A/N: Thanks to those who continue to review and to all those reading. This is the first piece of writing I've ever let someone else read, so it's great to know people are enjoy it. Hope you like this next chapter.
Hermione and Ron arrived at the Potter household just after eight. As per Harry's suggestion, and much to their delight, Rose and Hugo were spending the evening at the Burrow with their cousins James, Albus and Lily. It was one less thing for Hermione to worry about during what she was sure would be an incredibly stressful evening.
Ron had been pestering Hermione all afternoon about what it was they were meeting Harry and Ginny for. He'd seemed to infer that she knew something he did not, and he made it clear he wasn't pleased about it. Hermione avoided answering him, stating that it wouldn't be long until they four of them were together and whatever it was would soon be out in the open. She really couldn't wait for this night to be over.
She had promised herself she was not going to cry. She'd cried enough in the past few weeks, and she needed to be strong for Ron and Ginny, and eventually for the rest of the family. She'd hardly slept at all the night before, and she was aching to get this secret out.
The four of them sat in the living room. Ron and Ginny sat on opposite ends of a large green sofa, both wearing a look of suspicion on their faces. Hermione was adjacent on a matching loveseat, her feet off the ground and her arms hugging her knees tightly to her chest.
"Alright, mate," Ron said to Harry, who was sitting across from him on a brown leather lounge chair. "You're starting to worry me. What's got you and Hermione so out of sorts?"
Hermione and Harry exchanged a trouble look.
"Something going on at the Ministry?" Ginny asked with concern, casting a worried glance at Hermione, who immediately felt a wave a guilt plunge into her stomach.
"Not exactly," Harry began, clearing his throat nervously. "I have something difficult to tell you both."
"Okay," Ginny said, her hazel eyes watching him intently.
"Out with it then," Ron huffed, annoyed with all the unnecessary suspense.
"After I tell you what it is, I want us to talking about it. No storming out and no violent outbursts," Harry said with a shakiness in his voice, knowing how unpredictable the Weasley tempers could be. "I... I love you both so much and I want you to know how truly sorry I am."
"Alright, now you're starting to scare me," Ginny said, intently watching her husband, who looked as though he were about to come apart at the seam.
"Harry..." Hermione whispered with a pleading look. She needed him to get it over with. She couldn't bear to wait a second longer.
"Someone has gotten a hold of some documents involving me and Hermione that will very likely end up in the press."
Ron straighten up in his chair at the mention of his wife while Ginny remained stoically still. Harry turned his attention to Ron, swallowing hard before continuing.
"When we were on the Horcrux Hunt, after you left, we were both in a really bad place. We'd just been attacked by Nagini, we had no leads or ideas of where to go next, and we were both... well, miserable. "
Hermione mentally braced herself for what was about to come. This was it.
"There was a night when Hermione and I... well..." He paused, looking at Hermione for reassurance. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to stop the tears she'd promised herself she wouldn't shed. Harry sighed before forcing himself to say it. "We took comfort in one another."
Hermione, still balled up alone on the loveseat, watch as her husband fully comprehended what Harry was telling him. Ron's expression, which started as pure shock, quickly turned to anger, and Hermione noticed his jaw clench tightly while his hands gripped a nearby pillow.
"You shagged?" Ron asked, struggling to keep his composure. His anguish filled wide blue eyes looked back and forth between his uncomfortable best friend and his distraught wife.
"Yes." Harry confirmed, forcing himself to look directly at Ron and then Ginny. "But only that one night."
"Only the one night?" Ron laughed resentfully, rising out of his chair. "Well doesn't that make me feel better."
"Ron - " Hermione began.
"Don't you even start! How could you keep this from me?" He shot wildly. "You're always on about bloody honesty!"
Hermione could see the betrayal. He was devastated.
"Let me explain - please, Ron!"
"Why should I? You've been lying about fucking my best friend for the last two decades!"
"Exactly, it was over twenty years ago, mate. You - "
"Do not call me your mate! Not now after I find out you've stuck it to my wife while my back was turned!"
Harry was about to angrily respond that it never would have happened if he hadn't thrown a fit and left, when thankfully, Ginny, who had been sitting quietly, interjected.
"Ron," she said sternly, getting the attention of the three friends, including her irate brother. "I think you should let Harry finish talking and then if you still want to scream and shout and throw a tantrum, by all means, do so, but for the sake of our families we need to at least listen to what he has to say."
Ron stared at his sister, his open mouth slowly closing. With angrily crossed arms, he sat back down on the couch and looked seethingly at Harry. Hermione felt a sense of relief at Ginny's reasonable words, but when she looked her way, Ginny's expression was cool. In that moment, Hermione understood. Ginny was willing to be civil, but she was not going to pretend things were fine. She was just as hurt as Ron, despite not showing it.
"Right," Harry said quickly, wanting to get everything out before Ron exploded again. "Well, like I said, Hermione and I... well... we did something that we immediately regretted. We decided to just carry on as if it never happened, and we did that, but then... uhhh...something else happened."
Harry hesitated, looking helplessly at Hermione. She exhaled softly, knowing she couldn't allow him to do it all alone. Despite her not remembering anything, the two of them had made this mess together.
"I was pregnant," Hermione announced matter-of-factly, doing her best to keep her voice from wavering. "I was pregnant and I miscarried, and I lost the baby in May, not long after the Battle."
A silence hung in the air. Ginny was dumbstruck, her eye's darting back and forth between her husband and sister-in-law, while Ron's face turned purple in fury. Clearly neither of them had expected that.
"And I'm sorry. Harry and I are both so sorry that we kept this from you," Hermione said quietly, looking down at her hands. "We knew how much it would hurt you, which I know is no excuse, but it's why we kept it a secret. I realize how stupid that was because now it's about to come out, and all we've done is hurt both of you even more with our lies." Hermione paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Someone got a hold of my medical records, and now Harry is being blackmailed, which of course we can't allow, so it's likely to be in the press any day."
"Is that everything?" Ginny asked icily, finally able to find her voice. Her posture rigid and her eyes like daggers piercing into Hermione.
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Harry was faster.
"No," He said calmly. "You should both know that this whole thing is entirely my fault - "
"Harry..."
"No, it's true. Hermione wanted to tell the both of you many years ago, but I told her not to. She was so distressed that she chose to Obliviate it from her memory completely. She hasn't known about it now for almost twenty years, and it was as much of a surprise to her when I told her the other week as it is to you both now."
A momentary silence hung in the room while Ron and Ginny absorbed everything that had just been dumped on them. Hermione felt as though it were forever that she waited for someone to speak or even move, until finally, Ron abruptly stood from his chair.
"I can't be here," he said, more to himself than to anyone else.
"Shouldn't we talk about what we're going to do? What about the kids and our family? How will we handle the press?" Harry asked, trying to stop him from leaving, but Ron roughly pushed passed him, making his way to the fireplace.
Ginny also rose from her spot, casting Hermione and Harry a sorrowful look before heading towards the stairs, likely to the solitude of her bedroom.
"Harry," Hermione said with a sigh as she passed him to follow Ron. "I think we've talked enough for tonight."
...
Once back in her own home, Hermione found Ron in the kitchen, muttering curse words to himself as he accidentally knocked over a few bottles in the dark.
"Ron," Hermione said, turning on the light and watching her husband rifle through their Liquor Cabinet. He ignored her, so she tried again, a bit louder. "Ron."
His concentration did not break. Slowly she approached him, putting her hand gently on the back of his shoulder. He recoiled at her touch and turned around quickly, a bottle of Dragon Barrel Brandy in his hand. His eyes were dark and filled with distain.
"Please..." she began weakly, hating herself for how angry she had made him. "Can we just talk?"
"I can't right now." He pushed passed her, almost as though he couldn't stand to be near her. "If we talk, I'm going to say something I'll regret and neither of us need that."
"We can't just leave things like this," Hermione protested as she watched him pour a heavy drink. "We have to fix this."
"Don't you understand?" Ron snapped viciously, startling Hermione so much that she stumbled a step back. "I'm not sure we even can fix this!"
Hermione stared at him, not daring to move. He'd never looked at her the way he was now. Never with such hate.
"The thought of you and him... together... it makes me want to scream."
"I'm so sorry, Ron. It was a mistake - "
"I don't fucking care!" He roared, banging his fist on the kitchen island, shattering the glass of brandy he'd just poured. "I don't care if you're sorry! I don't care if it was a mistake!" He took a beat to steady his breathing and regained control of his emotions. "All I care about is that it happened. The two people I love most stabbed me in the back, and the worst part is you both made me think I was crazy... that the idea of you two together was so laughable and ridiculous, when all along my gut was right."
"We were so stupid, Ron," Hermione choked out, her voice starting to crack. "Harry said it only happened because we thought we were going to die. It was so hard without you and everything just felt so hopeless. Those weeks in that tent while you were gone were the worst in my life."
"And I suppose that's all my fault," Ron shot scathingly.
"No! That's not what I'm saying!"
"I need to get out of here."
Ron turned away from her, making his way to the front door, but Hermione grabbed his arm, desperately trying to stop him.
"No, Ron, please! Don't go!"
"I can't even look at you." He snarled at her, shaking free from her grip. "Don't you see that? I'm sickened by you. You disgust me."
With those words, Hermione's worst fear had come true. He hated her. He'd never forgive her. Her family would be torn into two. She felt an intense pressure on her chest, as though something heavy were pressing on it, and she was finding it difficult to breath.
"No..." Hermione whispered. "Don't say that..."
Ron gave her one last final stare before angrily turning around, and as he exited the front door, Hermione collapsed down on her knees into a fit of sobs.
She stayed that way, choking on her own tears, until she felt the soft touch of someone's hand on her back. She looked up and saw Harry, who also looked as though he'd been through his own hell.
"Hey," he said, offering his hand to help her up. She took it.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione whispered, wiping under her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
"Thought I'd peak my head through your front window and check on you two. I just saw Ron leave."
"What about Ginny?"
"She tossed me out," he said with a sad half smile. "Though, I think just for the night. She's taking it much better than Ron thankfully. I was going to crash at Grimmauld's Place, but if you want some company, I could stay?"
Hermione wasn't sure if she did. What if Ron came home and saw him here? He'd assume the worst. On the other hand, she really didn't want to be alone. She needed someone.
"Do you really think that's a good idea?" She asked with a heavy sigh.
"I think it's as good idea as any right now."
Hermione said nothing, slowly walking over to the living room and curling upon on the sofa with a fuzzy blanket. After she turned on the TV, she looked at Harry, and gestured for him to join her.
...
"Uncle Harry?" Rose said, stepping out of her living room fireplace and seeing her uncle laying on the sofa instead of her dad. Her brother, Hugo, popping into the fireplace a few seconds after her.
It was around ten in the morning, and after having been fed bacon, eggs, and toast from their Grandma Molly, they had Flooed home after a fun night away with their cousins.
"Rosie," Harry acknowledged, rising to a seated position and grabbing his glasses from the coffee table before seeing his nephew. "Morning you two."
"Where's mum and dad?" Hugo asked curiously, glancing around the oddly quiet main floor.
Rose didn't bother asking. She could tell something was wrong immediately. Uncle Harry had stayed on the couch before, usually after her mum and dad had had a really bad fight. He'd come over to comfort Hermione, reason with Ron, and somehow smooth the whole thing over. It was something that hadn't happened in many year, but Rose remembered it well. She was always worried about her parents whenever it was bad enough for her uncle to be involved.
"They had a row." Harry answered softly, confirming her suspicion.
"How bad?" Rose frowned, wondering to herself how many days of passive aggressive comments and silent treatments she'd be witnessing.
"A doozy." Harry sighed.
"So let me guess," Rose said with a hint of annoyance. "Dad's sulking upstairs and mum's at the Ministry on her day off, throwing herself into work?"
Harry hesitant, unsure of how to response, before settling on the truth.
"Actually," Harry said. "Your dad needed some space for the night and your mum - "
"Is right here," Hermione said, entering the living room. Her hair was damp, pulled up into a messy bun and her skin free of make-up. She wore black leggings and an oversized red Canon's jumper. She had huge black circles under her eyes, signaling to Rose that her mum had another sleepless night.
"Mum!" Hugo said, running to give Hermione a hug. "You and dad are fighting?"
"Honey, you don't need to worry," she said into Hugo's ear as she held him. From her embrace, Rose caught Hermione shooting Harry a disapproving look, and she wondered if her mum was upset he'd told them about their row.
"I've got things from here," Hermione said to Harry after releasing Hugo. "You should go home."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I'm sure."
Rose studied the strange look between her mum and uncle. It was a mix of emotions she wasn't sure she could place. Sympathy? Angry? Regret? She wasn't entirely sure.
As her uncle waved goodbye to her and Hugo, she watched her mum carefully, noticing how unusually defeated she looked as she went to brew herself coffee. In that moment Rose decided she wouldn't push for the details of her parent's argument just yet, not while her mum's wounds were still raw. Something about the look on her tired face told Rose that this time was different, and that worried her. It worried her a lot.