When Kate woke up the next morning her mother was standing in the kitchen, her hand wrapped around a warm cup of steaming coffee, her mind obviously elsewhere. Kate stood in the doorway, silently watching her mother gaze into space, lost in her own little world.

Hermione took a sip of coffee and rested the cup down on the tile counter. She looked out the window at the yard that still had the early morning dew resting comfortably on the dark green lawn.

She had left Ron to sleep a bit longer, as he had been traveling quite a bit. He had stayed up with her all night, waiting with her until she fell asleep, her crying finally taking its toll and putting her to sleep. Her guilt was threatening to break her again and cause her to break down. This guilt wouldn't go away no matter how much she tried to tell herself they had done the right thing.

Harry wasn't ready and they couldn't find it in themselves to place another burden on him. He would have been so angry and so unforgiving with them for keeping it from him. He would have wanted to be there with her.

Well, now you've kept it so much longer. Won't he be even madder now? Hermione thought to herself, swallowing hard. She tugged at the zipper of her sweater and pulled it further up.

Kate wanted desperately to say something to her mother. However, a small voice inside of told her to keep quiet and just watch her mother.

Hermione put her head in her hands, her shoulders slumped and they began to shake, alerting Kate to the fact that she was crying. She let out a sob and rested her elbows onto the countertop of the island and rested her weight on it.

From behind her Kate heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. She started and began to panic. She didn't want to interrupt her mother and she certainly didn't want to get caught by whoever this was coming downstairs.

With a fleeting look behind her, Kate snuck into the kitchen silently and went into the panty, closing the door over. She had the perfect view of her mother. A moment later her father walked into the room, looking tired and anxious.

"'Mione," he said, coming over to her and wrapping her in a hug. Kate frowned and watched their interaction. "Come back to bed, it's early."

"Oh, Ron," Hermione said, pushing him off of her and pushing her hair back from her face. "I can't sleep! I can't even think straight!"

"It won't do you any good to sit in here and cry," Ron said, sitting down next to her. "Well, at least, not by yourself." He reached for the jar on the counter and took off the lid, reaching inside and taking out a cookie.

"Ron, it is six-thirty in the morning!" Hermione admonished, shooting him a glare. "I'll make you breakfast if you're so hungry."

"No, it's alright," he replied. "These are my favorite."

They were silent for a moment. "Ron, what are we going to do?"

He didn't answer her immediately. "I don't know," he said finally. "Maybe we should tell her."

Hermione started crying again, unable to help herself. "She's going to hate us!"

"No," Ron said firmly, interlocking his fingers as well as resting his elbows on the countertop. "She won't hate us. We did what we thought was best."

"Ron, don't be stupid! She's not going to understand that we did it for the best. All she is going to care about is that we lied to her. We've been lying to her! She'll never forgive us."

"Yes she will." Ron's body language told Kate that he was tense. "No matter what we've been her parents. We raised her."

"Harry would have come around," Hermione said miserably. "He would have wanted to be apart of her life."

"Ginny's death really messed him up, Hermione." Ron turned to her and Kate saw the side of his face looked grave. She felt a sudden wave of guilt about eavesdropping on their conversation. They obviously didn't want anyone to overhear them. Despite that, Kate felt the thump of her heart begin to accelerate. She was almost afraid to breathe lest she miss something.

"Ron," Hermione said again, her voice dropping to a whisper, "what if Kate had seen it when she was in there?"

"I don't know," Ron said eventually. He didn't want to say that he was kind of hoping she had found it. At least then their years of torment would have been over with. They would have been forced to come to terms with what they had done and finally begin to heal. They had never been able to mourn properly and Harry never spoke to them again.

"I was so scared, Ron." Hermione put her hands through her hair again, turning to her husband of twenty years. "I yelled at her, Ron. I never yell at her!"

"You were scared, 'Mione, it's understandable."

"No, Ron, it isn't." She took another sip of her coffee. "This is what it's doing to me! It's causing me to yell at Kate and snap at Max. I was so distracted I didn't even notice that Madelyn didn't show up to work yesterday."

"Lucky her," Ron muttered.

"Yeah, lucky her," Hermione said wistfully. "I don't know what we should do. I wish we had someone to talk to."

"Maybe my parents," Ron said carefully, but Hermione let out a moan and fresh sobs racked her body. "Or not!" Ron said in alarm.

"We kept it from them, too!"

Ron put his head in his hands and groaned in defeat. "Ginny asked us to."

"No one will understand that, Ron!" Hermione cried furiously. "No one is going understand!"

Ron knew that she was probably right. He thought of his parents who had loved Ginny so much and missed her more than anyone, well, maybe not as much as Harry.

Ron swallowed hard. The mere thought of Harry caused him to sweat. Hermione was right, he decided. Their family would never forgive them either. At least this way they were all happy. No one was getting hurt the way things were.

"Maybe we don't have to tell anyone," Ron said after a moment. There was a tense, long silence that followed. Finally Hermione lifted her head up to look at her husband. Her nervously shifted on the stool and cleared his throat.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe," Ron repeated, "we don't have to tell anyone."

"Ron!" Hermione spluttered. She had completely lost her footing. She thought they were both equally miserable about their silence. "I thought…"

"Hermione, sometimes all I want to do is scream and cry but let's think about this logically," he snapped. "We raised a beautiful, intelligent child. Who do you think we would hurt if we told everyone? No, better yet, a smaller list would be who we wouldn't hurt. The only people who would feel better are us. Everyone is better off not knowing."

"But, Ron," Hermione said desperately. She looked away from him and gazed outside again. "They should know."

"I agree."

"Then…"

"No, Hermione," Ron said firmly. He turned to her sadly.

"What about Harry?"

The pregnant pause that entered the room was deafening. Kate held her breath, waiting for someone to say something. Her father was gazing at Hermione, his face frozen like stone. For a second Kate was a bit frightened. He looked as furious as she had ever seen him.

"Don't do this, Hermione," he snapped. Hermione turned to him, her eyes filled with tears. Her bottom lip began to shake.

"We raised his child, Ron."

Kate stepped back in surprise, her foot knocking into a broom. It fell to the floor with a 'clink' that sounded through the tiny little room.

Hermione and Ron wheeled around. Kate held her breath but not even a millisecond later the French doors that led to the patio opened and Madelyn walked in. Ron and Hermione turned to her, forgetting about the cupboard.

"Mum! Dad!" Madelyn said, coming to a dead stop. She gazed at them worriedly, tucking her long red hair behind her ear. "What are you two doing up so early?"

"What are you doing up so early?" Hermione asked in return. She watched Madelyn shift guiltily on her feet and narrowed her eyes.

"I…" Madelyn cleared her throat. "I fancied a walk."

"A walk?" Ron asked critically. "You don't walk."

"I walk," Madelyn snapped.

"At six-thirty in the morning?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow. "Madelyn Grace Weasley, just where exactly are you coming from?"

Madelyn opened her mouth, searching for something to say. After a minute she put her hands on her hips.

"What are you two doing up so early?" She raised an eyebrow.

"We," Hermione growled, "are having an adult conversation. And don't change the subject."

"I was at a friend's house," Madelyn said evasively.

"What friend?" Hermione said with a scoff.

"I have friends!"

"Madelyn," Ron said wearily. She turned to her father. He was gazing at her with a look that told her he had a good inkling where she had been. "Why don't you go up to your room and we'll talk about this later."

"Yes, daddy," Madelyn answered obediently and walked past her parents quickly, not looking at her mother as she rushed up the stairs towards her bedroom.

"Oh, she went to London, didn't she?" Hermione asked, her tone telling Ron she already knew the answer to that.

"Yup."

"Oh, God, she's going to be some back-up dancer!"

"Yup."

"Wonderful," Hermione said, reaching into the cookie jar and taking out a cookie, savagely ripping a piece off and munching on it. "All that potential…"

"Who knows," Ron said hopefully, "maybe she'll become famous."

"Famous for what?" Hermione asked with a scoff. "Shaking around behind some horny, dirty singer?" She shook her head. "What will she be doing when she's my age?"

Ron shrugged and took another cookie, biting into it thoughtfully. He knew that once Madelyn got out into London and was all alone she would come around.

"Just give her some freedom," Ron said. "As soon as she sees we're alright with it she'll lose interest."

"I hope you're right," Hermione said mournfully.

"I am," Ron said confidently. "C'mon, let's go up to bed. I'm exhausted." He stood, brushed the crumbs off of his shirt and held out his hand for his wife to take. She sat for a second longer before rising as well and taking her husband's hand.

"Ron…"

"I know, Hermione," Ron said wrapping her into a hug. He was almost a foot taller than her and could easily rest his chin on her head. "Can we talk about this later?" Hermione didn't answer. "Please?"

"Yes, Ronald," Hermione replied sharply.

"Great."

They walked through the small hallway towards the stairs, Ron's arm still around Hermione's shoulders. Kate waited until she heard the soft click of her parent's door before opening the door with a small creak. She walked into the center of the kitchen and gazed at where he parents had just left.

She quickly went up the stairs two at a time and rushed into her bedroom, shutting the door and leaping into bed. With the covers pulled over her head she clenched her eyes shut and replayed the conversation she had just overheard.

"We raised Harry's child…"

Kate felt her heart begin to beat wildly again. She swallowed and then slowly pulled the covers off of her face, staring around at her room.

A sudden thought hit her with such a force that she lost her breath and lay there, not breathing for a full minute. She finally regained some sense and suck in a deep gulping, coughing heavily before closing her eyes again.

Kate suddenly realized that one of her siblings and she weren't Ron and Hermione's child. She stared up at the ceiling and wondered if Max or Madelyn knew it yet.

OoOoOo

Ron lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. Hermione had fallen asleep moments before and was snoring peacefully next to him. He couldn't fall asleep. Hermione's words were clouding his mind, making him anxious. He couldn't get his eyes to stay shut for two seconds. They continued to open and fix upon a picture of his sister, which sat on Hermione's dresser.

Sadly, he thought back to the day when Ginny had come to them. Now, over a decade and a half later he wished he had declined. He wished that he hadn't let Hermione talk him into it. He wished he could have had the guts to tell his sister a firm no. More than anything else, he wished he had been able to tell Harry that he had raised his child.

Ron's stomach turned into a knot and he turned away from the picture that was smiling calmly at him.

"Ginny…" Ron whispered to himself. "What have you done?"

He wondered to himself what would have happened if Harry had not refused to see them and sent back every letter unopened. Would he have wanted to see the child Ginny and he had made?

Ron sighed again, wishing he could push this guilt away for even a moment. It was overwhelming to think of how much they had hurt Harry, the only person they loved more than each other.

He turned to Hermione, his wife of twenty-one years and smiled despite himself. Her hair was all over the place and her mouth was slightly agape as she dreamed of something that was causing the corners of her mouth to sag down. He knew it had something to do with what had happened down in the kitchen. Their conversation was now causing Ron to lose sleep, something he wasn't used to. He could sleep through a tornado.

The problem that Ron always had was that he wondered what would have happened if he and Hermione hadn't been busy with their own family to realize Ginny was going to do something stupid. He knew that had caused a small nagging sensation on his brain all those years ago, but he never thought she'd kill herself.

OoOoOo

The sun streamed into the windows, causing shadows on the ground of the kitchen. Hermione stood against the counter, holding onto her very pregnant stomach. She gulped down a cool glass of lemonade, sighing happily as it cured her thirst.

Max played on the floor, his thumb coming up to his mouth. Hermione looked down at him and went over to him and picked him up, swinging him onto her hip. She turned suddenly and smiled.

OoOoOo

Ron woke with a start and rubbed his eyes furiously. He realized with a start that they were wet with tears.

"Ron?"

He turned to Hermione, who had been watching him. They didn't say anything for a minute. Hermione was too busy studying her husband's face.

"What did you dream about?"

"Nothing, really," he said, laying back into the bed. "You were pregnant."

Hermione smiled at him slightly and came closer to him, climbing until she was lying on his stomach.

"Please, promise me something," Ron whispered.

"Of course," Hermione replied.

"Please, let's not tell anyone," he said. Her eyes closed. "She'll hate us for the rest of her life."

Hermione nodded to herself. She rested her head in the crook of Ron's neck and wondered what their life would have been like if they had declined.

"Will this guilt ever go away?" Hermione asked mournfully, nuzzling Ron's neck. He didn't respond.

"We did the right thing, right?" he asked finally. Hermione stopped kissing his neck to look at him. His face was stoic and caused Hermione to shiver despite the muggy summer morning. "Right?" He looked down at her.

"I don't know, Ron," she replied uneasily.

"Yes you do, Hermione," he snapped suddenly, causing her to jump. "Do you think we did the right thing?"

"No, Ron, I don't," Hermione replied softly. "I think we should have told Harry and given him his daughter. What would it have mattered, anyways? Ginny was dead. We owed her nothing."

"And now it's too late," Ron said. He felt Hermione nod. For the first time since Ginny's death Ron wanted to yell at her, scream at her, maker her feel the absolute pain and suffering that she put them through.

"Now it's too late, Ron," Hermione said. "No matter what we do now it will never make up the past. We made a mistake."

"Hermione, how can you…?"

"No, let me rephrase," Hermione said, sitting up on her elbows to look him in the eye. "Raising her was one of the best experiences, Ron. I love her like she was my own daughter. She is my daughter. It's just…" she broke off, wondering how to phrase it correctly.

"The pain that Ginny's death caused was awful. And that baby helped us, remember? It was as though Ginny was giving us this second chance, this little baby to raise right and we couldn't say no to her. She helped us grieve Ginny's death. But in taking her and in lying to your family we hurt Harry. He will never know his own daughter. And even if we told him and he saw her, he would never have our memories and our past with her so it isn't worth it." She watched Ron's face for a reaction. "I wish we had never told Ginny. I wish I could take it all back."

Hermione started crying again. And, for the first time in many years she grieved not for Ginny and not for herself but for their daughter who wasn't quite their own.

OoOoOo

Kate sat up with a gasp, her heart beating wildly. She felt the sweat dripping in buckets from her and clutched at her throat, trying to calm herself down. She had the dream again. The dream ended in the same spot. Despite her trying, she couldn't remember where exactly it ended, just that it happened at the end of dinner.

Glancing at the clock briefly she saw it was eleven in the morning. Well past the normal time that she was up. She leaned against the headboard, thinking furiously. She wondered briefly if her parents were still carrying on their conversation.

Just the thought of it caused Kate to want to crawl into a hole and die. She couldn't believe that one of the Granger-Weasley siblings were a Weasley-Potter. The thought was overwhelming.

And then, just as Kate was geared up to push it to the back of her mind she remembered that her parents had constantly said 'she' when referring to the hidden Potter child. She fell back into bed, her head swimming.

"Well, that explains everything," Kate murmured to herself. She realized that it must be her that was the outsider of the family. It all made sense to her suddenly. She was the black sheep of the family.

She never looked like her sister and she never looked like her brother. With a shaky sigh Kate thought back over the years when it had been painfully pointed out to her. She should have recognized that her mother was not angry with her. Hermione was petrified. That was the look in her eyes last night.

With determination coursing through her, Kate sat up, pushing the covers back. She stepped onto the cool wood floor and hurried down the hallway to her parents' room. With a moment in which she fought the urge to run back to bed, Kate knocked on the door, waiting for a response.

There was a moment's silence. She knocked again, louder. Still there was no sound.

"They went out."

Kate whirled around to see her brother walking down the hall with a cup of coffee in his hand. She frowned at him.

"Out? Where?"

"I don't know," Max replied with a shrug. "They said they had some errands to run. There's coffee and muffins in the kitchen."

"It's eighty-five degrees outside," Kate snapped, shoving past him and going into her room. She tugged off her shorts as her brother stepped into her room. "Don't you knock?" she snapped, tugging on a pair of green shorts. He held his hand over his eyes.

"What's your problem?" he asked as she pulled on a bra and shirt.

"I don't have a problem," Kate replied, frantically pulling a brush through her hair. She yanked it back and away from her eyes. She stepped into her shoes, tugging them on and stormed past him in a flurry towards Madelyn's room. "Where is she?" she asked furiously.

"She has an interview," Max replied. "Some dumbass actually saw her resume and thought she had some potential…" He watched in surprise as Kate turned to him, a weird look in her eyes.

"Now what am I going to do?" she demanded.

"Do about what?"

"I need to get to the Ministry right away," she snapped. "Can you take me?"

"What do you need to go to the Ministry for?" Max asked, sipping from his coffee unconcernedly all the while gazing at her in surprise, as he had never seen her act this way before.

"I just do, alright?" Kate screamed, losing her temper. "Can you take me or not, Max? If not, speak now so I can start flooing."

"No, I'll take you."

"Thank you." Kate pushed the loose ends of her hair back and watched her brother walk down the hallway. He turned into his room and closed the door over. For five painstakingly long minutes Kate waited impatiently for Max to finish. Finally, she had enough. "What the bloody hell are you doing in there?" she bellowed, knocking on the door.

It opened suddenly and Max appeared completely shaven and in a different outfit. He gazed down at her.

"Alright, let's go," he said taking her by the elbow. Kate continued to stare up at him, baffled.

"Did you shave?"

"I don't see how that's…" Max said.

"You did," Kate said, feeling his cheek as they went down the stairs quickly. She finally snapped back to reality and yanked him forward. "Alright, let's go."

"Hold on," he said, striding over to the mirror and looking at himself appraisingly. Kate let out a growl of frustration and yanked at his arm.

"Let's go!" she snapped.

"Calm down, Katie, don't get your knickers all bunched up!" he snapped back. "Here, take my arm." She did so and squeezed it tightly. He glared down at her for a second before they were swept away. Kate clenched her eyes shut and held on tightly as they whirled around.

After ten minutes or so they landed with a soft thud in a deserted alleyway. Max poked his head out to look around before grabbing her by the arm and tugging her forward.

"Coast is clear," he muttered and walked along the sidewalk. Kate walked next to him, trying to pick up more speed. Max was almost a foot taller than her and he could take much bigger steps than she could. "Why are we in such a rush?"

"Why were you shaving?" Kate retaliated.

"Not talking is always nice," Max said in reply and they walked the rest of the street in silence. Kate hopped into the phone booth and yanked the phone down, quickly dialing the number.

Max stepped in beside her and glanced around quickly before they descended in the phone booth. Kate turned to her brother angrily.

"Why are you still here?"

"I can't come?" Max asked reprovingly. "I can Apparate you all the way here but then I can't see what you're in such a rush for?"

"Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" Kate barked.

"Not in our family," Max replied casually. "Here, just redial and say my name as well."

"Max, why can't you just go back…"

"Fine, I'll do it myself," he snapped, shoving her aside and picked up the phone. "Yes…Max Weasley…" He tugged the gold pin on Kate's shirt around so that he could see the floor number. "Floor three."

A brand new, shiny gold pin came out with his name on it. He defiantly pinned it to his shirt and Kate rolled her eyes. She wanted nothing more but for her brother to go away and leave her alone.

Finally the elevator shuttered to a stop and the doors slowly opened. Kate sped out, stopping short when Max caught a hold of her wrist and grasped it firmly. She turned wildly.

"Kate, just tell me where you're going and I'll leave you alone."

"Fine," Kate snapped, thinking wildly. "I am having a private consultation with Tonks about maybe starting Auror training in the summer of next year rather than the fall."

"Why didn't you just say so?" Max asked looking thoroughly relieved. He had been afraid she was a drug addict off to meet her dealer boyfriend for an afternoon of unprotected, drug-induced sex.

"I didn't want you to blab to mum," Kate said, happy to see Max bought the bait efficiently. "I want it to be a big surprise."

"Well, alright, then," he said, glancing around. "I'll go wait in the cafeteria for you. How long do you think you'll be? I'll Apparate you home."

"Oh, I don't know," Kate said, with a careless shrug. "Twenty minutes?"

"Alright." Max smiled down at her as she walked towards the elevators that would bring her down to the various departments.

Max was almost at the cafeteria when something that he perhaps neglected to realize in his relief suddenly came to him. He looked down at his pin, a frown creasing through his forehead.

"Level Three," was proudly engraved in the small gold pin that glinted in the florescent light above. He turned sharply and started walking towards the elevators. If he knew Kate, and he was pretty sure he did, she was headed right back to the room Hermione had forbidden her from the night before.

OoOoOo

Kate hurried down the hall. Every once in a while she would glance behind her shoulders to insure her brother was not following her. As she rounded yet another corner the small, dusty looking door came into view. She let out a sigh of relieve and hurried towards it, opening the door and quickly shutting it behind herself.

The room was cool and quiet. The little old woman behind the desk looked up in surprise. Kate was sure she never saw many people inside of the room.

"Name?" she asked, quill ready to scratch it down.

"Er," Kate said dumbly. "October Lupin."

The little old woman wrote it down slowly and looked back at Kate with a crooked smile. She placed the quill on the desk.

"Alright, off you go." Kate smiled slightly and walked down the long rows filled with every wizard and witch's family history. With the path already well known to her, Kate weaved her way through the messy stacks until she came to the one she was looking for.

Kate glanced through the stacks looking for 'Weasley.' She went over the names ten times before a sickening sensation began to fill her stomach. It wasn't there. The book was gone.

"Excuse me?" Kate asked, coming over to the little old woman who had dozed off. The woman glanced around in confusion before her gaze fixed upon Kate.

"Yes, dear?"

"Do you have a list of all the people who have come in here, per chance?" The old woman blinked before nodding.

"Right here, dear," she murmured, turning the book around so that Kate could see it. She scanned the names anxiously, looking for Weasley. There were none. She was about to assume her parents didn't sign in when she saw 'Bilius and Jane Prewett' scrawled in a familiar handwriting. Bilius and Jane Prewett, Kate thought to herself. Ronald Bilius Weasley and Hermione Jane Granger-Weasley. And, Kate thought, Prewett is grandma's maiden name.

"Do you know which files they took?" Kate asked in a strained voice. The old woman looked perplexed.

"Files?" she asked. "What files?"

"The Weasley family files," Kate said hurriedly. "They're gone."

"Gone?" the old woman repeated. "That's preposterous. Those files are not to leave this room…" She frowned at Kate suspiciously. "You don't want to take them, do you?"

"No!" Kate cried in frustration. She bit her lip and thought quickly. "The couple that came in here before me do you remember what they looked like?"

"Er," the woman said, thinking. "Tall man with red hair and the woman…well, I can't really remember her, 'cause she went right towards the stacks of files."

"Great," Kate muttered to herself. As much as she would have wanted to see the files again to prove to herself that it was she who didn't belong, the fact that her parents took them confirmed her doubts.

Kate hurried back over to the stacks and searched through them frantically, tugging things off the shelf and throwing them back on, opting not to worry about the mess or noise she was making.

Suddenly a strong hand gripped her wrist and tightened furiously around it. For a moment Kate was sure it was the little old lady coming to put a stop to the ransacking. But when she looked up she saw only to furious face of her brother.

"Max…"

"Kate, shut up," he snarled, tugging her out of the W's and bringing her into the center of the room. He paced back and forth before turning to her looking as angry as she had ever seen him. "Mum told you to stay out of this room!"

"Max, listen to me!" Kate pleaded, trying desperately to get Max to stop pacing, stop yelling and stop giving her those furious glances.

"We're going home right now before someone sees us coming out of here and happens to mention it to mum or dad," Max snapped, grabbing her arm and tugging her out.

"Max, you don't understand, they took them!" Kate cried. Despite his urge to leave immediately, his curiosity had been peaked.

"Who took what?" he asked casually.

"Mum and dad took the family history."

"So?" Max asked, looking over her shoulder at where they had just come out of. He felt himself frown and turned to look back at Kate.

"Why would they do that, huh?" Kate asked, raising her eyebrows questioningly at her brother. "Unless they had something to hide that's why. You saw the way mum reacted last night when she found out I was in here. I looked at our family's book and now it's gone. Doesn't that seem a little fishy to you?"

Max didn't answer. He seemed to be fighting an internal battle with himself; half of him seemed to believe Kate and the other half seemed to want to drag her out of the room and go home altogether. Finally he let out a growl of frustration.

"You don't even know it was them, Kate."

"Here, I'll prove it to you," she replied quickly. She tugged on his arm until he was walking next to her. They arrived at the desk. "Here, see?" Kate asked, pulling the book around just as the little old woman, who had been staring at Max through narrowed eyes said, "Did you sign in, young man?"

"What am I looking for…October?" he said, raising his eyebrows at her and she in turn rolled her eyes and jabbed her finger at the two names just above hers. "Bilius and Jane Prewett," he read to himself. He tensed and looked back up at her, giving a small, indifferent shrug.

"Well?"

"I think we should go," Max snapped, grabbing her wrist again.

"No, Max," Kate hissed, trying to pry his hand off of hers. She finally snapped and bellowed, "Let go of me!" He stepped back, glaring at her. "Max," she said slowly, catching her breath, "I think there's something I need to tell you."

Again, Kate had managed to peak Max's curiosity because a moment later he was following her down the hallway. She stopped and turned to him, her heart rate accelerating.

"Max I heard mum and dad talking about something this morning," she started. "I know I shouldn't have been listening but…" She sighed. "They were fighting about something. They wanted to tell us something but couldn't."

"Tell us what?" Max asked.

"Did you know aunt Ginny and Harry Potter had a child together?"

"What?" Max exclaimed. "No they didn't."

"Yes they did," Kate snapped. "Mum and dad raised her."

"Kate, that's ridiculous," he snarled, running his hand through his hair. "Why would aunt Ginny need someone to raise her child? Why couldn't she do it herself?"

"Because…" Kate said lamely. "She died, Max."

"And she told mum and dad before she died that she wanted them to raise her child in secret?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Yes," Kate replied. "Mum and dad don't want us to know about it because they're afraid we're going to hate them. I can show you."

They walked in silence. Max followed Kate without talking. She turned a corner and then down a long row until they were at the P's. She ran her fingers along the spines of the books until she came to a thin space between two books. She frowned and turned to Max, a look of satisfaction coming over her face.

"Just as I suspected," she replied softly. "They took Harry Potter's as well."

OoOoOo

"And as I'm sure you know we have a very rigorous work load for first year interns," Mr. Pillock said, gazing over his glasses at Madelyn, his expression stern. "Ten hours a day, six days a week."

"Great," Madelyn said happily. "I'm for it." I'm up for you shutting the hell up and giving me the job already you ugly son of a-

"Your cubicle will be small," he went on, glancing back down at her resume. "And this will not be anything like…Madam Malkin's Dress Robe Expo."

"I understand," Madelyn replied happily, slapping on a fake, bright smile that won everyone over. The man puffed out some air and returned his eyes to her resume. The smile slipped from her face. Hurry up, you bat!

"If you're up for it, we'd love to add you to our staff," he said after ten minutes of awkward silence in which he debated whether to hire her. Mr. Pillock always weighed his words to decide if they were the right ones to say.

"Oh, great!" Madelyn cried, genuinely ecstatic. "You won't be disappointed, sir! I'll be the best little worker you've ever seen!" She jumped up and shook his hand enthusiastically.

She left his office, her smile radiating all over her body. She felt so exhilarated that she decided a new pair of shoes was in order. Flicking her long red hair back, she walked to the elevators and pressed the down button.

The job she had just gotten wasn't her first choice, but she had always wanted to work at a magazine or newspaper. This one wasn't as trashy as The Quibbler or as backhanded as The Daily Prophet. And, it had just moved it's headquarters right across from the Ministry so her mother would always knew where she was, lucky her.

She had gone all the way out to London last night to try out for the band and when she got there everyone was rude and smelly and gross. She saw the girls that hung around them and decided she didn't want that to be her.

Luckily, she got an owl that morning asking her to come in for an interview with Mr. Pillock.

She was coming out of the large building when she saw two familiar faces hurrying down the street.

"Kate! Max!" she cried, crossing the street quickly, her heels make it hard to hurry. A muggle cab nearly hit her as she cried, "Watch it, you wanker!"

She finally arrived at the other side of the street where her brother and sister stood, looking uncomfortable.

"What a prat, huh?" she asked, glaring as the cab picked up speed again. She turned back to them with a smile. "Where are you two coming from?"

"Erm," Max replied. "We had to run in and see Tonks. Kate is applying for early admission to Auror training for next summer."

"Wow," Madelyn said, impressed. "Very nice, Kit Kat."

Kate winced at the childish nickname and gave her sister a once-over. She was wearing sleek black shoes with a pointy heel, black tights a black skirt and a light pink, button-up sweater that worked with her red hair.

"Where are you coming from?" Kate asked.

"Interview," Madelyn replied smugly. "And I got the job."

"That's great, Madelyn!" Kate cried, hugging her sister. "You didn't even have to wait for a call-back."

"You were just hired right away?" Max asked skeptically.

"Yes," Madelyn replied. "They needed to fill the spot right away. Mr. Pillock thought I was perfect for the job."

"So it was a guy that hired you?" Max asked weirdly.

"Yes," Madelyn replied, narrowing her eyes. "Why?"

"You didn't…you know, do anything less than appropriate to get the job…did you?" he asked, blushing.

"Maxwell Arthur Weasley, how dare you!" Madelyn hissed, feeling herself flush a deep red color. "That is the grossest, rudest thing you've ever said to me! I got the job all on my own, thank you very much."

"I'm sorry," Max replied. "I shouldn't have said that. Of course you got the job all on your own." The three began walking down the street in silence. "Though you could do to button up those two buttons."

Madelyn looked down at the cleavage that was peeked out of the soft pink fabric. She smirked to herself and buttoned them up, turning to her brother with a glare. He looked away from her and they kept walking until they got to the alleyway.

"Who do you want to piggy-back with?" Max asked. "And I highly advise me." Madelyn gave him a look and looked at Kate expectantly.

"Max," Kate said, shrugging apologetically. "You took us to France last time, Maddie."

"That was a treat for you," she replied hotly but shrugged nonetheless. "I have to go tell mum and dad I got a proper job in a magazine."

She left with a whoosh leaving Kate and Max looking at each other silently. Finally, Kate spoke.

"Do we tell her?"

"No…not yet, at least," Max replied anxiously. "We still have to prove it was mum and dad who took the books."

"But, Max it was…" Kate interjected but he held up his hand.

"Kate, just drop it for now, alright?" he snapped, holding out his hand. Kate shut her mouth thinking that if he could see it for himself then maybe he would be more accepting to the idea.

If her parents took those files they would want to have them somewhere where no one would think to look. As Kate and Max Apparated home, Kate thought she knew where her parents may have hidden them.

A/N Read and review. More updates coming soon for all my stories! My internet has been out for seven months and I had to keep using a friend's computer to upload.