Chapter 46 – The day of Christmas Evening 1

"I don't think she deserves to feel like she does. I certainly can't blame her, even when I want to. To me it looks like what she did was mercy."

When Harry entered the kitchen and heard his wife whispering, he went over and hugged her. She held a small note in her hand, in a neat writing he would never associate with Hermione before her substitution. Her writing had always been hasty but legibly, now it was sophisticated as if she had spent hours writing a simple sentence. Maybe she did, overthinking what to write and unsure of how to behave, Harry didn't know.

For him she was still a strong woman, even scary sometimes, like when her thoughts drifted off and she had that look on her face. The one that told him she would do whatever it took to protect her family. Not once had she blamed him or his son for what happened, even when he was blaming himself for failing as a father.

"When you told me tonight, I was so mad and angry. How dared she? He's my brother! But when I thought of someone trying to kill our kids, I knew I would have done the same. Even my own brother. Even you, if it had been you who had lost yourself. So, who am I to judge her?"

Ginny was still whispering, but there were no tears, no halt in her speech.

He knew it had hit Ginny hard to hear that her friend had murdered not just some Death Eaters, but Ron. They all tried to understand where Hermione came from, but this had driven it home like no interaction before ever did.

There were letters, all in that strange handwriting, that lay in their library. There were stories about a lost war and a beloved child. He had seen love in Hermione's face, when she ran into Malfoy's arms. But the truth was, they had all just seen her as a confused version of their own Hermione, not as a separate woman.

Harry rubbed Ginny's back and sighed at his own short-sightedness. He had helped Hermione with her notice of termination, but now he wondered what her plan comprised.

XxX

When Ron and George entered the wards around the Burrow hours later, Ron was too exhausted to care for much, beside the smell of the food coming from the house. WWW had been a battlefield, even worse that the year before, and there had been no time for thoughts about anything or anyone beside the never-ending stream of costumers and their questions.

When they had finally closed down with the 'Sold out' sign hanging of the door, there had still been many more costumers out front, but the store and the stock had been cleaned out. After Christmas they would need to start anew and prepare for the next year.

They were nearing the house from the Apparation point, when Molly as much as ran towards Ron when she saw him, and crashed him with a hug.

"My silly boy, I'm so happy!" She shouted and smiled in tears. Her red hair was wild on top of her head, and she nearly stabbed George with her wand in her hurry to get to Ron.

"Hello to you too Mum!" George greeted her after he jumped back to avoid the stick. He was laughing and a raised eyebrow told Ron all he needed to know: 'I told you so!'

"Molly, at least let them come inside before you freeze to death out there." Arthur's voice was full of amusement mixed with relief. He stood in the door and the kids spilled out beside him, looking what the ruckus was about.

"Dad!" A blond girl ran towards them, much like Molly had before, and flung her arms George who caught her and spun her around for a moment until he set her down again. Raising an eyebrow at her nearly white hair he searched for his son who grinned in the background. The green hair made him easy to spot.

"Uncle George." Another voice added. "Did you sell everything, or do we get something too?" It was James, asking with shining eyes. He had wanted to visit the store before, but Ginny had told him to wait till after Christmas. He needed new stuff for his plans next year, just a few harmless tricks to play on his uptight classmates and maybe his brother. Ralph, Jason and him had a bunch of new ideas to effectuate, just the gadgets were missing.

Molly ushered everyone back inside before they started talking, when she saw most weren't wearing boots.

Rose stood in the back and fiddled with her hands when she saw her dad enter the house. When their gazes met, she smiled gently and took an unsure step towards him. Ron opened his arms and suddenly his daughter threw herself at him.

"Took you long enough Uncle Ron, she was mopping all the time!" Albus drawled from the side and nodded at his Uncle. Rose looked at her cousin and mouthed a silent sorry his way, but he just rolled his eyes.

Hugo was happy to see that they made up without much drama. With Rose it could go both ways, either she condoned immediately after her outburst or she carried her grudge for weeks. His dad looked his way, and while Rose started talking two miles a minute, he joined his smaller family to greet his dad too. For a small moment he imagined his mother with them, but the thought dropped away when his father's big arms held him close.

Hours later Teddy took his Uncle aside to address one of the questions he had heard his cousins discuss after he and Victoire came back from their walk.

"Uncle Harry, do you know why Rose would accuse Albus of making her mother forget about her? Did he dally with some sort of Obliviate?"

The teenagers had come up with different stories, each more filigreed than the last, but all had agreed that Rose might have said too much in anger, in the end.

Still Teddy knew there was some truth in what she had said, because Rose was not a liar.

Harry sighed and waved Teddy out the door, casting a warming charm around them when they stood outside.

"My son didn't Obliviate her, but the Hermione that came back from his misuse of a time turner has different memories. Don't even ask how he got his hands on that stupid thing. That's my fault for bringing work home with me over the summer, to spend more time with the family. I can't explain it all now, but that's the short version."

Teddy looked at Harry in horror and opened his mouth but no words came out.

"We don't want the kids to know and made up the story with the accident. I don't know how Rose knows, but I guess Hermione was rather open with her. Beside her, Albus, and maybe Hugo, only Professor McGonagall, your cousin Malfoy, his son, Ron, Ginny and me know about this."

In astonishment Teddy finally found his voice again.

"Draco? Why him?"

"Guess whose son tried to solve the mess because they are best friends."

"This sounds bad. I feel a bit offended because you ruled me in with the kids and told me nothing."

"You know how this goes. You can't keep shit from Victoire and then Dominique will know and soon the whole family. Not even Molly knows the whole story."

"How the hell did you keep this from Molly?"

"Do you want to be the one to tell her your son messed up a marriage. That he helped split up a family. Hermione is as much a daughter to her as I'm a son. I don't want to be the one."

"Touché, me neither."

"Harry?" A female voice was calling for him and Harry took it as his cue to get away from any more questions, joining the others back inside.

You saw it is part 1, right? Draco will be waiting for you in part 2 next week. Did you miss him?