Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Sixteen: Aftermath
The next morning, the first thing Hermione thought of were her children.
All of them.
Meredith, Marley, Jeremy, Scorpius and Lyra.
She could not fathom her world without them. Any of them. She honestly didn't know how Meredith was still standing. And she knew that even though she was, she was glued together horribly. And all Hermione wanted to do was put her back together.
She rolled over onto her side, finding Draco already awake and staring at the ceiling with widened, tired eyes.
"I sat there." Draco whispered.
Hermione didn't know what to say. She knew that there was nothing she could say. Not to her daughter, not to her husband, not to anyone.
"Ginny didn't tell us. She knew and she didn't tell us." Hermione said after a few minutes.
She thought of the moment when Ginny had told her about her miscarriage all those years ago. The miscarriage that had happened before her almost-wedding to Ron. Hermione had been so hurt for Ginny - she had seen the pain in her friend's eyes.
Hermione was glad that Meredith had had someone to turn to, even if it hadn't been her. She knew it was selfish of her to be somewhat jealous of Ginny, but she really didn't know how else to feel. She didn't know what to feel at all.
She was somewhat furious that Ginny hadn't told her. But... she also felt as though she was misplacing her rage. She was more furious at the fact that her - her granddaughter - hadn't gotten a chance to live. That her daughter was going to have to deal with that pain for the rest of her life.
"Leo was so furious at her." Hermione whispered.
"Can you blame him?" Draco sighed.
Hermione narrowed her eyebrows at her husband. How could he say that?
"I just mean... she shut him out, you know? I know that if you had done that when Meredith had been missing... I wouldn't have been able to cope." Draco continued, his voice slow.
Hermione didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to feel.
She didn't know anything anymore.
. . .
Marley was almost certain that she hadn't slept at all.
When she had started to make her way to her room the night before with James following her, neither her parents nor his had tried to stop them.
That's how messed up everyone was.
"You were tossing and turning all night." James' low voice said from next to her.
Marley turned onto her side to look at him. He reached forward and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him. She let herself snuggle close, closing her eyes.
"I couldn't turn my mind off." she whispered.
"Yeah, me neither."
"I just... I can't believe that she... that she was actually pregnant and she didn't tell me."
James was quiet and Marley opened her eyes to look at him. He was staring down at her intently. Before she could say anything, he pressed his lips onto hers and kissed her deeply. She was surprised by the sudden intensity of it, yet kissed him back all the same.
"What was that for?" she breathed as they pulled away.
"If... if something like that ever -" he started.
"James." Marley said, shaking her head.
"No, let me finish." he said, cupping her cheek. "If something like that ever happened to us, I would stay by your side. I just want you to know that."
Marley nodded slowly. "So would I."
Marley kissed him again before sitting up. She stepped out of bed and smoothed down her oversized t-shirt that all but covered her pajama shorts.
"Where are you going?" James asked.
"To go see Meredith. I'll bring up some coffee when I'm done, okay?" Marley said, turning around to look at him.
He nodded at her and she felt herself smile at his adorable, morning squinty eyes.
"I probably won't be long. She probably won't be up for talking." Marley whispered.
He nodded again and she bent down to kiss his forehead, smoothing back his messy, black hair. Marley stood back up and sighed, padding out the door and heading to her sister's room. When Marley had gone to bed the night before, Meredith still hadn't returned with Teddy, so she wasn't even sure if Meredith would actually be in her room.
She knocked on the door and waited for some sort of sign of a reply. She was about to knock again when the door opened and Teddy slipped out. She had not been expecting that.
"Whoa. Hi." Marley said.
"Hi." Teddy sighed.
"Is she in there?" Marley asked.
Teddy nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah. She's sleeping. At least she's pretending to be."
Marley nodded. "Listen, I need to speak to her. You... James is in my room. Would you mind bringing him coffee?"
Teddy smirked and rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Sure. I was going to get Meredith some coffee anyways. You want some?"
"You are an angel, Teddy." Marley said with a grin.
Teddy just rolled his eyes again and grinned. Marley looked at the closed door to Meredith's room and felt a pit of dread fill her stomach.
"This is really bad, isn't it, Teddy?" Marley whispered.
Teddy's expression became extremely serious and Marley knew that he was worried.
"It's been really bad since it happened, Mar. And... because she's sort of... put off dealing with it for so long and because Leo's back in her life... yeah. It's really bad." Teddy whispered.
"I wish that she'd told me, or something, you know? I wish that she had realized that she didn't have to go through this alone." Marley whispered.
"I know. When we were in Europe... she sort of only let me in sometimes. And hardly Victoire. She would disappear for weeks at a time and come back, saying she went off to some other part of the country. It's just been her way of dealing. Pretending that it didn't happen, I think."
"It's not healthy, though."
"No, it's not."
Teddy stepped forward and kissed the top of Marley's head before moving past her. "I'll be back with some coffee."
"Thanks, Ted." Marley called out.
She took a deep breath and opened the door to Meredith's room. Just as she had suspected, Meredith was awake. She knew that her sister had issues with sleeping. Meredith was sitting up in her bed, back against the headboard. She had her knees tucked up against her chest and was staring off into space.
"Meredith?" Marley called out hesitantly.
Meredith turned her head and smiled weakly at her sister, the smile fading almost as quickly as it had come. Marley took another deep breath before making her way over to the bed and sitting down on the edge.
"Meredith, I really don't know what to say." Marley whispered.
She might as well be honest, because she really didn't know what to say in the slightest.
"I'm not going to ask you why you didn't tell us." Marley continued.
"Good." Meredith said hoarsely.
"I wish I knew how to help you." Marley said.
Meredith nodded and Marley just stared at her. Suddenly, a thought struck her mind and she opened her mouth to speak, before shutting it. She really didn't want to upset her sister any further.
"What?" Meredith asked.
"Oh, nothing." Marley mumbled.
"No. What?" Meredith repeated.
"I just... do you have a picture of her?" Marley said, her cheeks flushing.
Meredith finally turned to look at her, her eyes wide. Marley instantly regretted even asking, but she was so curious about her niece.
Niece.
She had been an Aunt and she hadn't even known.
"Yeah." Meredith squeaked out.
"Would it be okay if I saw it? You don't have to look if you don't want to. Just tell me where and I'll get it." Marley said.
Meredith said nothing. She leaned across Marley and pulled a photo album out of her bedside table, putting it on Marley's lap.
"Fourth last page. They start there." Meredith whispered.
Marley took a deep breath and looked down at the photo album. She wanted to see Ava desperately, but she really wasn't sure if she should be looking at it in front of Meredith.
"It's okay, Marley. You can look at them." Meredith sighed.
Marley nodded and skimmed through the booklet, to the fourth last page. She felt her breath leave her as she looked down at Ava, the little girl she would never know.
. . .
Draco stopped short at the sight of Teddy Lupin in his kitchen. He had not been expecting anyone to be in the kitchen.
"Oh, hi Uncle Draco." Teddy mumbled, pouring out four mugs of coffee.
"That's... that's an alarming amount of coffee." Draco said, unsure of what to do.
He felt like he was moving through water. Moving in slow motion. He was almost certain that this wasn't real life, that everything he had been told yesterday was just the product of an odd dream.
"What?" Teddy asked. "Oh, yeah. Don't worry. Not just for me."
Draco nodded, though hardly hearing the boy. He headed over to the coffee machine as well, pouring out a cup for himself and Hermione, who had promised to come downstairs in a few minutes.
"Look, Draco..." Teddy started.
Draco forced himself to look at Teddy and pay attention. He knew that whatever he was about to say was going to be about Meredith - and he needed to pay attention to that.
"Meredith's struggled with a long time to keep this a secret. I know that she had planned on telling you more times than I can count but..." Teddy started.
When he trailed off, Draco really was paying attention. He noticed that Teddy was starting to get choked up - something that Draco wasn't used to from him, even when he had been a young boy and first truly come into their lives.
"When Ava died... well, she sort of abandoned any hope of telling you. She hasn't dealt with it whatsoever." Teddy continued.
"D-did you spend a lot of time with her? Ava, I mean?" Draco decided to ask in a small voice.
Teddy smiled bitterly. "I was there when she was born."
Draco's heart suddenly hurt a thousand times worse. He nodded and cleared his throat. He did not want to break down before Hermione got up. He wanted to be strong. After having felt so utterly useless yesterday, he wanted to do some good today. He wanted to be supportive in any way possible.
"Who's... who's all the coffee for?" Draco asked, deciding to change the subject.
"Well, me, Meredith, Marley and... my brother." Teddy sighed.
Draco shook his head and looked back up at Teddy. "Are you meaning to tell me that James spent another night in my house in my daughter's bed?"
Teddy shrugged. "No idea. All I know is that Marley asked me to bring him coffee in her room."
"And where is my daughter now?" Draco asked.
"With your other daughter."
Draco nodded. He knew that that should mean something good. That Meredith wasn't completely shutting everyone out. He had watched Marley last night. He knew that she had been just as surprised as the rest of them.
Before either one of them could say anything more, the eruption of flames came from the living room. Draco rolled his eyes and groaned. He really was not in the mood for any visitors yet - especially since he apparently already had two of them.
The two made their way into the living room, finding Hermione walking down the stairs in a silk robe as well as Ginny stepping out of the fireplace. Draco made his way to Hermione and placed a mug of coffee into her hands as he kissed her forehead.
"Thanks." she mumbled.
"Hi." Ginny called out.
"What are you doing here, Ginny?" Hermione asked.
Draco already knew that this wasn't good. He could tell just by Hermione's tone. Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Hermione before she could say anything.
"How could you not tell us?" Hermione suddenly yelled.
She charged past Draco as she placed her coffee back into his hands. He sighed, shaking his head as he turned around and placed the coffee down on the table.
"Hermione, she made me swear not to before she told me what had happened. I couldn't do that to her. Not after she trusted me like that." Ginny said.
"For fuck's sake, Ginny! Did you even try to convince her to tell us?" Hermione shouted.
"Of course I did! I told her that you would understand better than she thought but she didn't want to hurt you, Hermione." Ginny said.
. . .
James heard the yelling of his Mom and Hermione from his spot on Marley's bed. He groaned and shook his head, rolling his eyes.
He knew that Marley had told him to stay there, but there was no way that he could now. If his Mother was there, that meant that everyone already knew that he had spent the night with Marley.
Nothing to lose now.
He got up and quickly made his way down the stairs to the living room, finding Draco all but holding back Hermione from attacking Ginny. Teddy had his arms crossed tight over his chest as he just watched the two women scream at each other.
"For Merlin's sake." James muttered under his breath.
When had everything become so screwed up?
"Would you all please stop shouting?" James yelled.
He was surprised when everyone quieted down and turned to look at him. His cheeks flushed slightly as he made his way into the room, walking over to stand next to Teddy who clapped a hand onto his shoulder.
"Look, I might not know exactly what's going on - besides what Meredith told us - but I do know that all of you bloody arguing is not helping anything." James continued.
For a moment, he was expecting an explosion of screaming voices to come back at him. But everyone stayed silent, merely just staring at him.
"Ginny, what are you doing here?" Draco asked.
"I've... I've come to bring you the letter Ron sent us. I really wish that you would read it." Ginny whispered.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of parchment. James watched his Aunt Hermione tremble and Draco wrapped a protective arm around her. After a long moment, Hermione reached forward and took the letter from Ginny.
"Fine." Hermione whispered.
"In the meantime, Aunt Gin, I think we could all use some time by ourselves, so... you should probably go home." Teddy said.
"What? No, I -" Ginny started.
"Mum. Please. Go see Dad, okay?" James added.
Ginny looked at him with a confused look on her face. "Why?"
"Because! Because all you've been doing is row, okay? You've got Lily and Albus worried that you're splitting up!" he shouted.
James decided to leave out the part that he was also worried that his parents were going to split up. There was no need to call attention to that.
"What?" Ginny said, her voice faraway.
"Mum... he's right." Teddy whispered.
James turned to look at Teddy. Everyone knew that Teddy did not call Ginny his Mum unless it was incredibly serious. He knew that his parents had died when he was just a few months old, and Harry and Ginny had never tried to replace them.
Whenever Teddy called her 'Mum', it always got to her.
With not another word said, Ginny stepped back into the fireplace, and was gone.
Draco turned to face James and James' face suddenly got incredibly hot. Teddy stepped in front of him and intervened before Draco said anything.
"Go wait for me in the kitchen. One of the coffee's is yours." Teddy said, looking at him in a way that James knew he had to listen.
James sighed and turned around, heading towards the kitchen.
. . .
Hermione clutched the letter tightly in her hand and moved to sit down on the couch. She was shaking, she could feel it. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to read a letter written by the man who had made her life hell.
She felt Draco sit down beside her as she heard Teddy leave the room to join James.
James.
She couldn't believe that it had taken James to get her to stop screaming. She had seen the panicked look on his face. It was the same look she had seen on Marley's face many a time. The look when they were frightened to death about what was happening, but tried to mask it with anger.
"Are you going to read it?" Draco asked.
Hermione looked up at him. He was sitting close to her, a hand on her thigh for support. He looked just as scared and worn as she felt. Before moving forward and tackling the next problem, Hermione leaned forward and kissed Draco hard.
She felt his surprise in the kiss, and she didn't blame him. But, he kissed her back all the same and she held onto him for as long as she could until she needed some air.
And then, they began to read.
Author's Note: alright, so THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO READ! I'm going through some pretty shit personal stuff, so I'll try to keep posting whenever I can, just please hang in there and keep reading!
also, I've gotten some pretty... mixed reviews about this story. Sort of seems like some of you LOVE it, whereas some others... not so much. But that's okay. I love hearing what you think.
there's been a couple questions that I've got an answer for -
- Ginny had a miscarriage that was addressed in Gone. This is the sequel to Gone, so if you didn't read that one, I would recommend doing so.
- the school not telling Hermione and Draco about Meredith will be addressed soon, I promise!
PLEASE KEEP READING AND REVIEWING! xx