Chapter 11 – Struggling parent

"He believed me to be dead." Hermione interposed. She felt bad to have Harry apologise for something he had no hand in and that he blamed his own son. You-Know-Who killed him, but to see him and everyone else alive was what mattered to her.

"It's a long story I'd rather cut short because I hate what Draco had to do for me. He killed someone... Someone that was polyjuced as me and showed that memory to Vol... Voldemort. He had no reason to believe betrayal from Draco at that point and was more than happy to have me out of his way. I was the last part of the Golden Trio alive back then, and the last known Order member. That was around the first part of my pregnancy. I wasn't able to leave the underground vault since then, but until then I was a main target, that's right. One of the reasons the others wouldn't let me leave the hideout even before. I don't want to lie Harry, it was lonely most of the time. Even with Scorpius and later Aquila around, I lived for the moments when one of the other adults was with me." Hermione explained, smiling at her old friend.

It was as if no time had passed since school. She just had to tell her head to shut up, as it kept telling her she was turning mad, talking to a ghost, while she logically knew he was very much alive. Memories arose, of his dead body on the ground, of the snake attacking him from behind. She fought against them, knowing she would relive the moments in her dreams tonight. Not that she slept much anyway. It took a lot energy to stay in the present, but it was a fight Hermione was determined to win.

"There is no reason for you to be sorry Harry. It wasn't your son, but me who messed up. I should be non-existent. I took the place of the person who should be rightfully here. A Hermione that was loved by every one of you. If someone has to apologise it's me. There are reasons time turners shouldn't be able to go back more than a few hours. The paradox I created with turning up here is bad enough. I hope you agree to destroy the device, it's dangerous. I know Ron hoped to get his Hermione back, but we can't risk it Harry. I spend hours in the library and the restricted section the last few days. Nothing good can come out of it."

Hermione plead with him but he gave her no answer and she saw how torn he was about what she asked of him. For now she kept the time turner safe, always having it with her, but she wouldn't tell him until she knew he agreed with her. Switching the topic, she continued.

"Scorpius mentioned there was a young woman with them, encouraging them. We need to find more about her, I only remember small bits but I think Scorpius said she is Albus' girlfriend. I got a bad feeling about her. The way Scorpius mentioned her showed he didn't trust her or her influence on Albus."

"I'll ask Albus. But to be true I don't think he'll be too open about it. We aren't on best terms and I said some things to him..." Harry had to admit. Ginny knew and always encouraged him to change it, but it was hard. Albus reminded him a lot of himself at that age, making it hard to get through his stubbornness. The way his son taunted him, he just snapped. There was no way to keep his temper in check as much as he tried.

"Yes, I noticed." was the rather sly answer of the witch in front of him. "He reminds me of someone. Just give him space like Ron and I did when you were the idiotic kid."

"Hermione." Harry cringed when she threw his own words back at him. She didn't knew the struggles he had with his son and his first thought was that she should stay out of it. Still she was his friend and as such she would always scold him, be he eleven or forty, it was who Hermione was.

"Then don't talk like this about your son. He deserves his dad to understand him even if it's hard sometimes. I know you love your son but he needs to know, not me. He's a teenager Harry."

They smiled at each other but neither smile was a happy one. Hermione had nothing more to say about the topic and Harry bit his tongue to keep his snappish reply to himself.

She hadn't told him anything new, as it was a common argument between him and Ginny. It bothered him how all the woman in his life berated him for his relationship with Albus when he was the first to know that it sucked. He did feel bad about it after all, but it wasn't something be could fix while his son was in school. He wasn't even sure if it would be fixed any time soon, as he was still angry about what happened to Hermione.

It didn't matter what she said, his son was involved. The news about a girlfriend didn't make it any better. If it was really true, that she had been the one to make his son do something as stupid as he did, Harry didn't want her near his son. All he ever wanted was for his family to be safe and happy.

So there was a reader on AO3 rather unhappy with the way Harry behaved, calling his own son an idiot Chapter 10. I made that statment based on the was Harry behaved in act 1 of HP8. We talked about it a lot and she unknowingly made me expand this chapter into two chapters because I wanted to add some insights into the Harry's reasoning. As I told her already, Harry and Alb as I see them are both to stubborn to go back to a happy family without problems.

Credits for the Chapter titel go to my lovely beta Eva, the one I picked first was uther rubbish :D