Disclaimer: I do not own anything just the plot and the characters that are not included in the book.

Chapter 5

"Ron! Ron!" Harry shouted. He just received the letter from Hermione and he was so excited that he almost tripped when he went down the stairs. "RON!"

Ron complained aloud while covering his ears to save himself from all the shouting. "What are you shouting about? Merlin, you're hurting my ears!"

"SHE'S COMING!" Harry literally screamed on his face.

"I'M RIGHT HERE! STOP SHOUTING!" he replied still trying to protect his ears.

"BUT SHE'S COMING! OUR HERMIONE IS COMING BACK!"

"What?"

"Are you deaf now? I said Hermione is coming back. She'll be here tomorrow!"

"Well what are we standing here for? We should make this place as comfortable and as welcoming as possible. I have to tell mom!" Ron hurriedly went outside to find Mrs. Weasley.

"Ginny! I have to tell Ginny." Harry said, following his best friend to the door, he went out as well to find Ginny and tell her the good news.

She couldn't sleep well. She kept tossing and turning around the bed, trying to find a good spot on to make herself comfortable. It was either the pillows were too lumpy, or they were too soft. Or maybe she was just having second thoughts about going back. Knowing that she couldn't sleep with the idea of returning bothered her to no end, she decided to check on Isabella's room and was surprised to see her daughter still awake. Isabella wasn't doing anything; instead, she just layed motionless on the bed, staring at the empty ceiling while hugging Mister Snuggles.

"Honey is something wrong? Are you scared of the monsters in the closet again?" Hermione asked worriedly while climbing to her daughter's bed to hug her close.

"No."

"Then what's wrong?" Hermione pried further.

"I was just thinking mama," Isabella said, sighing and hugging her mother close to her as if she never wanted to let go.

"About what?"

"About things"

"What kind of things?"

"Like what if my daddy didn't die and he's still here with us. We'll be like a family, like the ones in the movies."

"Oh," she spoke, not knowing what to say.

"Mama?"

"Yeah?"

"How did daddy die?"

Hermione could clearly see the sadness in her daughter's eyes. She mentally kicked herself for doing that to her, keeping the truth away from her own daughter. She kept thinking about what she said and how it affected Isabella. She's not being fair to her but Hermione knew what's best for her daughter. "How did he die? Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

'How did he die?' she thought. "He died in a ... in a car accident."

"My poor daddy, what happened?"

"Well, your dad was talking on the phone while he was driving; he's a very busy man. When he turned on the corner on the way to his office, he didn't see the other car and then ... Please don't make me continue honey." She didn't knew it would be this hard to lie.

Isabella stood up to hug her mother. "Why? Is something wrong mama?"

"No nothing's wrong. Don't mind me darling"

"Last one mama, do you have a picture of him? Can I have it? I want to put it in my wallet so that I can show it to the kids at the park and I can tell them how brave my daddy is!"

"Pi-picture? I ... I don't have a picture of him. I threw all of it when he died." Again, she mentally kicked herself for that.

"Oh..."

"Let's stop talking about your dad. Tomorrow you and I are going to visit my friends. Isn't that nice? You'll meet mama's friends and they can meet you too," she said, trying to change the subject. She couldn't bare to feed more lies to her daughter about her supposedly 'dead' father.

"Really?" Isabella asked excitedly.

"Yeah, you can bring Mister Snuggles too; we don't want him to get mad right?"

It was late afternoon when Hermione and Isabella arrived at the Burrow. Before going, Hermione had explained to Isabella about her magic and how she's going to see a lot more of it when they went to her friend's house, at first she thought that Isabella would be surprised but then she thought wrong because Isabella herself has done some magic of her own in such a young age and she said she didn't tell Hermione because she thought that she's weird because she can do magic and that Hermione would not believe her if she told her.

"HERMIONE!" She was instantly wrapped into a big warm hug; she was indeed missed.

"Wow!"

"Merlin, Hermione you look great!"

"I missed you so much!"

"How are you?"

"Whoa! Hold up guys, one question at a time," Hermione spoke, laughing at them. She sure missed them all. "I feel like a celebrity here! I missed you all!"

"GROUP HUG!" Ron shouted and again, they wrapped Hermione into a big hug. Amidst their excitement, they didn't even notice Isabella in one corner of the room.

"As much as I love hugging you all, I brought someone with me and she's eager to meet you. This is Isabella, my daughter."

Isabella shuffled forward.

"Hi, I'm Isabella. Nice to meet you all," she said while smiling at them. "Oh, and this is Mister Snuggles, say hi Mister Snuggles," she added, showing her teddy bear to them.

That shut them up. They all looked at her, from Isabella to Hermione, from Hermione to Isabella. "Are you sure she's your daughter? She doesn't look like you" said Ron, eyeing Isabella suspiciously.

'That is definitely not the first thing I thought they would say,' she thought.

"Yeah she looks like—I don't know who, but she definitely looks like someone I know," said Harry.

"Don't be silly, she's my daughter. See, she have my hair." Hermione said while taking off Isabella's pony tail and showing them her curly bushy brown hair.

"Oh she is definitely your daughter now."

"You haven't changed at all Ron," Hermione said, laughing.

Hermione told them everything that happened after she left. But she left the part about Isabella's father; she was still not ready for that and she doesn't know when she'll be ready. Harry thought that she was foolish when she left and that she was even more foolish when she thought that they would hate her just because of what had happened. He told her that friends don't do that to each other and she knew that they were more than friends; she was like a sister to them and when she left them without even saying goodbye, it hurt them really badly.

Hermione and Isabella decided to stay at the Burrow until after the wedding and until then she still didn't know what her future plans would be. But for now, she's with her friends, and her friends accepted Isabella and that's what's important. She didn't want to think about what she'd do when she'd face him.

Ginny took Isabella in Hogsmeade to show her around the place where her mother grew. She took her to different stores. The one she loved the most was Flourish and Blotts and Ginny was quite sure she really was Hermione's daughter. For someone like Hermione, she'd only produce kids who would love to spend an entire day inside a bookstore. Ginny then took her to Fred and George's shop, Isabella said that she wished her grandma could see all this cool stuff, as her grandma is not really a big fan of magic. They got tired from all the walking and shopping so they decided to eat at the Three Broomsticks.

"I don't get it Aunt Ginny," Isabella said.

"What is it that you don't get?"

"This place is a restaurant..."

"It's not a fancy restaurant; it's more like a pub."

"Well yes, but still. People eat here. They serve food here. But why is it called the Three Broomsticks when broomsticks are for cleaning? When you said that we were going to the Three Broomsticks I thought we were going to buy some cleaning supplies. I didn't know this is a place where people eat." Isabella thought aloud. "But the food is great here. I like this place, but still my favourite is Flourish and Blotts. I want to go there again. Can we, Aunt Ginny? I want to buy one book, just one" She looked at her, her eyes pleading.

"Fine. We'll go and you can buy one book. Just one and then we'll go home okay?"

"Yey! Thank you Aunt Gin!"

They were so busy with their conversation they didn't even notice Draco Malfoy came in. He instantly saw them; she's not really hard to find as she's the only red head in the room. He approached, making up his mind to congratulate her with the nearing wedding.

"Hey Weasley."

Looking up, Ginny saw Malfoy, his eyes intently looking at Isabella. "I didn't know you have a child?"

"Oh, no she's not mine. She's Hermione's daughter."

That was unexpected. "Granger's back? And she's back with her daughter?" He looked at Isabella again; the little girl was playing with her food and was oblivious with her surroundings.

"Ah, yeah. Is something wrong? You look paler than usual Malfoy."

"I ... I have to go, Congratulations by the way. I'll guess I'll see you at the wedding. Tell Potter my congratulations too." He said, as he hurriedly went outside for air.

"Ah, yeah right."

"You said something, Aunt Gin?"

"No. Finish your food."

'Granger's back. And she's back with her daughter.' He instantly took out his phone and dialled for his private investigator. "I need you to do something for me. And I need the results as soon as possible."