh yes I remember, it was because he left to kill Voldermort without you wasn't it? You were jealous, you wanted some part in the destruction of that tyrant didn't you? You wanted the fame, the glory!" She spat.

"He took the traitor along with him! And left us Hermione! We always did everything together but he left me." Ron said pouting childishly, the look didn't become him Hermione decided. Once upon a time that look would have melted her insides into a creamy mass of quivering flesh, and she would have forgiven him for anything, but now she felt nothing except an acute sense of loss and more rage than it should have been humanly possible to contain in her heart.

"He didn't want you to get hurt Ron, and Ginny followed him, he didn't even know she was their until the last minute! They both nearly died that night! He loved you like a brother, he would rather have died alone than see you hurt and you knew it!" Her fists clenched together and her voice cracked slightly, her husband's jealousy was infinite, she almost marvelled at it. However Hermione's fiery temper was a force to be reckoned with, she was reaching boiling point, and it felt good, she was finally unleashing the feelings she had suppressed for nearly a decade. She conveniently locked the sense of loss away tightly and threw away the key without any kind of remorse, she would take the time to analyse it at another time.

"Yes and he got an Order of Merlin for it! And if that wasn't enough, the Auror Academy would have accepted him straight away, Moody even said they would qualify him on the spot, no training needed! Whereas I had to endure three years of training! Three god-dammed years! He had it all Hermione, and I wish to God that the traitor had died that night and saved us all the humiliation!" Ron spat, he never saw it coming, Hermione's right fist was raised and it slammed into his nose with all of her strength. He stumbled back into the wall.

"What was that for? You've broken my nose!" He said bewilderedly, tears streamed from his eyes as he held his nose with both hands, blood seeped down his chin. Hermione stood in front of him shaking violently with the rage that seemed to consume her. She said nothing knowing that if she did she would punch him again, and she wouldn't stop until she was sure that he wouldn't rise again. She tried to calm herself, and succeeded as she noticed her daughter sitting near them crying silently to herself. The little girl also seemed to be shaking in fear, which too shone through her innocent eyes.

"You've always put him first Hermione! Even now! You're supposed to be my wife! Mine!" He whined.

"It's over Ron! I want a divorce." She told him flatly, all her energy seemed to have left her; she wanted nothing more than to crawl into a ball and go to sleep for eternity. She felt ashamed with herself; her actions should never have been performed in front of their daughter. She gathered her strength for the finale.

"I want nothing to do with such a pigheaded family, you should all be ashamed of yourselves." She glared at them all. "Sophie come on, we're leaving." Hermione turned away; she walked to Molly and Arthur.

"I'm sorry Molly, Arthur, your family was so close, so loving until you pushed Ginny away. Now you're all bitter, hateful and…" She paused and looked at Ron, "…spiteful! I'm ashamed of what you've become! Let me enlighten you on something! Ginny became a spy because Snape was caught; he barely made it away from Voldermort with his life intact! She joined the day after Bill was murdered because she couldn't bare to lose another family member! She was successful; she kept all of us safe! You should have thanked her on bended knee. You should have loved her! Not disowned her! Harry was the only person to see her for what she was! A magnificent selfless person, and do you know what Dumbledore said to me?" She broke off, her voice braking with emotion, after she calmed down she continued.

"The day he found out that she lost her sanity he visited her knowing that none of you would have bothered! He told me that she was a remarkable woman, one of the finest he had ever had the pleasure of meeting! You should have been proud of yourself! You raised her and helped her become that person, and her children; they have all of Ginny's good traits, and more, because they also have Harry's! But shame on all of you, you should never have doubted her intentions! If you can't believe your own family, then whom can you believe? Good night to you all."

Hermione quickly swept from the room before she lost her composure.

Harry was sitting in his living room, the twins sat on either side of Dumbledore and James sat beside Harry. Dumbledore had conjured everyone a cup of tea; Harry suspected he had also laced it with some calming draught, the crafty old wizard.

"…and your father saved your mothers life, saved her from Riddle, and when he entered my office I almost died of fright. His robes were covered in various creatures' blood, and I suspect also some of his own! His face was filthy, all you could make out were his bright eyes, and his scar, and clutched in one hand was a sword, Godric Gryffindor's sword!" He regaled Harry's children with the story of Harry's second year and his experience with the Chamber of Secretes. His children hung on every word Albus spoke, Harry wanted to laugh out loud, but instead he looked at his children sternly.

"Yes and it was an incredibly foolish thing to do. I should have gone straight to a competent teacher and told them that I knew where the chamber was, so let that be a lesson to you all!" His voice was stern but he couldn't quite stop his mouth from curling into a slight smiling. Dumbledore looked at him decidedly amused.

"Don't be such a kill joy Harry." Dumbledore said playfully his eyes twinkling brightly, Harry rolled his eyes, "Professor may I remind you that you are still the headmaster of Hogwarts, and you should not be encouraging any children, let alone my children, or anyone with the surname of Potter, to go off and land themselves in mortal danger? Maybe I should send them all to Durmstrang? You are clearly a bad influence." He asked, his mouth twitching.

Dumbledore smiled innocently, "No I wouldn't do that Harry its dreadfully cold there." The children began to laugh heartily, they hadn't seen their father so relaxed and cheerful in years, well to tell the truth… ever.

End Ch8

Sorry that it's taken so long! I've uploaded chapter nine too so go and read that, is that okay for an apology?

Read and review please!
I need input people!