A/N: *comes out of hiding* It's that time of the week again! I know, I know. A lot of you wanted to kill me for that cliffy in the last chapter. LOL. So here I am trying to make up for it. (Or am I? Hmm.) Thank you for your love for this fic! We are almost at the end! Thanks to TyrannicPuppy for going through this. Enjoy! :)

P.S. The quote/first line was taken from DeliverMeFromEve's amazing fic, Forever Knight. Go give it a read (if you like angst, vampires, and badass Harmony!).

The Gods could bear not too happy a mortal.

This was the phrase that repeatedly ran through Hermione's mind as she stared at the screaming headlines. She slowly took a seat on one of the chairs at her desk, eyes unwavering on the printed letters. She was torn between wanting to know what was written and setting the blasted things on fire. Heart hammering away in her chest, her curiosity eventually won.

Exclusive! Wimborne Wasps' Cho Chang, Pregnant with the Man-Who-Conquered's Child!

What a scandal!

In an exclusive interview, the Wimborne Wasps Seeker has revealed that she is currently pregnant. And the father of the unborn child? None other than the Man-Who-Conquered and Saviour of the British Wizarding World, Harry Potter!

Ms. Chang described in detail how their affair had ended up bearing fruit—

She didn't finish the article as she quickly let go of the magazine as if it burned her.

Logically, Hermione knew what was written in the weekly periodical was nothing but lies. She was a creature of logic, it would be easy for her to disregard the article as rubbish. But her emotionally-fogged brain could not think straight and her chest felt like it was being crushed inwards.

Her attention was captured by the moving pictures on the front page of the newspaper, which she forgot she held in her other hand. It seemed it was taken from their first date in the Wizarding side of London. The irony that it was the same night she met Cho Chang for the first time wasn't lost on her.

She took a calming and steadying breath before she opened the newspaper.

The whole article basically detailed her life in France before she moved back to London. It astonished her with how comprehensive the article was. What shocked her more were the statements given by Damien, whom she hadn't spoken to since giving birth to Ethan when she had him sign his parental rights away. He made it seem like her accidental pregnancy was a part of an elaborate plan to elevate her status in the wizarding world. While it annoyed her greatly, it also hurt her. Because despite growing up and not having seen each other for years, it would seem like Damien Barreau was the same arsehole she had met at Beaubaxtons.

The article then went on to speculate whether she had specifically targeted Harry and created an intricate plan to seduce and trick the Saviour of the Wizarding World into dating her. It ended by questioning if Harry would ever realize what a scheming, manipulative witch she truly was.

Her jumbled thoughts were halted by a sharp knock that came from behind her. She turned to address her visitor and she froze the moment she saw who it was.

"Did you like my presents?" Cho Chang asked haughtily, a poisonous smile on her pretty face.

"How did you get in here?" Hermione realized how dumb her question was, but her normally quick and articulate mind was having a hard time forming complete thoughts at the moment.

"I have my ways," the other woman replied. "I wanted to see your reaction when you finally saw the articles."

Cho walked further into her office while Hermione stood from the chair she sat on but felt rooted on the spot.

"I told you he deserved better than you. Now, Harry and the whole wizarding world know who the real Hermione Granger is," Cho laughed, waving her hand at Hermione dismissively. "It wasn't all that hard to find all that dirt on you. All I had to do was look at the right place."

"Unfortunately for you, Harry already knows everything. I am not ashamed of my past, Cho. And Damien Barreau is human garbage. Something the both of you have in common." Hermione glared at the other woman. At that moment, anger and disbelief slowly took the place of pain and fear inside Hermione. Her past was nobody's business but hers and the people she had entrusted it with. And the audacity of this woman to share something so personal, without her consent, made her want to hex Cho Chang into the next century.

"I'm not going to let you do the same thing you did to Damien to Harry!" Cho's voice rose, obviously, Hermione's word had struck a nerve.

"What I did?!"

"You tried to use Damien! That's not going to happen to Harry!"

Hermione exhaled sharply. "Unbelievable. Aren't you doing the same thing to Harry? You are clearly delusional."

"Me? You're the one who's being delusional. Do you honestly think Harry wants a ready-made family? He will look at your son and he'll be reminded that the brat isn't his. Sooner or later, he will get fed up and leave you."

"And then what? Do you expect him to come running back to you? Even pretending to be pregnant with his child? Really, Cho. You honestly think he will buy this whole pregnancy thing?"

"Who says I'm pretending?" She smirked. "How sure are you that the child I'm carrying isn't Harry's? That he and I haven't been seeing each other behind your back?"

Hermione's heart slammed against her chest but she refused to show that she was affected by this vile woman's words. She trusted Harry, she knew it in her head but her heart was too emotional at that moment to see through Cho's lies.

"You and I bloody well know that if you are pregnant, the truth will eventually come out that it isn't Harry's."

"And by that time, you would be far, far away from him."

Hermione shook her head, chuckling. "Even if I wasn't in the picture, he will never get back with you. He despises you."

"You bitch!" Cho yelled before slapping Hermione across the face. The action surprised her more than it hurt her, stunning her into silence.

"What the hell?!" Both women turned towards the door and saw Alice and Stephen standing within the threshold of her office. Both sprang into action, Alice approaching the still shell-shocked Hermione while Stephen grabbed Cho by the arm and dragged her away from his boss.

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are, coming in here and attacking Hermione?!" Alice shrieked, pointing at Cho rudely. She then turned to Hermione, silent and eyes unfocused, and had grown unaware of her surroundings.

Alice looked back at the other woman being held back by her colleague. "Throw her out of here, Stephen! Get her stench as far away as possible."

Stephen nodded then proceeded to drag the petite woman with him. "Come on, you. Your presence is unwanted here so you're trespassing."

"Let go of me, you wanker!" Cho tried to pull her arm out of Stephen's hand but his grip on her was firm without being painful.

"No can do, lady. Not until you're out of Ms. Hermione's property. Unless you want us to call the Aurors…" Stephen said. Alice listened to their bickering until she couldn't hear their voices anymore. When silence finally filled the office, Alice gently guided Hermione back to the chair and made her sit. She summoned a bottle of water from the small icebox in Hermione's office and handed it to her boss. This woke her from the daze she had fallen into after she was slapped.

"Alice?" Hermione looked at the younger woman, unshed tears making her eyes look glassy.

"I'm right here. Are you alright?"

Hermione shook her head. "I—I don't know."

Alice nodded sympathetically. "I completely understand. She ambushed you."

"Have you seen today's issue of The Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly?" She asked weakly.

"I did. And I can't believe they printed all those lies Cho spouted. And the stuff about you, they had no right! No bloody right—"

"How do you know they're lies?"

Alice looked at her employer as if she grew another head. "Hermione, are you really blind? Where were you these past few months? Everyone and their mother could see how gone on Harry Potter is with you! I'm surprised the bloke hasn't asked you to marry him yet!"

Hermione shook her head. Yes, she and Harry had admitted their love for each other but was that enough? Was love enough? She couldn't believe this was happening to her. She looked away from the young brunette and her eyes landed on a photo frame of her son.

"Ethan…"

Hermione quickly got up and gathered her things, ignoring Alice who was looking bewildered at her.

"I'm sorry but I have to go." She looked at Alice, and what Alice saw in her eyes worried her. "I know you and Stephen can take care of the shop for me."

"Of course, Hermione."

Alice followed silently as Hermione hurriedly left her office. They could already hear the clamor of people at the front of the store and they looked at each other. Hermione stood rooted there, the expression on her face was of fear.

"Go around the back, Hermione," Alice instructed her. "There's an apparition point there that's closer than the one you usually use. Go. We'll distract them."

Hermione slowly nodded then turned to head towards the back of the shop. Alice watched her until Hermione vanished behind the door that led to their storeroom. She took a deep breath then whipped out her wand from her pocket. With determination, she walked to the front of the store to deal with those who dared to ruin Hermione's happiness.

Hermione quickly entered her flat, glad for the thousandth time that she decided to live in the Muggle side of England. It would take the magical press time to find where she lived, so before that happened, she decided they needed to get away for a while. After quickly packing several clothes and essentials for herself and Ethan, she drove her car to Ethan's muggle school to pick him up.

"Mum!" Ethan called out when he saw their car as he exited the school building.

"Hey, little man," she greeted him, doing her best not to show her son that something was wrong. As she watched him put on his seatbelt, she saw him take notice of the overnight bags sitting at the back of the car.

"Are we going somewhere, Mum?" Quickly figuring out what the bags were for.

"Just a little trip out of town. I realized we haven't gone on a trip yet this year," she told him as she started driving.

"Yeah but we normally go during the summer before school starts," her son pointed out. "It's already two weeks into the new school year."

"I know, and I'm sorry. This past summer has been… hectic. That's why I decided for us to go now."

"Where's Harry? Isn't he coming with us? How about Teddy?"

Hermione swallowed slowly and deliberately, taking her time to answer. "Well, Harry's still out of town for the game with Montrose. He'll be coming back tomorrow."

"And we can't wait for him?" She could detect the suspicion in her son's voice. He knew something was wrong. Sometimes she cursed her son's staggering intelligence.

"Well, I wanted this trip to be just the two of us. Just like before, our little tradition."

Ethan stared at her for a long time before he nodded and sat back on his seat. Hermione internally sighed in relief, though she knew this wasn't the end of this discussion. Her son was quite perceptive, even at such a young age.

It was not long before she and Ethan were talking about his classes and other things, both studiously avoiding the topic of the absent Puddlemere Seeker and his godson. But their conversation was interrupted by her phone ringing. Hermione grabbed the Bluetooth headset, placed in her ear before answering the call.

"Hello?"

"Enfin! Where the bloody hell are you?"

Hermione recognized the voice of her best friend for the past 15 years. She had to will herself to keep tears from spilling by taking a deep breath.

"I'm not home right now."

"I sort of figured that out, seeing as I've been knocking on your door for the past ten minutes! I saw the paper and the magazine."

"I saw them, too."

"Where are you now? I'll go to you."

"Ethan and I are going on a trip." She looked down at her son and he gave her a smile. "And we'll be gone for a few days."

"Merde! What do you think you're doing, Hermione?!"

"It's just a few days, Marga. Je vais bien." (I'm fine.)

"You're not. I know you, Hermione. Have you talked to Harry yet?"

Hermione couldn't stop a lone tear from falling and she hastily tried wiping it discreetly.

"Non."

"He probably hasn't seen it yet, then. If he did, he'd be back here in a second. Or call you, at the very least."

Hermione had the same conclusion but it hurt too much to think about him at the moment.

"Hermione, please," Margarethe's voice pleaded. "Ne fuis pas." (Don't run away)

Hermione shook her head even though her friend would not have seen the gesture. "I'm not running away. I just… I need space. And time. Everything is just overwhelming right now."

She heard Margarethe sigh. "Bien. I will call again later to check in on you and Ethan. I'll handle things on this end."

"Merci beaucoup, chère. Just tell everyone that I'm fine and that Ethan I will be back after a few days."

"Hermione—"

She ended the call without saying goodbye. She felt her emotions begin to crush her.

"Mum?" Her son's voice broke through her rampant thoughts and emotions.

"Yes, love?"

"I know something's wrong."

She didn't know how to answer her son without breaking down. Things were spiralling out of control and she felt like she was drowning.

"Of course not, Ethan. There's—"

"You were perfectly fine this morning, then suddenly you want to get as far away from London," her astute son said, matter-of-factly. "I may be only ten but I know you, Mum. I know when you're not okay, and right now you're not okay."

"Oh, darling." She reached out her hand and touched Ethan's shoulder, squeezing it. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

"I'll always worry because you're my mum. Did you fight with Harry?" He asked bluntly.

"Oh no. No, nothing like that."

"You can tell me, Mum."

Hermione wrapped her arm around his shoulder, pulled him towards her and quickly dropped a kiss on his head. "I know, Ethan."

Harry tiredly sighed as he dropped his bags on the floor beside the couch. He stared at the furniture, memories of the night Hermione told him about her past and what happened after brought a smile to his face. He looked up at the clock on top of the fireplace mantle and realized it was too late to visit Hermione. He fished out his phone from his jacket, thinking maybe he could at least call her before going to bed. He noticed there were a lot of missed calls on the screen of his mobile and he wondered who had tried to contact him as he was unable to check it the whole day.

He frowned as he saw several missed calls from his friends—Neville, Seamus, Dean, among others. But seeing Margarethe caused worry to fill him. He immediately called her.

"Harry!"

"Margarethe? Hey. Why—"

"Where are you? I've been calling you so many times—"

"I just got back. What's wrong—"

The line went dead and he heard the crack of apparition from outside his house. He rushed to get the door before Margarethe even knocked.

"Thank Merlin you're finally here!" Margarethe exclaimed as she walked past him, entering the house quickly.

Harry closed the door and followed behind the blonde. "Would you tell me what's—"

Margarethe rounded on him so fast he almost crashed into her. "Have you seen today's paper? Witch Weekly?" She demanded.

"No. I just arrived from Montrose, Margarethe. I had no time to check anything else but my mobile," he answered, wondering why on Earth she was asking about them instead of telling him why she was acting like a crazy person.

He watched as she whipped out her wand as she summoned The Daily Prophet which came flying from the kitchen. As she caught the newspaper, she pulled out something from her pocket, tapped it with her wand to return it to its original size.

"Look at those, please." When Harry kept staring at her while holding both publications in his hand, she rolled her eyes then snapped her fingers at his face. "Vite!" (Quickly!)

He followed her order and looked at what was in his hands. He didn't need to read the articles to figure out what was written in them. In a sudden surge of accidental magic due to his staggering anger, the newspaper and magazine burst into flames.

"Merlin!" Margarethe shouted in surprise, waved her wand to douse the fire. Harry let go of the burnt and wet items then stared at his unburnt hands.

"Harry?"

He looked up at the woman standing in front of him and he could see the worry on her pretty face.

"Has Hermione seen this?" Marga noded. "Where is she?"

"I honestly don't know." She began pacing. "I called her earlier to check on her. She said she and Ethan are fine, but that's all she would tell me."

"Bloody hell," he cursed loudly, dragging his hand through his hair and messing it up further.

"Harry—" Margarethe stopped pacing then approached Harry.

"She knows the pregnancy is a lie, right?" Harry asked her desperately.

"That's what I told her. But Harry, you have to understand. While she is normally a creature of logic, she's also quite emotional at the moment."

"She has to know there's not an ounce of truth in that trash!" Harry said, fear and worry were beginning to consume him.

"I'm sure she knows that but with the pregnancy claims and the revelation of her entire life in the front pages of these publications, she's bound to not be thinking clearly right now. That's not even the worst part."

Harry's eyebrows went up so high that they vanished behind his bangs. "What do you mean by that?"

"Cho was at The Bookend earlier."

Harry turned towards the door but Margarethe grabbed his arm to stop him. "Alice told me that it was Cho who brought the paper and magazine in her office. After Hermione found them, Cho appeared and they had an argument. There were raised voices so she and Stephen went to check on Hermione. Then—"

"Then what?"

"I don't know what was said, Harry, neither do Alice nor Stephen. But when they reached the door to Hermione's office, they saw Cho slap her."

"I am going to kill that woman!"

"No, you're not!"

"Why the hell not?! My ex," he said the word with so much venom and vehemence."—just physically abused my girlfriend! Never mind that she had lies printed for all the world to see and read. The press and shallow-minded people will go after Hermione!"

"Calm the hell down, Harry! Pour l'amour de Dieu!" (For heaven's sake!) Margarethe shouted, frustrated at the dark-haired wizard.

"Fuck! I have to go find Hermione!" Harry walked past Margarethe and headed to the sitting room to get his things.

"Harry! Harry, listen to me!" She grabbed his arm again and pulled him to face her. "You can't just ambush her."

"Marga! My relationship is on the line here! I need to talk to her, I need—"

He was cut off by the ringing of his phone. He quickly took it from his back pocket and stared at the screen. His heart jumped to his throat when he saw Hermione's name.

"It's Hermione." He told Margarethe before answering.

"Hermione, love. Where are you—"

"Harry."

Harry halted as he heard Ethan's small voice from the other end of the call.

"Ethan, buddy, where's your mum? Can I talk to her?"

"She just stepped out to buy dinner."

"Where are you right now?"

"Uhm. We're near the beach."

"Alright. Can you tell your mum to call me when she gets back?"

Ethan didn't answer for a beat or two and Harry grew even more anxious as the silence dragged longer.

"She was crying earlier today," the boy said, his voice soft and quiet.

"I know, little man. And if you tell me where you are, I can go there and fix whatever made her cry," Harry replied, growing more desperate by the second.

"I can't. I don't think Mum wants to see you right now and I have to protect her, you know."

Harry sighed. "Of course, Ethan. I completely understand. She's your mum and she's your priority right now."

"Yeah."

"I just… I need you to know that I love your mum, Ethan. I know I promised you that I would try my best not to hurt her. This time, other people hurt her, but they did it because of me. And I want a chance to fix it, I want a chance to take away whatever hurt her, and make her smile again."

He took a deep breath and slowly released it before speaking again. "And I love you, too, Ethan. You and your mum are very important to me. And I want to be with you both all the time, like a real family."

"Really?"

Harry smiled at the eagerness in the child's voice. "Really. It's very hard for me to be away from you and your mum all the time."

"And Teddy?"

"And Teddy, yes," he chuckled. "If you want, we can discuss this further when you get back. We can spend some time together. Just you, me, and Teddy."

"I'd love that, Harry," Ethan paused. "I think Mum's back. I have to go now."

"Alright, bud. Call me if you need anything, alright? Anything at all."

"Okay, Harry. Thanks," the boy spoke in a hurry.

"Thank you for calling me tonight."

"Bye, Harry." And the call ended.

Harry stared at the phone for several moments before Margarethe spoke up. "What did Ethan say?"

"They're staying somewhere near the beach but he wouldn't tell me where. They're both fine. He told me his mum was crying earlier." Harry rubbed his forehead, a headache was rapidly developing.

"I heard what you told Ethan. Do you really love Hermione?" Margarethe asked, her blue eyes piercing.

Harry blew out a breath as he took a seat on the sofa. He dragged both hands through his hair, leaned forward—with his elbows on his knees—and looked straight at her, his gaze unwavering. "Yes. Completely and irrevocably."

Margarethe sighed in what he thought was relief. "Good. And did she tell you she loves you, too?"

"She did." He frowned. "Maybe… Maybe I didn't show her enough how much she meant to me, gave her reasons to doubt my feelings for her. Maybe that's why she left?" He directed the question to his girlfriend's best friend.

Margarethe shook her head. "I've seen you with her, Harry. Even without telling me, I knew how you felt for her. Just like how I knew how she felt about you.

"Knowing Hermione, she just needs time to process everything and think things through. Her mind works differently from ours and this would be the first time that she needed to take her feelings into consideration. It's a daunting task for her because she has never fallen in love. Until now."

"What do I do now?" He answered, but felt he knew the answer.

"Give her time. And when she's ready, she will come to you."

Harry simply nodded. "I hope so, Marga. I really hope so."

The beach house Hermione and Ethan were staying at near Camber Sands Beach was painted in white, inside and outside. Even most of the furniture was white, with just a few knick-knacks in different colors to accent the rental's decor. She assumed the owner chose the color white to bring calm and peace to their guests. How she wished she had calm and peace at that moment.

Not even the sound of the ocean waves could give her any relaxation as it used to. That was evidence enough of the turmoil within her. Her overly emotional mind and heart had finally agreed that Harry was not the father of Cho's baby. Rationally, she knew it would have been impossible, but her muddled mind and broken heart refused to accept the fact for a while.

Now that she had established that the pregnancy claim was a farce, she had time to think about the article in The Daily Prophet. She told Cho the truth that she was not ashamed of her past because it had made her the woman she was today. It made her stronger, more independent, surer of herself.

For a moment, she was consumed by the fear of what others thought of her. That she was a gold-digging, opportunist, that she was a manipulative social climber. She scoffed at that claim. She abhorred the spotlight too much to even think of such schemes. Her bookshop and the events company were both doing well enough that she could afford whatever she wanted. She didn't need a man to buy her things, she didn't need a man to sustain her, and she most definitely didn't need a man to provide a good life for her son.

She turned towards the beach and saw her son kicking his football on the sand with some other kids. She smiled at the expression her son wore: utterly unbothered by things and just enjoying playing around. Children were lucky, not needing to worry about the world for a long while. Next year though, Ethan would be off to Hogwarts and Hermione would be left alone in London.

Alone. She wouldn't be alone, though. Margarethe was going to be with her, and maybe… Maybe Harry would be there, too. Thinking about Harry caused a little twinge in her heart. She hadn't spoken to him since the day the articles came out. She knew Ethan called him the other day, having checked her call logs when she got back from buying their food. She almost called him several times but in the end, she chickened out.

Hermione had thought that their lives were too different. Harry was famous—a high-profile personality—because of his status as a war hero and a damn good athlete. She was just a simple witch who owned a shop. He was always on the road, travelling from one place to another. She liked staying at home, spending time with Ethan or reading in peace. His lifestyle was full of parties, magazine and newspaper covers, while she preferred to be as far away from the spotlight.

She knew she was being a coward. While what had happened happened because of him, she knew—logically—that it wasn't his fault. He had already threatened that blasted newspaper about printing anything about her and her son. They just violated their agreement and she wondered if Harry had dealt with them. She should call him, tell him she was alright and that she still loved him. Oh, what could be running through his mind since her departure? How she missed him. This had been the longest they had not spoken since they began dating.

"Mum?"

Her son's voice broke through her reverie. "Oh, are you done playing?"

"Yeah, I'm a little hungry," he answered. His hair was mussed and there was sand on his skin and clothes.

Hermione chuckled and stood from her seat. She wrapped her arm around Ethan's shoulder and led him into the house. Once out of sight, she summoned her wand and casted a quick scourgify on the boy.

"Let me whip up a quick lunch, then. What do you feel like eating right now?" She asked him, heading towards the kitchen.

Ethan took a seat at the dining table before he answered. "How about waffles?"

"As you wish! Toppings?" She grabbed the utensils and ingredients she would need, and the waffle maker.

"How about fresh strawberries and chocolate syrup?" Ethan requested, giving her a wide smile.

Hermione laughed. "Well, you're in luck because we have those in stock."

After almost half an hour, she placed a plate of freshly-made waffles, with fresh strawberries and chocolate syrup on top, in front of her son. She placed a plate of plain waffles in front of her, with a side of herbed butter.

"These look amazing, Mum!" Ethan declared before he began eating. Hermione watched her son eat for a moment before she began eating, as well.

"Mum?"

She looked up at Ethan and raised her eyebrows in question.

"Why are we really here?"

Hermione sighed and placed her fork and knife down. She strived to talk to Ethan like an adult as part of raising him. She tried her best to be as honest to him as she could, saving a few things here and there. She guessed it was time for her to come clean to her son.

"I just needed to get away for a while. Things had been a little… overwhelming back in London," she answered him carefully.

"And does that have anything to do with Harry?" He asked.

"Partly. But it's not entirely his fault. He didn't do anything wrong."

"If he didn't do anything wrong, why won't you talk to him?" She really shouldn't be surprised by how smart and observant her son was.

She sighed. "It's a little complicated, Ethan."

"I don't really think it is, Mum. I don't really know why we had to leave London. What I do know is you're sad. And you've been crying. I also know that the only one that can fix whatever it is, it's Harry. You love him, don't you?"

She looked at this ten-year-old boy, wise beyond his years, in astonishment. All she could do was nod.

"I know he loves you, too. And… and he told me he loves me, too," Ethan said shyly.

"He did?"

The boy nodded. "He did. He's been dying to come here, you know. I just told him he can't because you didn't want to see him yet."

"And what did he say?"

"He said he understood. But Mum, I miss him. I miss Teddy, too."

"I miss them, too," she said softly.

"Can we go back home today, Mum?" He asked, his eyes pleading to her.

She thought of what day it was. "Doesn't the Puddlemere United have a game today?"

"Yes!" Ethan answered excitedly.

"Looks like we're going to a game, then."