A/N- As some of you may have noticed, this story wasn't in the Harry/Ginny section before. The story is really about Harry's daughter. Fear not, Harry and Ginny will get together, but this story is not only about them. They won't be getting together for a while. Ginny doesn't even come into things for a long time, but she will be there!

Chapter One: Unspeakable Grief

The bitter January air blew relentlessly over the small group of people paying their last respects to a fallen hero. They stood near the edge of the lake on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, beneath large shade trees that in the summer would provide escape from the harsh suns rays. But today there was no sunshine. There was only the plain landscape covered in several inches of snow. Ron and Hermione Weasley stood closest to the newly dug grave, overcome with grief, and knowing that nothing would ever be the same.

Harry was dead. Their best friend was gone forever, and neither of them knew what to say to take the other's pain away. So instead of offering some kind of useless consolation to their fellow mourners, they stood in silence hoping, for something to cause them all to wake up from this terrible dream.

But nothing ever did.

To the rest of the world Harry James Potter would be known as the man who sacrificed everything so that others may find tranquility, while never finding it himself. He would be awarded in death as he was in life, by those who neither understood why he did the things he did, nor really knew how to thank him for his forfeiture of personal bliss.

But to Ron and Hermione, he could be only one thing, he was just Harry. The boy they had both met on the Hogwarts Express and befriended all those years ago. The boy they had been through everything with; death, battles, defeat, hardship, and pain. But more importantly he had been the one they choose to share their happy times with; Qudditch matches, summers at the Burrow, Christmas' at school, their wedding, and so much more. This was the same boy who hated the life he was forced to live, but at the end of the day still found reasons to smile. He had given them more than he had given anyone else. He gave them himself, the unaltered version of himself that no one else got the opportunity to know or understand.

Now that he was gone, the world around them seemed foreign and detached. People they had once considered friends had become strangers. Those people were from a different life it seemed, a life neither of them would ever be able to return to.

About a week after the funeral Ron fumbled through the large trunk sitting in the middle of his living room; looking for something that would make him feel connected to the best friend he had just lost. The trunk had been brought to them by an auror who had worked with Harry in America. The man said it was filled with Harry's more personal belongings, and he also said they were welcome to go to Harry's house to look around and retrieve anything else they wanted. Ron knew he would never bring himself to step foot inside that house, but he was grateful for the truck full of memories.

The trunk contained all sorts of items from Harry, many of which Ron had never seen before. He found several journals that Harry had kept since his Hogwarts days. Telling himself that one day he would read them, Ron continued to search the trunk before he found a shoebox filled with pictures. The picture on top was in a frame and obviously had been hung on the wall because it had wire running across the back of it. The picture was taken at Hogwarts the day they left the school, never to return again as students. Harry was standing next to Ginny and Hermione with his arms around both of them, leaning toward the camera. In the moving photo the three friends looked at one another and laughed heartily. Ron smiled in melancholy at the memory which had once held such happiness for all of them. He remembered the feeling he had when that picture was taken.

In the two years that Ron, Hermione, and Harry had been out of Hogwarts much had changed. Ron and Hermione had gotten married the summer after graduation, and became parents to a son they named Jack over a year later. Hermione was now pregnant with their second child.

Voldermort had been defeated at the end of their seventh year thanks to Harry's relentless search for the four remaining parts of Voldemorts soul. He had not intended to return to Hogwarts after what happened at the end of their sixth year. But when Ron and Hermione both told him they would be returning, Harry decided to complete his education because he knew that's what Dumbledore would have wanted. He also had a nice cover up in his search for the Dark Lord's soul. Who would have thought Harry spent most of his nights with the Order of the Phoenix continuing his search.

Even with Voldemort gone, the danger that had existed during his long reign of terror still loomed over the wizarding world like a thick fog on a cold winter's morning. There were new threats to the peace of the wizarding community. Some of them bigger or smaller than others, but all of them kept people on their toes. Voldemort's followers vowed to return a new dark lord to power, one that would be strong enough to defeat anyone, and though the task was farfetched, it didn't keep people from being fearful.

Nothing or no one had changed as much as Harry had in that short time. After the final battle, Harry's work was far from over. Ron and Harry both entered Auror training at the same time, thinking it would be something they would be able to do together. But Harry was rushed through the different levels of training and sent on mission after mission while Ron completed the training at regular intervals. Ron and Hermione saw very little of Harry after he started going on missions out of the country. When he was able to come home for a short visit, they found him distant and distracted, like he always had something on his mind but utterly refused to talk about it.

Ginny and Harry dated all through Harry's seventh year in secret. They never told anyone how much time they spent together, even Ron and Hermione. But during the final battle, Ginny was captured and nearly killed by Draco Malfoy. Harry never forgave himself for putting her in that much danger and refused to see or talk to her after that. Ginny was reluctant to give up at first, but once Harry joined the auror department and started being gone for long intervals of time, she had little choice so she found ways to occupy her time in hopes that Harry would one day come around. She returned to school for her final year and then began work with an organization to protect endangered children.

After Ron completed his training, he spent most of his time in England dealing with small local disturbances with the exception of a few short missions out of the country. Now that Harry was really gone for good, Ron didn't know what he was going to do. He knew he could never bring himself to continue at the auror department, it was simply too painful. But where that left him, he just didn't know.

Things were so different now than when they were in school. They had all hoped that with the defeat of Voldermort that there would be peace for a while. Now they all knew that that dream--like so many others--would never be realized. Ron once expressed his fear of never truly finding happiness to Harry during one of his sporadic visits. He would never forget the advice Harry had given him.

He said, "Ron, as long as there are people who are unhappy with themselves there will always be threats to those that are or wish to be happy. Life most certainly is not a fairy tale, far from it, in fact. But it is because of those unhappy people that we must continue fighting so we can have some kind of happiness in our lives, even if it's only for a little while."

After that conversation was over Ron remembered thinking to himself, "God, when did Harry grow up?" In a lot of ways, things back then seemed so surreal. It seemed like they were living a life they were not meant to live and that any moment they were going to wake up in Gryffindor tower and it would all be a dream. But the truth was they had all grow up while none of them were looking and were different people than they had been in school.

As Ron now looked down in to the contents of the large trunk, he felt overwhelmed by all the memories the artifacts brought back to his mind. He stood up; unable to take any more torture, he walked to gaze out the window into the dead night surrounding their urban sprawl neighborhood near London. Hermione had returned to Hogwarts that morning. She was a teacher there now and came home every weekend when Ron and Jack weren't staying in her quarters at the school. Ron told her it was too soon for her to return to a place that held so many memories of Harry, but she said that being at Hogwarts made her feel closer to him, for that was the only place he truly felt at home. Standing there and leaning heavily against the window frame, Ron willed the memories to leave his mind, but in doing so it only brought them closer to the surface.

He knew he would never forget the day he came home from work to find two men walking down the path, leaving his house.

One of the men stopped and looked at him with sympathetic eyes. One man tipped his hat and said simply, "I'm sorry."

Ron turned and watched the men walk away from him and then disappear into the humid late afternoon sunshine. He turned his ear to the house, hesitating to go inside, until he heard the loud sobs and screams of his wife. He raced up the remaining path and then jumped the five stairs leading to the door in a single leap. When he came to the front door at last he found it to unlocked and slightly ajar. He walked into the cool house cautiously. He found Hermione sitting at their dinning room table with her face in her hands, sobbing openly.

He approached her slowly from behind and placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. She put her hand on top of his, took a deep breath and turned around. Her eyes were swollen with tears, her face red from crying and screaming, and she shook with sadness. Not really sure what to do, Ron took his trembling wife in his arms and held her as if his life depended on it.

"Hermione…is it your parents?" He asked quietly as he gently ran his hand over her shaking back. She pulled away from him and looked over his shoulder for a moment before meeting his eye.

She removed his hands from where they had fallen to her hips when she pulled away, and held them tightly. She looked him in the eye and said in almost a whisper, "No Ron, its Harry."

Ron already knew what that had to mean. But somehow his mind would not let that knowledge into his heart to process, "What about Harry?"

"Ron,…Harry is…" Hermione could look at him no longer. He let go of her hands and ran his own roughly through his trademark red hair. This couldn't be happening. Not Harry, not after all he had been through. It was his turn for happiness.

He heard Hermione call his name, but all of a sudden he needed to be alone. He turned on his heel and walked back toward Hermione, but passed her, and headed out the back door. He knew he should have been strong for Hermione, but at that moment he just didn't know how.

Ron closed his eyes at the memory of that day and nearly lost his composure. Now standing here in the strikingly silent house, he never felt more alone. He had always had Harry by his side through the hardest parts of his life, even over the last two years, when Harry was so busy with his work. He always managed to make an effort to come home and see Ron and Hermione when they needed him or at least write them a heartfelt letter telling them he was thinking of them and offering his advice. Now he was gone, and Ron still didn't understand why.

They'd been told that he was killed in his home after being ambushed by four death eaters. No one had been permitted to see the body at the funeral. The auror department said that Harry would want to be remembered as he was in life, not as he looked in a coffin. The strange thing to Ron was that Harry had not been able to fight off the death eaters before they had killed him. He had seen Harry in action, and knew that task was not over his head.

Ron decided it was time to stop trying to understand things that really didn't matter in the end, and he walked back to toward the trunk but was stopped when he heard a noise from the floor above. Walking out of the room quickly and up the stairs, he found the room he was looking for. On the outside of the door the letters, JACK, where painted in baby blue paint. Turning the door knob and pushing the door open Ron walked gingerly over to the crib which held his fussing son. The room was also painted a baby blue and was covered in pictures. Some of the pictures were taken of Hogwarts castle, or the Qudditch field. Others were of Hermione's parents or Ron's parents and family. The one that hung over the crib was of Harry and Jack at the christening. Hermione insisted on having the christening only a few days after Jack was born because she wanted to make sure Harry was there. He was sent on a mission right after that, so it turns out Hermione was right in insisting that it take place while he was still in England, because that was the last time they'd seen him alive.

"What's wrong little man?" He asked as he picked the once sleeping baby up in his arms and held him close. He was the first Weasley to be born without red hair; he had his mother's brown curly hair.

"I've got you now, and everything is gonna be okay," he cooed, trying to sooth the upset child. But looking down at the infant, tears began to fall from Ron's eyes at last. To this boy, Harry Potter would be nothing more than a legend…someone he would read about in some of his classes at school. But Harry should have been so much more to Jack. Harry was of course Jack's godfather, but that really didn't matter now that he was gone.

Ron took a seat in the rocking chair Hermione had placed overlooking the window and the back yard. Gazing into the blue eyes of his now silent son, Ron wondered what the little boy's life would be like. Would he face the challenges that he, Hermione, and Harry had faced? A quiet voice in the back of his mind told him the answer was yes, and something deep inside in his heart began to ach. Every parent wishes their child will have a better life than their own, but in the world they lived in today that was just impossible.

When Jack was born Ron, was afraid to hold him because he thought he would break his tiny little body. Hermione told him he was crazy and that Jack was only fragile-looking because he was so small. The first time he cried, Ron remembered feeling helpless. It hurt to hear his son cry and not be able to understand exactly what was troubling him. Hermione informed him that all babies cry a lot right after their born to expand their lungs but to Ron it still hurt.

Hermione was a brilliant mother. She was caring and loving in everything she did. The first time he saw the two of them together in the hospital hours after Jack's birth, he paused at the door and burnt the memory into this mind forever. Hermione sitting on the side of the bed, holding the baby in her arms and smiling warmly down at him, humming gently.

Ron had stood there, unable to move for a second before Harry, having just arrived from some mission in America to meet his godson, came up behind him. His face held a smile that Ron had not seen in a long time. Sure, Harry had smiled during his recent visits home but none of his smiles reached his eyes and made them glow like they used to until then. Harry had held out his hand, congratulated his friend, and led the way into the room with Hermione. They spent the rest of the day talking in Hermione's room about the future. Harry told them he was planning on moving back to England for good and that he wanted to settle down and have a family of his own.

Ron was brought back to the present once more when he noticed Jack had fallen back to sleep in his arms. He placed him back in his crib and returned to the living room. The house was just as dark and silent as it had been before and held a feeling of extreme desolation that suffocated everything like a canopy. The house, which at one time had held such happiness now seemed like a graveyard of hopeless causes and unrealized dreams.

Ron and Hermione bought this house when they found out they were having Jack. They moved in just days after signing the final papers and when they walked into the house for the first time as its true owners they found Harry sitting in their very empty living room. He was leaning against the wall and looking around the room in wonder. He stayed with them for a week after that and helped them move in. Harry was always doing things like that, showing up unexpected when he knew they needed him for something.

One day during his visit, he and Ron were painting one of the guest rooms and Harry's expression changed drastically. He turned to Ron and said, "You know I would really love to be able to live the life you led, Ron."

Ron asked him why, but Harry never really answered so the issue was not pressed any further. But for some reason he always wondered what Harry had meant, and now more than ever he wished he had made Harry explain it to him.

Walking back to the trunk Ron bent over and began thumbing through some more old pictures. There was a picture of Harry and Ginny taken at their graduation. Another of Harry and a girl Ron didn't recognize. Harry was holding her in a manner that suggested they were involved in one way or another. The girl had long curly brown hair and brown eyes. Ron shrugged and put the picture aside. She must have just been someone that Harry worked with.

One of the more recent pictures that had been taken of the three of them was just after Jack was born. The picture had been taken by Hermione's father, meaning that it did not move as most magical photos do. The picture was taken in Hermione's hospital room. She was lying on the bed, holding what appeared to be a bundle of blankets while Ron and Harry stood on either side of the bed smiling down at the sleeping infant. Now that Ron remembered the moment he had just relived in Jack's room upstairs, he realized that was the first time he had seen Harry truly happy in a very long time.

After glancing at a few other pictures of the three of them at school during their sixth year, Ron came to an article he had not seen before. It was an envelope that read his name on the front, and the handwriting was clearly Harry's. Thinking that perhaps it was a letter he had been meaning to send before he died, Ron torn the envelope open and found a very long letter. He took in deep unsteady breath and began to read as tears welled in his eyes once more.

Dear Ron,

I cannot begin to understand the grief my supposed death must have caused you, and before I go any further with this I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry.

Looking back at the nineteen and a half years of my life, I realize things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. I guess this happens to a lot of people in their lives, but I can't help but be disappointed. There are a lot of things you do not know about, things that have happened to me over the past two years. Some of these things I'm not proud of, others I'm immensely proud of.

Ron, I have a daughter! Her name is Lily Elizabeth Potter, and she is the most beautiful being that has ever graced the face of this earth. She was born three months after your son. Perhaps that was why I was happier than usual when I came to see you guys after Jack's birth. Not that I wasn't busting with happiness for you mate! But to tell you the truth I've always envied the life you and 'Mione have and I guess I was just happy I would be able to have some of that in my own life.

I was never married to Lily's mother. She and I met a few months after graduation, when I went on my first mission. I didn't tell you all about her, because…well…I just didn't want the wrong people to hear about her and try to hurt her. I didn't want you to be upset that I was seeing someone else after what happened with Ginny and I. I know you can never understand why I couldn't be with her. After what happened at the final battle, I just couldn't bring myself to put her in any more danger. What would I have done if my best friend's sister was killed because of me? I would have never been able to look you in the eye again.

Lily's mother was an American witch named Melissa. She was orphaned at the age of five and has no other family. Yes, she was an auror and we did do a lot of work together. I did not intend to care about her as much as I did when we first started dating. But I loved her very much. When she was killed a month after Lily was born, I nearly died myself. She was murdered in our home while I was at work…I found her body. I can't tell you how hard that was. I might have killed myself with grief at that very moment if I had not heard Lily crying in her crib upstairs. I ran upstairs to make sure she was okay. She was fussing and crying loudly, and when I picked her up and held her to my chest she calmed instantaneously like she always does. It was then that I realized what I had to do. The people who did this to Melissa would not think twice about doing the same to Lily, and I just couldn't live with that. They might have even come after you and your family. That is just something I can't deal with. These people are desperate Ron. I can't live in fear that you or Hermione and Jack may be hurt because of me, not when I can save you.

That's why I staged my own death. I did this so that my daughter can live and have a normal childhood. She deserves so more than I am able to give her. With me gone, the threat against her life should be gone as well, or at least I hope.

I want you to know that I have every intention of returning someday. I will go somewhere and live my life on a low key. Don't even try to come find me. I am no where you will ever be able to locate. Please know that where ever I am, I'm thinking of you all and hoping that you have found peace and settled into the life I've always wanted, and may have someday have when I return and things settle down.

I guess you are wondering why I have not told you where my daughter is now. After all, you and Hermione are her godparents. As I said before, her mother had no family to speak of. I would have left her to you, but I want her to grow up away from England. I want her to have a normal childhood, or as normal as possible for a child of mine. I have made sure that she was placed in a good facility for the children of magical parents. Her mother and I have provided for her to have a fine education, both before and during her formal schooling.

As much as I want her to belong to a family like yours, you are not her family Ron. I don't want her to grow up an outsider in your family, not that I think that is how you would treat her, but I know that is how she would feel. It is how I felt my entire life until I came to Hogwarts. This place where she will spend the next eleven years will help her belong to something. She will make friends and have a real childhood.

She will attend Hogwarts when she turns eleven, and it is my wish that after that she come and live with you. I believe by that age she will be ready to get to know you and your family. If this is something you feel you cannot do, then I understand. Please keep an eye on her once she gets to Hogwarts. She will always be in danger, like I was.

That is part of the reason why I am doing this. The further she is from England and the center of things, the less danger she is in. This orphanage that I have arranged for her to live at specializes in cases like this. Most of the children are those of people who were killed by Voldemort, or children that can't live with their parents because it is simply too dangerous. They will protect her, but more importantly, they will teach her to protect and look after herself.

I have left other items for you which will be sent to you secretly sometime in the next few weeks. Most of these things are items I want Lily to have when she is old enough. Some of them are pictures of her mother and I, my invisibility cloak, the Marauder's Map, as well as letters I have written for her to be read at specific parts of her life. As I do not know when I will be able to return, I have written her several letters for a variety of situations in her life. I want you to read them and decide when she should see them.

So, I guess that's all. I have nothing left to say other than I wish you all the best, Ron. I will leave it up to you what you tell Hermione but I want her to know the truth. She will find out in eleven years when Lily goes to school anyway, but if you don't want her to know this until that date, I understand. She is your wife, and that judgment lies with you and you alone. As for everyone else…I must ask you to not tell them. I know this is hard and I know you want to tell everyone right now. But it is very important that the world, including Lily, think Harry Potter is dead.

Be happy Ron, and I hope to see you someday…even if it is a long time from now.

Harry

p.s. Jack and Lily are only a few months apart in age. They will be in the same year in school, and I really hope they become as good of friends as we did.

Ron reread the note in disbelief. Harry was alive! After thinking things over for a few seconds, he realized that he had to tell Hermione this weekend when she came home. He knew if he rushed to tell her now it would look suspicious and the truth might get out. Besides, it was Thursday and Hermione would be home tomorrow around dinner time. But Harry was right. She should know the truth.

a/n- tell me what you think!