THE DAILY PROPHET
- SUNDAY EDITION -
Potter & Granger: Secret Lovers?
By: Rita Skeeter
An anonymous tipster has provided the Daily Prophet substantial evidence to suggest Minister of Magic, Hermione Granger, and Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Auror Harry Potter, have been engaged in a twenty-year on and off again affair.
As childhood friends, classmates recall that Potter and Granger were inseparable at Hogwarts, and it was during the Triwizard Tournament of 1994 to 1995, in which Potter was a contestant, that speculation about the pair's romantic involvement began. However, it's most plausible that their intimate relationship ignited while they were wanted fugitives of the then corrupt government, sometime between late 1997 and early 1998, while secretly working to bring down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Medical records, which I have personally seen (as has Daily Prophet Chief Editor, Mr. Barnabas Cuffe), show that Granger suffered a pregnancy miscarriage on May 30th, 1998, shorty after the end of the war. The document indicates that Granger was released into the care of none other than Harry Potter, who was listed on the record as the father.
My anonymous source indicated that the pregnancy was kept in confidence between Granger and Potter, and that neither of their families knew of the secret. The source further alleges that over the years, the two have occasionally rekindled their romance. This is something that will undoubtedly cause those closest to them to think differently about the amount of time the pair spent traveling alone together early on in their careers.
These allegations will prove to be a significant scandal at the Ministry, as Auror Potter is a direct report of Minister Granger's, and the office has a strict policy on inter-office relationships. At the very least, it will be a public relations nightmare, and if found to be true, could possibly trigger a workplace investigation.
The news will be especially devastating for their family, as Potter and Granger are in-laws, and have been for two decades. As many of our readers know, Potter married Ginny Weasley, our Senior Quidditch Reporter at the Prophet, while Granger married Ron Weasley, co-owner of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, famous war hero, and most notably, Potter's best friend.
I'm hopefully, but not optimistic, for an interview with Granger and Potter for an on-the-record, exclusive response to these claims. As more information unfolds with this story, I, Rita Skeeter, will continue to bring you reliable and breaking news. Until then... stay tuned.
After having been handed a copy of the Prophet by Albus, Rose fumed, her blazing eyes narrowing as she carefully read each word that had been written about her mum and her Uncle Harry. She was shaking with rage by the time she'd reached the end of the article, and she violently threw the paper in the nearest rubbish bin.
"Rose," Scorpius said, lightly grabbing her arm and turning her to face him. He'd been the one that first noticed the article, and he'd quickly shown Albus. "Are you okay?"
Around them chaos had erupted. The music had stopped and many of the guests were loudly expressing their outrage over the salacious article, while a select few obligation attendees seemed to be relishing in the scandal, pleased that the untouchable golden trio had been taken down a notch.
"I'm fine," Rose answered sharply, her eyes scanning outwards into the party, desperately searching for her mum.
"You're sure?" Scorpius asked.
Her eyes shot daggers at him. "It's not true!"
"I know! I know!" Scorpius said, throwing both his hands up defensively. "It still sucks though."
"Yeah, well I - "
"Rose!"
Her dad appeared, calling her name from a short distance. He hurried over to her, his eyebrows lowered and jaw clenched tight.
"We need to go," Ron instructed her abruptly, ignoring Scorpius's presence completely before taking off in a quick stride towards the front of the yard.
Rose cast Scorpius a bewildered look before waving goodbye and running to catch up to her dad.
Lies, Rose thought angrily as she hurried after Ron. How had the Prophet allowed Skeeter to write such blatantly untrue things about her family. Over the years she had heard many crazy stories about her parents, but this one topped them all. Her mum and Uncle Harry? It was preposterous!
Rose finally met Ron, who was standing a few feet from the garden. He wordlessly outstretched his arm, and she instinctively wrapped her small hand around his wrist. The two of them disapparated, and were pulled from the yard, appearing on the front steps of their home.
Once inside, Rose found her mum and Hugo sitting at the kitchen island. Hermione quickly stood, wringing her hands and looking worrisomely at Ron.
"Dad!" Hugo exclaimed, rising from his chair. "At the party Freddy told me the Prophet was telling lies about our family again. I didn't get to read the entire thing, but from the way everyone started freaking out, it must have been really bad." Hugo looked at his mum and dad, both shifting uncomfortably, and furrowed his brow. "What's going on?"
"Why don't we all go to the living room," Ron suggested with a reluctant sigh, putting his hand on Rose's back and steering her to the nearby sofa. Hermione followed, as did Hugo, looking especially confused.
Once the four of them were seated, Ron looked to Hermione expectantly, who appeared unusually pale.
Rose felt uneasy too. In the past when tabloid or gossip article came out, her mum was always dangerously angry, often ranting about how absurd the content was. This time felt different.
"Dad and I want to talk with you," Hermione began, a shakiness in her voice as she looked between Rose and Hugo. "I'm sure you both read or heard something that upset you this evening."
"You don't have to explain, Mum," Hugo said quickly. "Rosie and I know that Ms. Skeeter is a rotten liar."
Hermione and Ron exchanged a serious look, and Rose watched her mum closely. She was nervous. More nervous than Rose had ever seen her. She looked as if she could break at any moment.
"That's what we want to talk about," Ron said slowly, trying to remain calm himself. "You're right. Rita Skeeter is a terrible woman, and she does lie, but..." Ron faltered. "Not everything in the article she wrote was untrue."
Rose was flabbergasted. What did her dad mean?
"Which part?" Hugo asked as his face darkened, his eyes moving to his mum.
"Uncle Harry and I are not having an affair," Hermione said firmly, regaining some of her composure, looking between her two children. "Nor have we ever. We're both very much committed to your dad and Aunt Ginny."
"So what's the true part then?" Rose pressed, looking at her mother incredulously.
"In 1998 I was pregnant," Hermione said quietly. She hesitated and then cast her eyes down to the floor, finding it difficult to look at her children. "With Uncle Harry's baby."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room, as Rose and Hugo sat motionless in disbelief. Ron and Hermione looked at one another, unsure of what to say or do next.
"Why?" Hugo asked after a moment, a mix of anger and innocence in his voice. "Why would you and Uncle Harry do that?"
Rose looked to her mum who was wide-eyed and lost for words. She obviously hadn't thought Hugo would ask her that. Thankfully, Ron jumped in.
"They hadn't planned for mum to get pregnant," he said softly with a small frown. "Sometimes these things just... happen."
"These things don't just happen," Hugo fumed, his voice raising as he stood. "I'm eleven, not stupid!"
"Hugo," Ron said quickly. "Calm down."
"No!" Hugo replied with distraught, his wounded eyes darting between his parents. "You two have been fighting ever since we came home, dad disappeared for a week, and now this?"
"Honey," Hermione said softly, her voice slightly cracking. "Please, let's talk about this and - "
"I don't want to talk!" Hugo yelled. "You two are going to get divorced, aren't you?"
"Hugo, no!"
"You're lying," Hugo screamed angrily and then ran up the staircase and slammed the door to his room.
Hermione sighed, and moved to stand, but Ron motioned for her to stay.
"I'll go," he said, giving her a meaningful look before trodding up the stairs to comfort his son, leaving Hermione and Rose alone in the living room.
"How do you feel?" Hermione gently asked her daughter, leaning forward in her chair with concern. "About learning all of this?"
Rose's mind went into overdrive with unorganized racing thoughts. Her mum had slept with Uncle Harry. He'd gotten her pregnant. They lied to everyone for years. She could hardly believe it.
Was there more truth to the article than her parents had admitted? Had her mum and Harry been fooling everyone all these years, stealing off together to have some sleazy sordid affair? Rose thought about all the top secret assignments Hermione and Harry had been alone on over the years. Had they been together then too?
"Rose," Hermione whispered, noticing her daughter's mind reeling. "Talk to me. Please."
"I don't get it," Rose said, shaking her head lightly, looking at her mum with dazed eyes. "You said you'd always loved dad. Right from the beginning."
"I did. I do."
"Well you sure had a funny way of showing it."
"Rose - "
"Uncle Harry, Mum?" Rose asked angrily. "Of all the people you could have been with, him?"
Hermione recoiled slightly at the harshness in her daughter's voice.
"It was a really long time ago," she quietly reasoned. "A different lifetime."
"Is this what you and dad have been fighting about?" Rose asked, her arms crossed protectively against chest.
"Yes," Hermione answered guiltily. "When Harry and I realized someone had gotten a hold of my medical records, we decided to tell your dad and Aunt Ginny. They were both understandably hurt we kept it from them. That's why dad stayed at the joke shop for a few days."
"You two were together then?" Rose asked, unable to mask her disgust. "Secretly during the war?"
Hermione looked painstakingly at her daughter, uncomfortable with the question. She exhaled loudly before reluctantly whispering.
"It was just one night."
Rose was aghast. Her mother, Miss Prim and Proper, Hermione Granger, had a one night-stand with her Uncle Harry. It seemed so unlike the person she knew her mum to be. Her mum was a war hero, a fearless, determined, and highly intelligent witch. How could she also be someone who'd been reckless enough to get knocked up, and during a one night stand no less? Rose felt as though she was going be sick.
"This is why I never wanted you to find out," Hermione said softly, tears brewing in her eyes. "The way you are looking at me right now. You have no idea how much it makes me wish I could go back and do things differently."
Rose said nothing, still wondering if she'd wake up and this would all be some strange dream she'd tell Scorpius and Albus.
"I'm so sorry, Rosie," Hermione choked out, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "It was stupid of me and Uncle Harry to keep this secret from Dad and Aunt Ginny. We just didn't want to hurt anyone."
"Well," Rose said, exhaling angrily and rising off the sofa to her feet. "Great job with that."
Hermione remained motionless on her chair and Rose gave her a cold stare before leaving the living room, moving towards the stairs. It had been a long day, and she was ready to lay her head down on her pillow, hoping that sleep would offer an escape from the terrible evening she'd had.
...
The following day, it was passed noon and Rose still hadn't left her room. She'd invited Scorpius and Albus over, and the two had discreetly joined her. The boys had been careful not to encounter either of Rose's parents, but when they'd greeted her, they both learned her parents weren't home. Ron and Hermione had flooed to the Burrow, likely to talk with the rest of the Weasley clan about the disastrous party.
Rose had just finished telling Albus and Scorpius everything Hermione had shared with her the night before, expressing her outrage at the entire ordeal. Not only was she furious with Hermione and Harry, she was also thoroughly embarrassed. The entire world now knew about her mum's sexual history. It was mortifying.
"Is it really that big of a deal?" Scorpius asked when Rose finished her rant. "It was twenty-two years ago, and it's not like they cheated on Ginny or Ron."
"It's not just about that," Rose exasperatedly said. "They lied to everyone. You should have seen my dad these passed few weeks. He's devastated."
"Yeah, but they only lied to avoid hurting their loved ones," Scorpius pointed out, and then added, "I think you're being a bit hard on them."
"You don't get it," Rose huffed at him, crossing her arms and then looking to Albus with a frown. "How are things at your house?"
"Not good," Albus grimaced. "Even though Mum swore to us dad and Aunt Hermione weren't having an affair, James believes otherwise. Last night he and dad got into it and it ended with James trying to hex dad. Lily was so worked up with all the fighting she cried into the early morning. Breakfast was pretty bleak."
"James really tried to hex Uncle Harry?" Rose asked, her mouth agape.
"He was so angry," Albus replied with a nod. "He seemed a bit remorseful this morning but he and dad didn't say a word to one another."
The trio sat quietly for a brief moment, soaking in what they'd each learned. Scorpius looked sympathetically at his two friends. They were both hurting and there was nothing he could to help.
"It will blow over," he said, trying to say what he could to comfort them. "These types of things always do."
Rose shook her head sadly.
"I don't know if it will," she said quietly. "This changes everything."
...
Hermione appeared in the fireplace at 12 Grimmuald Place with a tiresome expression. As she ducked her head under the mantel and stepped into the living room, she was greeted by Harry, and offered him a half-hearted smile.
"Well that was an especially awful afternoon," he said as the two of them sat on the sofa.
"It certainly was," Hermione sighed, dusting ashes off her pants with her hand.
Earlier in the day, Hermione and Ron had met Harry and Ginny at the Burrow where they'd explained to Molly and Arthur, as well as all the Weasley siblings, that some parts of the Prophet article had in fact been true. It had gone about as well as it could have, and ended with everyone deciding to refuse comments to the press. Thankfully both Ron and Ginny had been supportive the entire time, despite their unmistakable discomfort and embarrassment.
"Molly took the news better than expected."
Hermione snorted. "You obviously didn't notice that she didn't look in my direction once," she replied with a scowl. "I imagine I'll be getting the cold shoulder for months."
Harry gave her a sympathetic glance.
"Where does Ron think you are?" He asked.
"At my parents," she replied. "Where I actually need to go next. It's only a matter of time before Rita Skeeter is knocking at their door and demanding an exclusive interview."
Harry winced.
Reporters had swarmed both their homes, starting in the wee hours of the morning. They'd also received a fair amount mail, and owls had been swooping in and dropping letters off all day.
"I told Ginny the truth," Harry said. "I could tell it made her uncomfortable, the idea of you getting these memories back, but I think she understands how hard not knowing has been for you."
"I'll tell Ron soon," Hermione replied. "Now is just not the best time to open that can of worms."
Harry cast her a concerned glance.
"With everything going on are you sure you want to do this right now?" he asked with a small frown. "We can wait until next week like we planned."
"I need to know, Harry." Hermione lips curved into a thin sorrowful smile. "Especially with what's happening."
"If you're sure?"
"Positive."
Harry slowly stood and drew his wand from his pocket. It shook in his right hand as he pointed it at Hermione.
"Ready?" he asked, almost as if he expected she'd change her mind.
She gave a nod and closed her eyes, hoping the process wouldn't hurt.
"Oblivate Reversé," Harry murmured as a white light jetted out of his wand and penetrated through Hermione's skull, her entire body glowing white for a brief second before stopping.
"That's it?" Hermione asked, carefully rising to her feet.
"That's it," Harry confirmed. "So what now?"
"Well," Hermione said slowly, feeling a bit strange. "Now I guess I wait. If the reversal worked, tomorrow I should wake up and remember everything."
Harry nodded in agreement, and Hermione noticed that he looked a bit green.
"Harry?" Hermione said. "What's wrong?"
"You'll let me know if the reversal worked?" he asked, his eyes flickering with apprehension.
"I will."
"And if you need to talk about... well anything, you'll come to me?"
Hermione starred fondly at Harry. He was worried, and how could he not be? The last time he'd shared something with her, she'd went completely mental and avoided him for the week.
"Harry, I promise," Hermione said softly. "If there's anything I remember that bothers me, you'll be the first person I talk to."
Hermione's response seemed to satisfy Harry, and she bid him goodbye, anxious to get to her parent's house before someone from the press did. Unfortunately when she arrived at her childhood home, her parents were not there, meaning Hermione would have to try them again the next day. Frustrated, she flooed home.
Later that evening, after having supper alone while Rose and Hugo sulked in their rooms and Ron having already eaten, Hermione settled into her bed. Ron was still staying in the spare room and had retire a few hours ago, no longer needing to wait until the kids were in bed.
That night Hermione struggled to fall asleep, but finally around one in the morning, she drifted off into a deep restless slumber. As she tossed and turned, her eyes rapidly fluttered while memories from twenty-two years ago began to play over in her mind.