AN- Thanks for all your reviews. A special thanks to da ruth who proof read this chapter for me.

Chapter 23

Reality

Darkness continued to pour in Harry's eyes, making him more and more tired with every passing minute. Keeping his hands on the wheel and his eyes straight in front of them, he picked up speed, hoping to make the drive home as short as possible. A small snore escaped Emily, who was snuggled up against the seat, sound asleep.

Sitting up straight, Harry took a quick look below him, making sure he was correct about his location. Shifting gears, the flying car descended through the air, dropping dozens of feet each second. The wheels smacked up against the black cement with a loud thud, and the car sped along at tremendous speeds. With his foot, he pressed down on the brake, knowing he was going well over the speed limit. Turning at various points, he arrived in front of his house, which was pitch black inside.

Shutting the car off, and quietly slamming the door, Harry ran over to the opposite side of the car. Slowly, he opened it, making sure that his daughter wasn't so close to the edge that she was going to fall. He slid his arms under her, and brought her up to his shoulder. With her balanced in one arm, he shut the door and walked inside the house.

Gracefully, Harry climbed up each stair, making sure not to make so much movement that his daughter would wake up, but she was out like a light. After setting her down onto the bed, he covered her up with the blanket, and shut the door behind him. He headed off into his own room, and decided he too needed to get ready for bed. Finding his sleepwear, he knew it was time to travel into dreamland.

"Don't tell me your day was that tiring where you're getting ready for bed already?" The always surprising red head asked.

"Ron!" Harry jumped in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to see how your day went." Ron answered simply. Did those muggles give you any problems?"

"Nah…The muggles were actually quite nice."

"Wow," Ron commented.

"Yeah, it was a really great day. Emily had loads of fun do. She's really brave you know, she even wanted to go on a roller coaster."

A confused look soared across the pureblood's features. "What's a roller coaster?"

"You know a roller coaster." Harry made an up and down motion with his arm, which looked more like a wave to his friend.

"Oh… Hermione told me that was an ocean; the smart one must have finally lost some brain cells."

Harry smacked his hand against his forehead, laughing at Ron's stupidity. "No, a roller coaster is when you're inside these carts, and you ride on these tracks, going up to ridiculous heights. Then, you're flung back down. Sometimes, you're flung on each side, and you can go upside down. Its really fun, you should try it sometime."

"Are you saying that your daughter is brave? Wonder who she inherited that from." Ron said sarcastically. "But, if she starts breaking the rules, then I'd be afraid, she'd be almost like your clone, except in a girl form."

Flashing back to the good times at Hogwarts, Harry couldn't help but smile.

"How are your mum and dad?" Harry asked.

"Good… Harry you may want to sit down."

"Okay," Harry agreed, worried about what Ron was going to tell him. He sat down on the edge of the bed, finally relaxing his muscles from the eventful day that he had earlier.

"What's today's date?"

Harry had to think for a moment, he was never good at keeping track of dates. "June… 19th, why?"

"And what's tomorrow?"

"The 20th?"

"And what's supposed to happen on June 20th?"

Horror found its way onto Harry's face as he realized what Ron was trying to talk to him about. "Ginny and I, we were supposed to get married. Surely she must have told everyone that we aren't by now!"

Ron shook his head in disagreement. "No one knows mate."

"Not even your parents?"

"No, Bill and Charlie arrived earlier this morning for the wedding, bringing presents and all."

"Bloody hell, why didn't she tell anyone?"

Ron shook his head at his friend, he had no idea. "Probably thinks you should, since you're the one who broke it off."

Harry was glad he was now sitting on the bed, because he felt as if he was going to faint. Everything in his life was going pretty good, at least the past few days, but he knew there had to be something that would end his happiness sooner or later."

"I can't go and tell them now," Harry said, mentally debating all different scenarios within his head. "The earliest I'll be able to see everyone would probably be in the courtyard, where the wedding's supposed to take place… I am so dead."

"Ginny wasn't at my mum's and dad's house, I don't know where she's been."

An evil thought flashed through Harry's mind. "She better not show up in a wedding dress, and act like none of this ever happened."

A burning light shown through Harry's eyelids and he threw his arm over them, trying hard to avoid the painful sensation, succumbing his body back to sleep.

A soft, slow rapping at the door forced the young father to open up his eyes, obviously giving up any hope he had of falling back to sleep.

"Come in," he called out. The little girl mopped into his bedroom, looking reenergized and ready to play once again. Her clothes were disheveled, hair messy, and pupils were large.

"Good morning, "Harry announced. He had changed positions and was sitting up, legs still under the blanket. He patted the spot next to him, welcoming Emily to sit next to him. She jumped up onto the bed, and sat down where his hand was moments ago, with her legs folded mocking her father.

"Did you have a good nights sleep?"

Emily nodded he head in agreement. Harry wasn't sure if she was still tired, or if she just wasn't in the mood to talk.

Harry sighed and muttered to himself, "A few more hours."

"A few more hours till what, Daddy?" Emily asked, interrupting his thought process.

"Until I have to go talk to a whole bunch of people about Ginny."

"Ginny?" The young girl questioned. "Daddy, I don't like that lady. Are you and her gonna get marries?"

"No…" he responded. "We were only going to get married because I was stupid."

"Daddy, don't say bad words."

"Sorry honey"

"So you aren't going to get marries 'cuz you like my mommy, right?"

Yeah, I guess." Harry answered. He really didn't want to get into this with Emily, because he knew she wasn't going to understand.

"Then why were you gonna get married to her?"

"Because…" Harry was conflicted; he didn't know how to answer the question to himself, never mind to a three year old. "Well, Ginny and I started going out, because well I was afraid to be alone, kind of like you don't like to be left alone all by yourself."

Emily just sat and listened contently.

"And then, I continued to go through with the marriage in fear of losing Ron as a friend. I didn't think he was going to like me breaking up with his sister, especially since she had such high hopes of our marriage. I kept telling your mother over and over that I was going to break it off with Ginny, but some how, I had to find the courage within myself to talk to Ron, knowing that he would probably hate me forever. But, little did I know that it wasn't Ron I had to worry about, it was Ginny. Do you understand that?"

"Nope," Emily said truthfully.

"Hermione, we have a problem." Harry informed her, barging through her door. He was carrying Emily from his arms, and her mother noticed that he was in a hurry, she could tell he had to get somewhere, and quick.

"What?" she questioned. Worry formed in the pit of her stomach, afraid something had happened to Emily, even though she was right in front of her.

"Can you watch Emily for a while; I have some business I have to take care of." He hesitated before going on. "I have to go to the Burrow, then over to the courtyard."

Hermione didn't have to waste a second thinking to figure out what he was talking about, the wedding.

"Oh," she said, shocked. Really, she couldn't believe he was still going to get married to her. "Congratulations." She complimented him, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.

"What?" He was very confused; why on earth would Hermione be congratulating him because he had to go and cancel the wedding. Suddenly, realization hit him like a ton of bricks; he knew exactly what was going through her mind. "Hermione, I'm not going to marry Ginny."

"Your not?"

"No Hermione." Leaning down, he placed Emily down on the bed, next to her mother, where she sat patiently. "It's not about Ginny. It's never been about Ginny, it's always been about you." He got on his knees so he could be at her level. "It doesn't matter who I was with, my heart was always with the same person, you, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't take it away from you, and maybe I didn't want to. Whether it was Ginny or Cho or some other girl, there's only been one person that I've been in love with, and that's you. Hermione, I love you, I have since the first day I met you, and I've never stopped, and I don't think I can."

The brave and confident Hermione Granger had a hard time holding back all her emotions. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she tried as best she could to hold back tears. Once she had regained her composure, she spoke, having no idea what to say. "So, if you're not getting married, then why do you have to go to the courtyard?"

"Ginny didn't tell anyone that the wedding was cancelled."

"You're kidding"

"Nope," Harry said disappointedly. "Can I leave Emily here with you while I go and make this announcement? Of course, if your healer says its okay."

"Yes Harry, its okay."

"Thank you," Harry ran up to Hermione and gave her a quick peck on the forehead, not using any thought at all for this action. He encompassed his daughter in a hug, and gave her a kiss on the forehead too.

"Bye, I'll be back soon."

"Dad," Ron called out, spotting the oldest redhead directly across from him, talking to a crowd of middle aged men. The short man turned away from his guests, facing his son.

"Is there a problem Ron?"

"Have you seen Ginny?" He asked his elder. It was the day of the wedding, and he was sure that she was going to make a guest appearance.

"Yeah, she's in one of the dressing rooms getting changed."

"Thanks." Without another work, Ron walked away briskly, leaving his father standing there, stunned and confused.

"That girl doesn't know what she's got coming to her." Ron muttered to himself as he passed the crowds of wedding goers patiently awaiting the bride and groom to be.

AN- Originally, I was going to have this chapter be the whole "wedding", the confrontation, I mean, but that was going to take a while to write and type, and I knew you all were just dying for an update! Please Review