Chapter #10 –Green Eyes, Sometimes Color Lies

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, any of the characters in the book, or anything else related to the book.

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He stood across from her, waiting for another word to be uttered. He didn't want to break the silence. Harry thought to himself, unaware of Hermione's tears. She sat down on the bed, her hands covering her eyes. What had she just done?

"Hermione," He inched closer to her and took a seat next to her on the bed. He had a million and one questions to ask, answers to analyze. But he couldn't muster up enough courage to become angry with her. His only rational question was 'why?' and he dare not ask it. He was afraid of the answer. But instead of hiding from his fears he faced them, "Hermione, why did you lie?"

She turned to him, her eyes glossy with a fresh coat of tears. "Why do you think Harry? He was his father for his whole life. I didn't want to hurt Ron like that; it's like losing a child."

"Oh, so it's okay for me to lose a child but not Ron?"

"That's not how I meant it!"

"Then how did you mean it Hermione?" He stood up, his eyes tearing.

"I don't know! I was being irrational; I thought it would be best for Jack to keep Ron as a father. We have a house, a home together. We support Jack and I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to support him." She replied honestly.

"He's my child; of course I would support him. Why would you ever think that?"

"I—I don't know, Harry, I don't know." She muttered, but instead of becoming angry he wrapped his hand around her and pulled her into an embrace.

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"Hello Ronald." Mr. Granger uttered, "Do you mind if I come in? I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Oh, no, I was just, err, hanging out." Ron muttered as Mr. Granger made his way toward the couch, sitting down and turning to Ron.

"I need to know what is going on between you and my daughter." His voice was stern and direct. Ron was panicking inside; he wished that Luna would come downstairs to spare him of this conversation. But she didn't.

"I don't know, Jack." Ron replied honestly.

"I'm worried that another man is in love with her, I think she might be having an affair." His sentence was frank and his eyes were emotionless.

"What?" Ron practically shouted, "With who?"

"That's not my place to say."

"They why in hell did you come here?"

"To see if you were back together with Hermione," Jack retorted forcefully, "If you want to keep her you better start fulfilling your responsibilities. I came here to make sure you know what you are supposed to be doing to keep this marriage alive. She's my daughter; I have every right to make sure she is being taken care of."

Ron mumbled something under his breath and then looked up at Jack with tear stained eyes, "Is it Harry?"

Hermione's father nodded. Silence then conquered their conversation.

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"Harry,"

"Hermione," He mocked quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are." He stood up, "But you have to understand how weird and life altering this is, and the fact that half of it was a lie makes it even worse!" He shook his head and left the bedroom. She pursued him all the way to the kitchen where Molly and Ginny sat in deep conversation. "We're," He directed his words to Ginny, "Me and Hermione, are going out for a little bit. We'll be back later."

She nodded and then continued on her conversation with her mother. Hermione followed Harry out the door where they took her car and headed into the city. They found a remote café that sat on the corner. When they settled in Hermione felt it necessary to start the conversation up again for they were silent the whole car ride.

"I'm sorry," She felt it necessary to repeat herself.

"You told me already. Those three words, no matter how many times you say them, are never as powerful as your actions."

"I know," She whispered. "I just want you to know how horrible I feel about this. How I totally neglected you of your own child, it is one of the worst things someone can do and I did it! I feel like such a coward, such a fool."

"Hermione, stop it," He reached for her hand and held it firmly in his. "As long as you're willing to make up for all of those things now, I won't be upset." He looked her in the eyes and smiled, "Just please, can you tell me that you'll fix all of this, that you'll make it right?"

"Yes Harry, I promise." Her eyes started to tear, she attempted to the tears away but she couldn't help it. Her emotions were controlling her lately.

"And," He paused, making sure that she was paying him full attention, "I want you to promise me that you'll let me be Jack's father."

"Harry," She smirked, wiping the tears away from her eyes, "You're already Jack's father." She paused, waiting for Harry to accept her answer but he didn't.

"That's not enough." He said sternly. "I want so much to have a house and a family, a long back yard and stupid bloody family dinners. All those fights about what color to paint the house and what couch to pick out. And right now it seems as if I can never have those, not as long as this whole mess stays tangled. Because of how you handled Jack I'll never be able to find that whole deal. And that's okay. It's really fine. I'll never stop loving Jack, he is a blessing. But I want to get as close possible to having all that. I know that it's selfish, but after all I've been through I just want to be able to be happy, and my idea of happy just happens to be a cliché."

"But Harry, who says you can't have the whole package?"

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"Thanks Jack, I appreciate you stopping by." Ron smiled as Jack exited his front door. He waited for the car engine to roar and for Mr. Granger to drive away. When the street was silent and the door was locked he bounded up the stairs and back into his bedroom. Luna lay on the bed reading a book.

"Ron! It took you long enough!" She exclaimed before throwing her book down and running up to him.

"Yeah, I think it did." He shrugged and enveloped her into a hug before kissing her firmly and throwing her onto the bed. He looked back once more at the door to make sure it was shut before beginning to unbutton his shirt.

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Ginny and Molly were playing with Jack when the door flew open. Hermione and Harry strolled in, their faces glowing from the frozen air. They beamed when they saw Jack. He went running to Hermione screaming "Mom" over and over. He clung to her leg and reached for her hair. She bent down and picked him up. "Hey Jack, why don't you say hi to your dad?"

"Harry?" Jack looked at Harry. "Where's Dad?"

"Harry is Dad," And as much as Hermione felt bad about the confusion her little boy felt she knew it was the right thing to do. She better break him of the habit before he got too old.

Ginny looked up and smiled. She hastily said her goodbyes and headed out the door. She figured that she had somewhere she needed to be right now.

Harry and Hermione also bid their goodbyes to Molly as they gathered Jack's things.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked.

"Home." Hermione replied.

When Jack returned home it wasn't to the place where his toys lay scattered on the floor or to where his clothes stay hung in his closet. It was to a decent sized apartment where Harry resided on these cold winter nights. Many people would consider it a flat, a big one at that, but right now it was home even though it was nothing like a house and had not one bit of a backyard. Harry brought Jack into a separate room as he had fallen asleep in his arms. He tucked him kindly into a bed and walked out, greeting Hermione with a smile.

"What do you want to do tonight?" He questioned flirtatiously.

"I think I have something in mind." She smiled before kissing him.

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Ginny was alone once again. But her loneliness reigned more in her heart then in her company. She was walking down streets where other people hurried by, but yet she felt like such a loner. The sky was dimming and the streetlights began to flicker on. The constant flowing crowd began to thin down and she felt herself drawn back to walking in the dark. Night had fallen quite fast today. The sky was already a watercolor mess of brown and navy blue. She could almost feel the clearness in her soul.

She heard footsteps and she glanced upwards. A man was walking quite hastily towards her, and when he passed she wished that he wasn't just a stranger. She wished he was a friend. Where was she to return to, Ron's place where she was positive it would be awkward or nowhere? Once again it was a restless night that guided her to her favorite park bench. She sat down reluctantly as her eyes began to tear. She wished firmly for a miracle, for something to come and help her, maybe even someone. But as the night kept going and the silence settled in, she was aware that only she could help herself. So she got up off her bench and strolled down to the nearest hotel. She was happy to find that there was a vacancy.

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Luna opened her eyes to see a mass of red shielding her vision. She slowly stood up and made her way to the other side of the room. Light poured in through the shades. She could tell it was morning already. Her thoughts persuaded her to get ready for work. She walked over to Ron and whispered a goodbye in his ear, careful not to wake him. She closed the front door behind her, unsure as to whether or not she would be coming back anytime soon. With a crack she landed in her office with a stack of papers on her desk. Reluctantly she dove in, trying hard not to think about Ron.

Ron on the other hand woke up several minutes later. He didn't have quidditch practice until later today so he decided he would be productive. He had to sort out this mess once and for all. He took a quick shower and headed out of the house for a well-anticipated day.

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Hermione opened her eyes to see a mass of black hair shielding her vision. She slowly pushed it out of the way to reveal a lightning shaped scar. She heard a faint knock on the front door, she didn't feel like getting up, but knew that she had too. She tried hard not to wake Harry, but was unsuccessful. When he noticed that she was trying to leave he pulled her back into the bed and nuzzled his head in the crook of her neck.

"Hermione," He mumbled as she tried to get away, he could hear her giggling.

"What Harry," She asked with a slight laugh.

"Don't leave me." He smiled weakly.

"I'm not, it's just there's someone—"

"Harry, are you home?" A call from the other room, Ron had let himself in.

"Oh, shit," Hermione whispered to Harry.

"Err, hold on Ron, just lemme get dressed, I'll be right out!" Harry exclaimed before throwing on jeans and a white T-shirt. He gave Hermione a sympathetic look and then headed out to face Ron, making sure to close his bedroom door.

"Hey Harry!" Ron shouted with enthusiasm.

"Ron, be quiet."

"What? Why?" His brows furrowed before realizing what Harry was trying to say, "Oh, I see, there's a lady in your room. I gotcha," Ron nodded and headed towards the kitchen. "So do have anything good to eat" He whispered.

"I don't know, you can check though," Harry suggested before shaking his head. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you here so early?"

"Well, I just needed to confide in a friend about some stuff," He paused, remembering what Hermione's father had said to him, "So, who's the lady?"

"You don't know her,"

"Is she pretty?"

"Err, very," Harry answered a tad uncomfortable.

"What's her name?"

"Oh, err, I," Harry struggled with something to say when Ron graciously interrupted him.

"You don't remember?" He laughed, "Since when does Harry Potter not remember?"

"Well,"

"That's okay," Ron blurted out, "I still need some advice though."

"Oh, well I'm here to help," Harry smiled weakly before continuing on, "What about?"

Ron paused, he put down the leftovers he had been picking at and dressed his face up in a serious expression. "I think Hermione's having an affair." Harry didn't say anything; he just started intently at Ron as he began to talk again. "Her dad stopped by yesterday, he said that he thought she was having an affair." Ron shook his head, "I didn't want to believe it! She has been gone for almost a week though. I was totally unconvinced until he said who with,"

"Who?" Harry asked, swallowing loudly.

"You." Ron said rather noisily.

"Me? That's," Harry paused while he searched for the word, "Crazy."

"Really? Is it that crazy? It's actually totally reasonable." Ron placed the leftovers back in the fridge before turning to Harry, "But it's not true, right mate?"

"Yeah, it's not true at all," Harry said, somewhat convincingly.

Ron then smiled and shrugged, "Well I guess I was just worried over nothing. Thanks though, I better be off. I'm meeting someone for lunch in about two hours, I have some errands to run ahead of time and I don't want to be late."

"Who're you meeting?" Harry asked casually, trying not to let his curiosity show.

"Luna," He answered before sighing loudly and heading for the door, "I just hope Hermione comes around, I really miss her lately. But I've got to go, thanks again Harry." He smiled as he apparited away.

As soon as he was gone Harry headed back into his bedroom. Hermione sat up when he entered; her heart was racing with concern.

"Harry, why would my dad say such a thing?"

"Because," He looked her straight in the eyes, "I met with him the other day, and I told him how hurt I was over everything. Maybe he got the idea that we had been together or something."

"Well he's right, isn't he?"

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A/N: Okay, there is a chapter. Thanks again for reading. Please review. :)