Hi all! I'm working to get this finished. We have a big reveal here, and then another one in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!
Hermione sat at the head of the long kitchen table in the burrow. She tapped her fingers against her water glass, feeling the weight of twelve pairs of eyes on her. On the floor next to her, Rose and Victoire played nicely. Hermione had smothered her child with affection upon returning, but it was clear now the only action the Weasley family would allow of her was to talk. They wanted answers.
Hermione gazed down the room. Ron sat directly across from her at the other end of the large table. Lavender was to his right, looking annoyed. Ginny sat to Ron's left, sporadically patting her brother on the shoulder to calm him. Next to Ginny was Harry, who looked like he was trying to avoid Ron's gaze all together. Ron was glaring at Harry like he might kill him.
The rest of the seats were filled: Arthur and Molly, Bill and Fleur, George and Angelina, Percy and Audrey. No Weasley had stayed home from this show. Except, of course, for Charlie.
Just then, the front door banged open and Charlie Weasley walked in.
"What the bloody hell is going in?" he asked, exasperated. He walked to the table and took the last empty seat, looking disheveled and travel worn, as if he had left whatever he was doing in a rush. "I got Mum's owl. We've got a new niece?"
All eyes flew back to Hermione, waiting for her to confirm or deny. Which was preposterous. They all heard the confession, Hermione wouldn't have been able to lie under veritaserum. And they had all seen Rose pass the Weasley wards. Obviously, there was no use denying it any longer. All she could do was share as little as possible and try to protect what information she could.
"Yes," Hermione said. "This is my daughter, and she is a Weasley."
Charlie looked gobsmacked, peering down at the small redhead playing on the floor.
"Blimey, who's the dad?"
All the sets of eyes, thirteen now, turned back to Hermione once more. And how was she supposed to answer this? It's not like any of it made sense. Whatever name she said, someone would be in trouble. Hermione decided the best thing for it was to be as honest as she could.
"I understand this has all been very confusing." Hermione paused as Lavender gave a snort. "And I know you all want to know what's going on. But I can't tell you. You heard me say that under the veritaserum. Every word I utter places more and more danger on the situation."
Hermione nodded, satisfied. That should be the end of it, shouldn't it? They should all be able to trust her. Couldn't they see what this was doing to her?
"That is not good enough."
All eyes flew to Ron at his declaration. Ron sat there, still glaring at Harry, then turned his attention to Hermione. He looked thoroughly pissed off.
"Now, I feel like I've been pretty levelheaded throughout this whole ordeal," Ron said, stabbing the table with his finger. Ginny said a sarcastic, "Right," but was silenced with a look from Ron, who continued.
"Everyone here wants you to answer to them Hermione. A lot of people in this room are hurt and frustrated by what's gone on," Ron said, standing slowly and leaning forward as he spoke.
"But I want you to understand the hurt and frustration you have caused me. Me," Ron said, slamming his fist against his chest. "You have done this to me, and you have come back here with a child and you won't tell us who's it is, and now I find out all of this has happened because my best mate," Ron said, indicating Harry, "was in on it. And so before we go any farther, before anyone else gets a word in, I expect an explanation out of you. You owe me an explanation."
He said the last bit quietly, but with plenty of force. Hermione felt the air pulled out of her as Ron's eyes drilled into her, pinning her to her seat. She could feel the tears welling up, looking at the pain and anger written on Ron's face.
"I didn't want to be with you, Ron," Hermione said finally, looking straight in his eyes.
"Fine," he said, slowly. "That bit seems a bit obvious. It wasn't a coincidence Riddle chose that image of you and Harry to taunt me with. I've always known I had no chance with you, I don't need convincing of it."
Hermione breathed heavily, her gaze still locked with Ron's. She wanted to scream, to tell him to never say such awful things again. How could he think it? Ron was good enough, he was better than anyone.
"I couldn't stand the sight of you any longer," Hermione said, her voice cold and her stare blank. "Is that enough of an explanation for you?"
Hermione continued to stare at Ron, silently begging him to stop looking at her like that. He looked almost…defeated. Hermione had crushed him. But, of course, that had been the plan all along.
"How do you know about Prophecy 472?"
Hermione turned to Harry at his sudden question, gaping at him, willing him to let it go.
"It's not your turn for questions, Potter," Ron said menacingly.
"Oh come off it," Harry said in frustration. "I didn't do a thing to you."
Hermione's mind was in a whirl. How to explain her knowledge of the prophecy? It was a prophecy she would instantly forget if she could, yet it had become the driving force in her life.
"I…I read about it."
"Nope," Harry replied. "Never been reported. In fact, there are precisely three people on this planet who know the full contents of it."
The rest of the family watched Harry closely now, clearly intrigued.
"What's it about Harry?" Ginny asked urgently. "Please?"
Harry surveyed the room, obviously weighing whether or not he should say more. Hermione couldn't believe he would even consider it.
"Harry, don't," she begged. "The more people who know, the more power it has. You know how it works."
"Yes, I do know how it works," Harry said angrily. "I want to know how you know how it works."
Hermione couldn't believe this was happening. She'd spent three years protecting something, and in just three days Harry was ready to give it up. She was livid, so angry with him. He had been the one to start all of this, even if he didn't know it, and now he was causing more problems for her.
"Harry," Ron said, the one word an insistent plea.
"Harry," Hermione echoed, her voice just as forceful as Ron's.
Harry looked between his two friends, not sure which to let down. In the end, he knew they needed all the information possible to work this thing out, and so he took a deep breath and began to speak.
"Prophecy 472 was taken from the department of mysteries before it was destroyed in 1996. It didn't take long for the Ministry to discover it was the work of death eaters, and they assumed the prophecy had made its way into the hands of Riddle. After the department was destroyed, the Ministry became intent on discovering the contents of that one prophecy, as for all intents and purposes, it was the last one known on Earth. Fortunately, they had a registry on hand and were able to find the original source of the prediction…"
"Who was it?" Lavender asked, leaning in as if listening to a ghost story.
"Trelawney. Of course, her predictions are shaky at best, but we know from experience she's been dead on before." Harry paused to grimace. "They were able to put her into a trance and gather the lost information."
"What did it say?" Ginny urged. Ron's face was tense, his brow low over his eyes, watching Harry.
"It spoke of a trio," Harry said, scanning the various faces watching him. "A trio whose combined magical power would be so great, no dark magic could ever defeat it."
"You, Ron and Hermione then?" Percy asked, his quick mind trying to figure it all out. Harry shook his head.
"No. The Ministry did think at first it was a trio of three adults, but the more the prophecy was explored they realized it was speaking about…a family. The prophecy talked about the lasting effects, the offspring. This family would be the start of generations of powerful witches and wizards, creating a line of good magic that would be nearly unstoppable."
"So…the trio?" Bill asked.
"Man, woman and child," Harry answered.