Chapter 6

"Uh, Mum, don't you have your date in an hour?" Lily asked Ginny the following Saturday from the couch.

"Oh dammit you're right... I am not looking forward to this."

"Why not? I thought you really liked this guy, Dylan."

"Oh, I do. I do..." Ginny paused sadly as she thought about the situation she was now in. "It's just that with Harry reappearing I don't really think it would be fair to either of them to be dating Dylan."

"I guess... Now I'm sad that I'll never get to meet him!" Lily thought about how her mother had reacted every other time during these holidays when she had brought up her mother's boyfriend, and noticed that she wasn't doing it this time. "Why was it that you refused to talk about him before and now you will?"

Ginny smiled sheepishly at her daughter. "Er, well, I wasn't exactly going as myself."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"I was – am – using appearance charms to change how I look whenever I go on a date with him. And I couldn't introduce you to him without telling at least you that I was a witch."

Lily's jaw dropped as she heard this. "First of all, you've been USING magic the ENTIRE time you were dating him and I didn't know? Secondly, why in the name of Merlin have you been doing that?!"

"I dunno why I changed myself when I went on that first speed dating thing. I guess I was scared of someone recognizing me. I've basically been living my life as a very paranoid person for the last 15 years." Ginny purposefully ignored the first half of her question because she didn't want to admit that she had been using magic since Lily went off to Hogwarts.

"That's a terrible way to live. But at least it makes more sense..." Ginny could tell that Lily was thinking hard about how Ginny had been living since she was born.

Ginny sighed in relief as Lily didn't mention anything about using magic. "Ok... Well, I'm going to my room to get ready. I'll see you before I leave."

"Alright. I'm interested in how you make yourself look too." Lily quickly turned her attention back to her potions book where she was trying to write an essay as soon as possible just in case her life got a lot more busy with her unknown family.

Forty-five minutes later, Ginny walked back into the living room as her alternative version of Eliza.

"Oh my goodness! You look like my Professor Longbottom!" Lily screeched as soon she saw her mother.

"Yeah, well that is where I got the idea from... Although I tried to base the look more off Neville's mother... Except for the hair. That is all Hermione..." Ginny laughed and trailed off in thought. It was nice for her to be able to think about her friends again.

"His mother? I thought his parents died. And you know Professor Longbottom?"

"Did they die? Last I heard they were in St. Mungo's... Although that was 15 years ago..." Ginny was talking more to herself than to her daughter. "But that's not the point. I only saw her once and she didn't look very good then sadly...But I also saw her in an old Order photograph that Mad-Eye showed us one summer… And of course I know Neville! I told you that I was in the war and the DA and everything. In fact... it was my idea to call it Dumbledore's Army..." Ginny was trailing off in thought again but quickly shook herself out of it. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I knew Neville very well. He was a good friend and I even went to the Yule Ball with him in my third year. I was so proud of him during the war. He gained so much confidence in himself. Really proved to himself and everyone else that he truly belonged in Gryffindor."

"Wow... there is so much I need to learn about you! Like how you knew Mad-Eye Moody. This is just so weird Mum. I mean, I always knew you were hiding things about your past life obviously but I guess I never, EVER expected it to be like this."

"I know. I'm really very sorry Lily. I am going to try and make it up to you as much as I can. Especially after I have that terrifying dinner tomorrow at my old home..."

Lily nodded in understanding and went over to hug her mother that looked like her professor and some woman named Hermione.

"Alright, I had better get going. Don't want to leave Dylan waiting."

"Alright, bye Mum! Goodluck." Lily kissed Ginny goodbye and watched her walk out of the living room. Then, she suddenly realized that her mother had effectively evaded her question earlier!

"Wait! Mum!" Lily called out hoping she hadn't gone into the garage already.

A few seconds later, Ginny as Eliza poked her head back in. "Yeah Lily?"

"You never answered about how you have been magic since you've been dating Dylan." Lily asked with her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Er, I have actually been – er – using magic again since – since you left for Hogwarts..."

"WHAT!?"

"Lily, calm down! I'm sorry. I've hid a lot from you, I know so just, please."

Lily narrowed her eyes again and huffed "Fine" and Ginny breathed out in relief that the Weasley temper didn't come to its full height.

"Ok, let me explain from the beginning. It started a few weeks after you left for Hogwarts. I became depressed because I missed magic and you were going to learn about it. So I decided that just keeping up with the basics wouldn't be so bad. I even convinced myself that I was doing it all for your protection so I could be prepared in case the worst happened. But really I was just being selfish. I put a quick ward around the house so magic couldn't be detected here and the ministry wouldn't come snooping around and I went back into practicing magic. And then I couldn't stop. I was starting to really question why I even left in the first place. But then you came back that first Christmas telling me about the war and I remembered. I kept trying to figure out when I would tell you about me but I never could fully get myself to. I couldn't admit what I did to you." Ginny took a deep breathe after her long explanation and looked for a response from her daughter.

Lily ran to hug her mother and realized that they had seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Oh, Mum. I get it. I understand. I just wish all of this wasn't kept a secret from me."

"I know Lily. I'm sorry. And I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot more things you'll think of that I will have to tell you about as we figure everything out. And you deserve to know it all."

Lily grinned. "You're right. I do deserve to know it all. Now GO! You're going to be late to your break-up date."

"Ugh! Don't remind me… I really don't want to do this. Alright, I'm sure I'll be home fairly early." Ginny waved goodbye and she walked back out of the room.

"I'll be up waiting for you!" Lily called out after her mother.

Twenty minutes later, Ginny as Eliza and Harry as Dylan were sitting next to each other in a small booth in a classy and modern bar. After about twenty minutes of small talk, they both fell into silence not knowing that they were having a lot of the same thoughts. One such thought was that they were going to have to break up with the other and they both didn't want to. In addition, both of them were glad that they had decided to go to this bar for their date because it was a much easier place to break up with someone, as opposed to a restaurant or a movie. Finally Harry broke the silence by saying the inevitable.

"Listen, Eliza, I need to talk about something rather important with you."

"Oh, I have something to say too. But you can go first."

Both of them were extremely nervous and awkward, but too nervous to notice that the other was as well.

"You know how my fiancée died?"

"Yes..."

"Well, I lied. She didn't die. She left and never contacted me again. It is just easier for other people to understand if I say she died, because she left my life as if she had died." Harry started out hesitantly. He didn't want to make it sound like he didn't trust Eliza, he just wanted to explain what had happened.

"Oh, I'm so sorry..." Ginny trailed off thinking how that was exactly what she had done to Harry. This made her feel even worse about having to break it off with Dylan.

"So, well, the problem is that – that she suddenly reappeared." Harry was so terrified to tell Eliza about this. He really didn't want to hurt her.

"Oh."

"Yeah. And I also – I just found out – er, well – turnsoutIhaveadaughter." After stumbling around with his words, Harry finally just said it very quickly.

Ginny choked on her drink when she heard this. "You... what?" It was starting to weird her out how similar things were getting with what Dylan was telling her and how things were going with Harry.

"I just found out a few days ago. She's fifteen." Harry felt the need to explain himself completely to Eliza. She deserved it.

"Fifteen?!" Ginny was starting to feel more and more that there was something else going on here with Dylan. Harry, on the other hand, couldn't understand why Eliza was acting so strange about all of this.

"Yeah, well, I don't know if you can understand what is going on in my life. It's just that – that – it is gonna be hard for me to be dating while I'm trying to figure things out with them." Harry looked at Eliza to see if she was getting upset or hurt from what he was saying, but she just sat there staring at him with a stunned, and maybe even confused, look. Harry took this as an okay to continue on.

"But what is so hard for me is that I don't want to have to choose between you, Eliza, and them. I want to be with you because I love you but –"

"You love me?!" Harry smiled at this. It seemed to him that Eliza had come out of her temporary shock to hear that but not that he was leading up to breaking up with her.

"Yes, I do." His smile quickly disappeared as concern took over on his face and said quietly, "Its just that, I still love Ginny too."

"Ginny?" Eliza breathed.

The two just looked at each other before the very last thing that Harry was expecting to happen happened.

When Ginny heard that Dylan loved her she was thinking many things at once: shocked that he was telling her like this, elated that he felt that way, but depressed that they couldn't stay together.

But then Dylan said her name. Her real name. She couldn't believe it. Dylan loved Eliza and Ginny. How was that possible? All she could do was look at him and thats when it finally hit her and she couldn't stop herself. She threw her arms around him and pulled him into a sudden kiss.

Dylan broke away quickly and looked at her like she was crazy, which, Ginny realized, he had good reason to as he obviously hadn't figured out what was going on. Ginny refused to let go of him, though, and kept her arms firmly around him. She knew that she should be trying to work out what exactly was going on but she just didn't care. Ginny decided to stop listening to her brain for a while.

"What – do you understand what I am saying, Eliza? I can't be dating you right now."

"Of course I understand what you're saying. Although, I think I understand more than you do." Ginny grinned at his confusion and worry.

"Huh? That –"

"You said you loved me."

"Yes, but –" Ginny quickly made him stop talking with another kiss. It was a quick one though and then she leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

"I love you too, Harry."

A/N: I know, it took me a little longer to update this time, but that is because I was slaving away in the kitchen all of yesterday to try and make a traditional Chanukkah meal for my friends yesterday! I have learned that I could never, ever be a housewive. And my friends learned that latkes (potato pancakes) are the best things in the world! So, if you can, I suggest trying them :) So Happy Chanukkah everyone!

But, as an added bonus for it taking so long to update, this chapter is extra long (not intentionally) so I split it into two. I've already written both chapters so I'll post it as soon as I can! Hope you enjoy it and please review!