August 19, 2004

Harry's p.o.v

The silence of the Burrow washed over me. I'd finally done it, turn the last people who were with me against me. I don't meet any of their eyes as I bend down and pick up my glasses. For Merlin's sake, I had a daughter.

That sentence had been in my head since Gringotts. There was a small human out there that shared my blood. Why was no one more worried about this? Who the hell thought it would be a good idea for me to reproduce? Did no one ever think that I might have wanted to meet her?

You'll kill her like you killed everyone else that ever loved you.

I was at a crossroads: accept responsibility for my daughter - my daughter - or turn away from something that should have never been a problem. What did I want? What did 'Just Harry' want?

i want her to love me

My chest tightens. Air becomes harder to pull in. I realized I wasn't breathing. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't talk. I couldn't think.

why was no one helping me?

I don't give any indication that there was something wrong. I don't look back and apparate away from everything.

What did 'Just Harry' want?

When had anyone asked me that question? When had I stopped being 'Just Harry' and became the Aurors' poster boy? The face of every magazine? The golden standard everyone measured themselves with? When did Harry become the Boy-Who-Lived?

Who wants Harry when they could have the Boy-Who-Lived?

There was a pain in my chest that dredged up all the darkness in me. The weight of it pulled me down and the world moved more fluidly as saline tears made their journey down my cheeks. The darkness threatened to consume me and I was tempted to let it happen but if I did then I would have done what it wanted.

I was tired of playing the marionette for others to puppet with.

My body moves off the steps of Grimmauld and basks in the last rays of warmth the sun offered. My feet took me nowhere until my eyes told my brain to stop. There was a park around me. Families were enjoying the last of the summer and couples spending time together. They were living not just going through the motions.

In the periphery of my eye, there was movement, and years of Seeker training had me catching the paper before it could fly away. I search for the owner but there I was the only one not enjoying the park life.

Pain is subjective. The past does not define us. Our hurdles don't deter us. Help is here. You just have to reach out. -London Mental Health Clinic.

Dr. Leila McDouglas.

XXX-XXX-XXXX.

My mind froze the raced overtime. I knew I needed help, had seen too many cases of people whose minds were twisted because they had not received the help that they needed in my time as an Auror.

'It's only a few blocks from Grimmauld.' A voice tried to convince me. 'One session and we're done. One session.'

Too broken. Won't help. You're just a FaiLUrE

'One session.' I told myself. I wouldn't need more than that.

The moment I stepped into the lobby the sense of dread was replaced by tranquility. "Good evening sir. We're about to close right now but you're welcome to come back tomorrow-"

"I don't want to be a puppet."

The secretary looked torn between sympathetic and bewildered at me but couldn't get a word out. A woman's voice rang out instead.

"I'll take the patient Ruth." The woman's black eyes meet mine and she extended out her hand. "My name is Dr. Leila McDouglass. Let's get those strings off you okay?"

Bill's p.o.v

Ginny screams as soon as we hear at the crack of apparition. It shakes me to the core and I catch her before she meets the floor. Mom fell back into a chair. I pet Ginny's hair even as she trashes in my arms.

"He left me, mum. He left me. Mum! MUM!"

But she was my little sister even if she could be selfish and a little self-centered. As stupid as it was, Ginny had made her entire life around his and now he was gone. Again. For the second time in his life, Harry had ruined another woman's life.

I held Ginny tighter to tell her with my body what I couldn't with my words. Mum wasn't listening to her, too lost in her own shock and disbelief to hear the distress calls of her daughter. Even dad seemed surprised that Harry didn't just roll over but left instead.

"He abandoned us? He abandoned us again? He's no better than that whore Hermione is. Traitors the both of them." Ron spat out.

"Ronald Weasley I did not raise you like that!"

Ron glared at dad with so much hate in I recoiled. "Obviously, you didn't, you weren't here," my eyes widen and Ginny stopped screaming long enough to stare at our brother, "otherwise you wouldn't be surprised at them." Ron turned on his heel and headed for the door. "I'm leaving. Don't wait up." The door closed with a resounding snap after him.

We stared surprised at the spot Ron had previously occupied. For Merlin's sake, had our little brother just said that?

"I-I'll go after him." George volunteered.

Dad shook his head. "No, just no. Ronald is a man now, George. He either learns to communicate as one or he can act like a petulant boy. But we will not humor him. We have done enough damage to this family as it is."

"Dad. Daddy. You can't- you can't mean that can you? W-what you said to Harry…you're not - you can't!" Ginny begged our father.

Dad turned back to Ginny who was still in my arms. "I meant every word that I said, Ginevra. If Harry is stupid enough to think that I will change my mind then he has another thing coming."

"But dad! Think about our careers. Think about what this would do to our family. We'll be ruined." Ginny cried and more tears fell down her face, whether at the prospect of losing her status or her popularity, I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer.

"We've been 'ruined' before Ginevra." Dad gave her a hard look. "There are more important things in this family than our social standing. Setting this family straight is the first one."

Mum sparked out of her spunk. She had been one of the more benefitted from our status as war heroes. Even if she didn't mingle with the upper class she still walked down Diagon with more confidence in her strut. All of her children had taken action to put an end to the war and her daughter was the girlfriend of the Boy-Who-Lived. Life could not much better than that aside from an increase in our vaults. She stood to have the most to lose. "Arthur. We would lose everything we've gained Everything that we worked so hard for-"

"You married me in my poverty. Would you turn your back on me now Molly?"

"Of, course not! I would never care about how much money we have-" Mum tried to vehemently deny it but I knew there was a spark in her eyes now that Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was a success with the masses.

"Then you should be happy that I expelled the blemish from our family. Our family will no longer associate with a man who is known to have sexual escapades just for the hell of it and almost ruined the life of a witch." At mum's look, dad glared at her. "I do not care what you think Molly. Hermione is a respectable girl and even if she wasn't no woman deserves to be treated that way. What does it say about us if we support a man who turned his back on a woman that needed him?"

Mum blew her top. "He protected all of Great Britain! When we needed him Harry was there for us and you've turned him away!"

"Then tell me why he could save an entire country who had turned his back on him but not the only person that hadn't!"

"My career. No one will take me seriously if I couldn't even keep one man."

George's hands clenched and I shoot him a look before he can do something stupid. "Then I suppose you can finally put those rumors that you used Harry's fame to get your spot with the Harpies. You're an amazing player Ginny, you don't need a man to prove it."

"You're taking her side." Ginny sneers. "She's ruined everything we've worked worth and you're supporting her."

"And you're taking out your jealousy on her because she's taking your 'spot.'" He shoots back. "Admit it, Ginny, you just wanted to be Mrs. Harry Potter, have all the fame and wealth that came with the name. To be the only woman that was associated with the name but now Hermione is back and you're afraid that she'll take your place. Hermione just wanted to move on with her life but thanks to you their lives have just descended into another type of hell. I hope you're happy with yourself."

I watch George storm out of the house letting the door slam shut behind him. Ginny's tears weren't as desperate now so I let the arms fall from her even as she burrows deeper into me.

"This family will not contact Harry Potter anymore. Bill, I cannot tell you nor your brothers what to do but know that you will lose the protection of House Weasley if you do. He may be a partner for your brother any more than that and I will not hesitate to cut any of you off. Share that with your brothers."

"Yes, Father."

I move Ginny off my lap and bow to my head of the family. "I will see you later Father." I also bow my head to mum but hightail out as soon as I can.

I had only just appeared when Fleur threw the door open and dragged me inside the house. I was pushed into the couch and she vanished my cloak before pressing a cup of tea into my hands and giving me a hard look. "Talk."

When you're Veela's wife ordered you to jump you said how high. "Harry's fucked. Dad gave him to option between Evangeline and the family or his pride. The bastard walked."

Not gasping like other women would have done, Fleur was built of sterner stuff than that. Fleur's posture took on the haughty look it possessed when she was a champion in the Tournament multiplied by ten. "How did the Weasleys react."

I cringe at the memory of Ron's reaction and Ginny's wails. "Not good."

"I told you, didn't I?" Fleur's eyes burned brightly as they pinned me to my seat. "I told you years ago that something was wrong. But you didn't listen and we almost found out too late."

I look down in shame. My wife had been telling me for months that something was wrong with Hermione and I didn't listen. It had led to arguments that didn't leave until I acquiesced. "I'm sorry Fleur."

She kissed me in forgiveness and settled next to me. "It is in the past but next time listen to me as I listen to you."

"I promise to forever take your words into consideration."

"That's all I can ask. What do you think is going to happen next?" She asked me.

I sigh and gulp down the energizing drink. "I don't know but Evangeline deserves to know her father."

"We cannot force Hermione." It was a couple of minutes of silence between us.

Fleur breaks the silence. "Hermione needs help. She has not dealt with her problems." She states.

"I know."

"How do we get her that help?"

"That I don't know."

George's p.o.v

When I apparated in front of my house Angelina was waiting for me in the sitting room. "What took you so long?" She asked.

I give her the rundown version of tonight's event. "Dad made Harry persona non grata for House Weasley. He refused to acknowledge Evangeline as his heir and simply walked out of the Burrow. Ginny went into hysterics and she and mum tried to make dad reconsider but dad isn't budging."

Angelina's hand went to her mouth. "You're not serious. He's a heavy investor in the shop. You can't simply cut him off like that without serious repercussions both economically and publicly. He's still the Boy-Who-Lived."

I shrug my coat off and sit on the couch. Angelina sat with me and held my hand as the night crashed on me. She held me up after Fred's death and vowed to be there for all time in our wedding vows. I promised to move the earth and the skies for my wife.

"He'll probably address that after he's had some sleep but Merlin. This night really went to hell didn't it?" I press my lips to Angelina's breastbone and put my head on the crook of her neck.

"Evangeline had an episode in front of us, George. That was the first sign that it had all gone to hell. The question is what will happen now?"

Ron's p.o.v

I slam the cup down and signal the bartender for another one. The man filled it up again and I throw money on the bar to keep the drinks going. It was a constant stream of alcohol that went down my throat, enough to make me ignore the women that threw themselves at me but not the sense of betrayal that was rooted in my chest.

"Fuck 'like my sister' you traitorous bastard. You were shagging her behind my back the whole time and then had the effing balls to lie to my face." I mutter under my breath before throwing another one back.

A woman slid into the seat next to mine and pushes a drink in my direction. "Not interested." I throw to the bitch. She would end up betraying me and using me to get to Harry's pale arse.

The woman pushed the cup more insistently at me and smiles. "I insist. From a famous figure to another."

Rolling my eyes, I down the shot and turn to the woman. "So, Mr. Weasley why don't I help you unload some of the stuff off your chest?" The woman's body was hidden in the shadows like everyone else was, it being one of the seedier bars in town. It was muggle but wizards popped in every now and then.

I nod at the woman and open my mouth to talk. I attribute the music to the scratching sound behind her.

Luna's p.o.v

It almost hurts to see how much love Keelan's eyes held for Hermione. The tall African man was in love with the brunette but he knew she wasn't ready for anything more than friendship between them. The way his calloused hand traced her cheek comfortingly touched something in my heart and I almost melted at the sight. Neville loved me but Keelan looked at Hermione like she was a glass doll for him to care for.

He placed a chaste kiss on Hermione's cheek and went to the other room to bring Evangeline in. She was the only one capable of bringing Hermione back to her senses. Keelan was a man I trusted with our lives, having had questioned him under full truth serum. Perhaps it had been overkill but when he had gotten so close to Hermione, it became a necessity. There wasn't a risk we wouldn't neutralize for the Granger girls.

Keelan came back with Eva in his arms and I pull back the covers so that he can place her next to her mother where they would wake up next to each other's presence.

"Thank you, Keelan, for everything."

His voice came out deep with a velvet undertone. "You have nothing to be grateful for Luna. But I will start charging the next person to say those words to me."

I let a smile bloom on my face and shake my head in suppressed laughter. "You're too good for us."

"No, that's Evangeline. She's too good for everyone. Did Hermione show you the pictures of the last party they went to?"

I shook my head and Keelan rummaged through his pockets before pulling out a photograph that he enlarged and handed to me.

It was Hermione seating on grass in a deep blue dress that was spread around her. Evangeline was sitting in her mother's lap with her own dress looking adoringly at her mother. The reel kept playing and the Granger girls turned to look at the camera and smiled. They looked like royalty with Hermione's intricate lacework and jewels dripping from her neck, ears, and even her hair which had been pinned back by the jewels. Evangeline was pressed close to her mother and adorably covered her mother's hands in front of her with her own. They looked like royalty.

"This is beautiful."

"Isn't it?" Keelan agreed. "They'll release the picture in the next cover of the Charms Journal. It'll feature Hermione and her accomplishment so far."

"I want a copy." Was all I could say. Hermione looked so healthy, so happy. I wanted to bring that feeling back to her, to finally put everything behinds us and help her get better again. "I want to give her back that happiness."

The Hermione in the picture was so full of happiness and it showed. But it wasn't real and it took so long – too long to put that fake smile on her face. I can still see the tiredness in her eyes and the despair that never truly left her. "How do we do it? How do we bring that happiness back?" I ask Keelan.

Keelan sat on the bed and sighed. "We can't. She has to want it herself."

"We're taking her to a therapist if we have to drag her ourselves." I look at Neville and he pressed a kiss to my temple.

"It won't work if we force her. Trust me it'll just make things worse."

"Then what do we do?"

"What can Evangeline do is the better question. If Hermione pulled herself together for her daughter, it's because of Evangeline that will push her to glue herself up."