Chapter 6

"Do you guys remember our final movie night?" I was hoping they would so I could prevent going into too much detail. After their nods, I continued, "Anyway, after you two," I pointed to Eddie and Big Dog, "Went to bed, Carl and I had sex. We got so caught up in the moment, neither of us considered using protection. A few weeks later, I took a pregnancy test at Carl's house. I was very happy when it was negative. Carl's mom gave me another test in case I missed my period, and the first one was a false negative."

Carl was surprised by my admission. He didn't know his mother gave me another test, and he never asked about the possibility of a false negative result either. I could see he was curious if I slept with someone else during that time. "Carl, you were the only man I ever had sex with."

"I find that rather difficult to believe," he spat out. His apparent jealousy was very annoying. We're not in a relationship.

"The one and only time I had intercourse was at our movie night, and only with you, Carl. Do you remember when I left town, Eddie, Big Dog?" I asked my other friends. I could tell Carl still didn't believe me.

"I think it was after our Physics exam," Big Dog offered.

"Yes. It was that night when I left. After I gave Mr. Wenn my exam paper, I felt nauseous. I went to the bathroom in case I was going to be sick. When I checked my calendar, I realized my period should have started a few days earlier. I found the extra pregnancy test in my backpack and decided to use it. My Dad picked me up, and we went somewhere private to talk. We found out together I was indeed pregnant. I moved to Europe to live with some relatives. Carl, on March 1st, ten years ago, I gave birth to your daughter, Hermione. I have some photographs for you to keep."

"How can I be sure she's mine?" With a heavy sigh, I gave him the small stack of pictures.

They passed the photos around and took a close look at the most current one taken at Kings Cross Station. "She has your eyes and chin," Eddie announced. "Everything else looks just like Steph."

Carl quickly looked around my apartment, "Is she here?" He looked at Hermione's photo. There was no denying she was his daughter.

"No, at a boarding school in Europe. I was planning to bring her here for Christmas break or during the summer."

"Why can't she come here for Thanksgiving?" he asked, hoping to meet his daughter sooner.

"There's no Thanksgiving in Europe. She'll be in school. Her first holiday isn't until Christmas," I patiently explained. "Are you interested in meeting her? I've told her so much about you. She's anxious to finally meet her father."

"She's my daughter. I definitely want to see her." We talked for another hour before Eddie and Big Dog excused themselves, sensing I had more information to share.

"I have a few more things to discuss with you. What I need to tell you cannot leave this room. If you don't think you could keep my confidence, I won't be able to tell you." Actually, I can tell him then use the obliviate charm to remove the memory. I really disliked using charms to protect muggles. The Ministry dictates total secrecy. However, exceptions got made in households where a witch or wizard has muggle parents.

"Do you remember the energy surges I had when we first met?" I asked. He needed to understand the full scope of his daughter's life.

"Yes. That night we made love. It took multiple orgasms for you to burn off all the built-up energy," his eyes misted as he recalled our only night together.

"The energy build-up was actually caused by my magic getting bound. When I was ten, I got offered to attend a special school for witches and wizards. My mom refused to send me. When my Dad found out, he felt it was too late for me to attend. With some help from a few people, they bound my magic so I couldn't accidentally use it on unsuspecting non-magical people. Besides, using magic without the proper training is frowned upon and dangerous. As I got closer to the age of maturity for witches and wizards, the magic build-up increased in magnitude. It was a matter of time before my method of release was no longer effective. I talked to my Aunt about the latest energy surge and decided to attend University in Europe."

"I heard rumours you were attending school overseas. Why didn't you tell me before you left?" I could tell he was feeling hurt.

"My timeline got moved up due to my pregnancy. It was not safe for the baby to keep my magic bound. I only suspected I was a witch. My Aunt confirmed my suspicion when I arrived in Europe. I'm a fully trained witch and work primarily for the Ministry of Magic. I have a job at E E Martin, but I'm an undercover agent. Please don't blow my cover," I begged.

"What do you being a witch has anything to do with our daughter?" he demanded.

"She too is a witch. When her letter arrived from Hogwarts, I was excited for her. She has an opportunity I never was given at her age. I want you to have an active role in her life, but you must keep our secret. It would mean so much for her to know you accept her. She's afraid you wouldn't want her if you discovered she's a witch."

"Can I have another chance to date you?" he asked. I could see hope in his eyes.

"No. Dad told me about that girl you slept with while you went camping. You promised there wouldn't be any other girls, that we were exclusive. Carl, you cheated on me. You also broke my heart. I would never ever date a man who slept with Joyce Barnhardt. You could have an incurable STD, like herpes, that hasn't manifested yet." I could see disappointment written all over his face.

"I got a vasectomy when I turned twenty. After another pregnancy scare, I couldn't tolerate it happening again. Why did you mention herpes?" he wondered.

"Joyce got diagnosed with herpes when she was fifteen. I thought you already knew. If you had protected yourself, it would lower your chances of infection. Especially if she wasn't showing symptoms," I explained. "The most important reason is that I no longer have those feelings for you. I'm not looking to have a man in my life. My job doesn't lend to relationships. Hermione was protected, and Hogwarts is very safe."

"I will keep your secret, Hermione's, too," he finally agreed. I snapped my fingers, and we heard an owl tap on the windowpane.

"We need to tell Hermione." I opened the window to let my owl land on my shoulder.

"Hi, Chipper. I see you have a note for me. Help yourself to that granola. I need you to take a letter back to Hermione." The owl landed on the plate of granola. Carl had watched me set it on the table after Eddie and Big Dog left. "Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, Parvarti Patil, Lavender Brown and Seamus Finnigan. It was a toss-up between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. She also reminded me to ask if you want to meet her." I gave him the note to read. There were parts he needed to read for himself. "She shares her dorm with Lavender and Pavarti," I added.

He struggled to read her tiny scrawl. 'What if I meet Dad and he decides he wants some other girl to be his daughter like Grandpa said he did to replace you? Will I be good enough to be his daughter? I don't know, Mom. Maybe you shouldn't ask him if he wants to meet me. I don't think I could handle the rejection. However, it still doesn't hurt to ask, even if he may reject me. I think it's worth the risk to meet him. Did you know Harry Potter can't remember his parents? After reading his story, I would rather meet my father and risk the chance of rejection than never to have met him at all. Please ask Dad if I can meet him at Christmas.'

"To be honest, I wrote you a 'Dear John' letter to explain the school I was going to attend and the desire to end our brief relationship. I even called to tell you about Hermione, but your phone got disconnected. You don't deserve all the blame for the demise of our relationship or lack of communication."

"You must have called when you were around five months pregnant. We changed our phone number when I kept receiving unwanted, harassing calls from Joyce," he explained. "If I had known you were definitely pregnant, I would have made better decisions."

"I wanted you to live your life. You cheating on me didn't bother me nearly as much as discovering you slept with Joyce. On our field trip, I told you all about the feud between Joyce and me. It's more like Joyce wanting to destroy me for some unknown reason. To this day, I have no clue why she's hated me since kindergarten. I had literally done absolutely nothing to deserve her wrath. When you slept with that girl on the camping trip, I was hurt. After I actually thought about it, I had already broken up with you even though you didn't know that yet. I'm still confused because you knew we agreed to be exclusive before you went camping. So in a way, you did cheat on me. I refuse to date a man who has, for all intents and purposes, cheated on me. Even if I had already let you go without you knowing," I rambled on.

"When you told me the story about Joyce, I honestly thought you were joking. I guess I completely blew all hope for us to get back together, haven't I?"

"Yes. Anyways, I need to send Chipper back to Hermione with a letter. Did you want to write her a note?" I asked. When he nodded, I slipped him a piece of paper and a pen. He started to write a letter to his daughter, expressing his interest in getting to know her better. I wrote a letter to Hermione explaining our visit and basically letting her know I told her father that she was a witch. After wishing her a safe school year and keeping me informed if she managed to break the rules. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't encouraging her to be a rebel or difficult for her teachers, but a little rule-breaking has never hurt anyone before. After a final 'stay safe' message, I signed, I love you, sweetie, Mom.

I folded Carl's letter first, then folded my letter around it. He asked, "Why did you do that?"

"To give her a choice between reading your letter or ignoring it. I explained in my letter what her options were. If she wishes to lay her heart on the line to read your letter, I encouraged her to reply to you." He watched as I tied the letter to Chipper's leg then tossed him out the window to make his delivery.

"I forgot to include my address. How will Hermione know where to send her reply?" His face turned white as he realized he had forgotten the vital piece of information.

"Don't worry about it. Chipper or one of the school owls will know how to find you," I answered. I knew how easy it was for the Owl post to deliver messages to those 'hard to find' recipients. "I think you should leave now. I have some work to finish for the Ministry. Thank you for meeting me today. Take care, Carl." I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek before escorting him to the door.

"Bye, Steph. Let me know if Hermione is coming here for Christmas."

I closed and locked the door behind him. Feeling completely drained, I entered the bathroom to have a much-deserved bubble bath.