Aight, heads up, this one has a lot of inner monologue and ramblings and thoughts, so I hope you like it. The next one would be more interesting, for it has Daphne's arrival, well a formal arrival.

Hope you enjoy and don't forget to leave a review!

Word count: 3222

(26/9/17)

Hermione rolled her shoulders and let out a long breath as soon as she closed the bathroom door behind her. While she loved and absolutely adored the kids at the School, they were quite a handful and she had forgotten that. It had been a while since she took over the School for longer than a few hours and even though it was just the second day, she could see it was taking its toll on her.

Some days, she truly wondered if Harry was a superhero or something of that sort. Today was one of those days. Because she really couldn't understand how he managed to handle everything on his own because even with Bree, it was still a lot of work.

She splashed her face with water, immediately feeling better. A fond smile blossomed on her face as she remembered the day Harry had left.

"Hermione," Harry fretted, again. "You sure you don't mi-"

He was cut off by Hermione crossing her arms and giving him an exasperated look. "Really, Harry? This again? I thought I made it clear that you are not to worry about this for the rest of the week. Or was I wrong?"

Harry saw the dangerous stance she had taken and immediately backtracked, holding his hands up. "No no no no, you made it very clear, I-yeah, I'll just be going very quietly. Yeah." An angry Hermione was not one to be messed with, he knew. From experience.

Hermione dropped her annoyed look and immediately started shaking her head at him, albeit in an amused way. "Oh Harry, you're such an idiot. Come here." With that, she opened her arms wide, a clear indication for him to come hug her. He did so dutifully without complaint.

Hermione could feel him almost melting into her arms and her heart went out to him. She knew that he had been pretty stressed the past few weeks. Daphne had come into the School a couple more times since her initial visit and somehow, Harry had managed to evade her every time. She knew it was only a matter of time until they both met, because for one, he couldn't keep hiding at his own school and it's just not possible that Daphne didn't know who the School belonged to. The minute Harry announced its opening, the media had gone bonkers and the School was the only thing on every front page was quite some time. Even now, if there was anything significant revolving it, like a big donation (though Lord knows how they'd get a hold of information like that) or a charity gala for it, it still hit the front page.

That just went to show how much people were still obsessed with Harry, even though almost 6 years had gone by since their 'Savior' had defeated the Dark Lord.

Daphne, however, was proving to be a pain in the ass. Not Harry's, never Harry's but for Hermione and to an extent, Sirius. Either she was trying to very hard to ignore him, which is why she hadn't confronted him yet and it did sort of make sense she would bring her son there because there was no other Wizarding establishment of that kind, or she was dropping subtle hints that she wanted to meet him, or more. Either way, she was sending very mixed signals. And Hermione didn't like it.

In fact, she was kind of hoping Daphne would come in during this time that Harry was out of the country and she would be manning the School. She was also hoping that it was her that Daphne encountered and not Sirius, because, well, that just wouldn't be good for her overall health.

And much as Hermione didn't like Daphne right now, she would also not want her to disappear without a trace.

Much too soon, in her opinion anyway, Harry moved back, a wry smile on his face. Before he could speak, though, Hermione cupped his face in her hands tenderly. Her brown eyes searched his face, coming to rest on his emerald green eyes that were always so expressive. Right now, they were radiating love, and tenderness, and excitement, and just a tiny sliver of fear.

"Promise me, Harry, promise me that you'll enjoy this week," she whispered, not needing to raise her voice with how close they were.

"Promise me that you'll remove any thoughts of her from your head and just live your life like you used to three years ago. That you won't let her ruin this for you. Because, Harry, I know why you stopped travelling and I know why you settled down so quickly and so rapidly, and it wasn't just because of the School."

"Promise me." Her fingers tightened ever so slightly, not enough to make a significant difference but enough that it was clear to Harry how deeply she felt about this.

Harry looked at her without saying anything, just examining her. After a few moments, he spoke, his voice deep and filled with emotion.

"I promise, Hermione. I promise I'll do everything I can to enjoy this, and I won't think about her."

Hermione closed her eyes and breathed in relief, a weight she didn't know was pressing down on her released from her chest and she felt lighter.

She didn't say anything. For her, words were redundant right now and she had said all that she had to. She merely reached up to place a tender kiss on his forehead, their roles somehow reversed.

Harry stepped back again, but this time he ran his knuckles down the side of her face. This moment was passionate, and emotional. It was much needed.

"Thank you, Hermione, for everything. You'll always be first in my life, regardless of whatever happens with her," he murmured, eyes soft with love.

Hermione smiled, realizing with a start that she needed this reassurance. What was even more surprising was Harry had noticed it before her.

Their friendship had always been closer than other best friends, physically and emotionally. They weren't just friends, and they were more than family.

'They were just Harry and Hermione,' she thought affectionately, 'there was no other way to put it.'

A sudden knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts. "Mione? Everything all right in there?"

Hermione blinked, before opening the door to reveal Sirius, a slightly concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" she replied.

"It's just, you were in there for a long time," Sirius squinted his eyes, looking her over for a few moments. "You sure you're okay?"

Hermione laughed, wrapping her hand around his and leading him away. "Yes, my love, I'm completely okay. Now, how are the little terrors?"

"Don't call them that," Sirius lightly admonished her, though she could see the amusement dancing in his grey eyes, " You know how it boosts their ego."

Hermione snorted, "Lord knows we don't need more of that."

Sirius hummed, agreeing with her but not saying anything else for they had reached the courtyard, where all the kids, ranging from 4 to 10 (The age range would've gone up to 16 had it been Summer Break, where the older full-timers would be back as well) were doing something or the other, under the watchful eye of Bree.

Not that there was any cause for worry, of course. The area was saturated with protective spells of all kinds from over the globe. A kd could fall face first onto the ground from fifty feet up and not have a scratch on him. Yes, that was the lengths Harry had gone to to ensure his kids wouldn't get hurt.

This time, Sirius stayed back to chat with Bree while Hermione decided to go and play with the youngest group of the whole lot. The four and five-year-olds.

Since it was just before lunchtime, they had both the full-time kids and the day school kids and it was adding up to a cool 150 kids. This particular group had about 25. The number of orphans, to their relief, had starting decreasing as the years increased, but at the same time they were getting more and more kids for day schooling all the time, which was a great thing. It meant things were changing and that was the reason the School was started.

After spending a good hour just playing around and letting her inner child come out, which, she could admit she rarely did, and feeling refreshed and exhausted at the same time, everyone went into the dining room for lunch.

Lunch was always an interesting affair at the School. There was a buffet system, which was quite extensive by any standard of measure, and anyone could get what they wanted. If anyone had any health restrictions, they were provided a band that just disallowed them from taking certain items. It was an anchoring rune with a localized Notice Me Not charm which was actually quite creative, Hermione thought with pride, remembering all the research and trial and errors that had gone into creating it.

It did mean that no kid accidentally ever ate peanut butter or drank some milk and broke out in rashes, though.

After lunch hours- which was always from 1-3 pm- were over, at around 4, there would be a snack station set up for anyone who wanted to come in and have a bite. After a couple hours, this would be removed and by 7 there would be a dinner spread ready.

It was a highly efficient system that had come about after months of trials and mistakes, because neither of the three had any idea how to deal with kids and the small technicalities of running an establishment like this.

And since both Harry and Sirius had enough in their vaults to sustain the next fifteen generations, plus if you include the sheer number of donations and grants they were getting, they didn't have to worry about the financial aspect of it at all. They were here to provide a safe haven for kids, and they did so with world-class services without any regret.

"Gabriel! Gabriel!" Hermione suddenly heard Bree call out. Her eyes widened when she recognized the name. Could it be-?

She turned around hastily, just barely avoiding the tiny 4 years old sitting beside her. Her eyes scanned the large room for Bree's pitch black hair and zeroed in on the small baby she was holding in her arms.

He had blonde hair, just as Harry had said but it was a shade darker than Daphne's. Even though she was quite far away, she could see that he had inherited his mother's famous icy blue eyes. Although, she couldn't imagine him having as many shields up as Daphne, seeing as he was only only 3.

Which brought her to her current confusion. He looked much too small for a three-year-old.

Over the course of the past three years, Hermione had seen quite a lot of toddlers and infants. And from where she was standing, Gabriel barely looked like he was two. Which was a problem.

She knew it couldn't have been genetic, at least not from Daphne's side. Both her parents were healthy, and tall and she had seen a couple baby pictures of Daphne, courtesy of Harry, and she wasn't anywhere near small.

As for the father…Just thinking about it made Hermione gulp anxiously. Although she didn't want to think about it her mind did stray towards Harry.

Harry had always been on the smaller side, both in height and weight. He had always had a slender frame, with lean muscles and Hermione was pretty sure his body didn't even know what bulky meant. But, she, and Harry, had always put that down to his despicable treatment at the hands of the Dursleys, rather than anything genetic. Because James Potter was a huge, bulky guy and Lily Potter, while slender, wasn't anything to laugh at either. She had a good frame, and wasn't in the slightest bit 'skinny'.

So it was logical for her to conclude that the malnourishment that Harry faced in this growing years, along with living in a cupboard was the reason for his apparently stunted growth. Plus, his baby pictures agreed with her. He was a healthy, normally growing baby in his first year when he was with his..parents.

These thoughts brought a pang to her heart. She could never think about Harry's pre-Hogwarts years without some form of sadness and anger. Sadness, at how he had to live and all the misfortune that seems to befall him, and anger at how the Dursleys treated him.

Quickly shaking them off, for she knew she wouldn't be able to come out if she lost herself to them right there, she quickly decided that if Harry was Gabriel's father, which she still thought was unlikely, his small, almost malnourished stature wasn't genetic.

That meant that it was on purpose, and the thought made Hermione's brown eyes momentarily flare in anger. Despite who the child was, the thought of anyone starving him, or god forbid abusing him, did not sit well with her, and if she found it to be true then Merlin save the person who did it.

She did have to think of another possibility, though, she thought as her thoughts cleared slightly.

Harry wasn't Gabriel's father. In which case, there was still the possibility that the kid had a genetic propensity towards being on the smaller side. And Hermione didn't know what to think of that.

On one hand, the possibility that he wasn't being abused, whether intentionally or unintentionally, made her feel relieved but the on the other hand, that meant the baby wasn't Harry's, which could mean only two things.

Either Daphne was cheating on him and got pregnant, hence the abrupt departure, or she found someone as soon as she had disappeared and gotten herself pregnant.

Hermione didn't like either of those options.

Taking a deep breath, she decided she would go over and introduce herself to Gabriel, who seemed to be very shy, which wasn't very uncommon, but so shy that he wasn't even looking in the direction of anyone and only listlessly moving his food around on his plate with his fork. That, in Hermione's experience, was never a good sign. Even shy kids managed to make friends with others similar to them, that's just how kids were. One tentative smile and a shared pencil and they were proclaiming each other best friends for life, that's just what they did.

So this was troubling, and she wanted to understand why. She wanted to help him, even if he was Daphne's kid. She couldn't project her hatred for that woman onto her son, that was just..cruel.

So with a determined look in her eye, she got up but before she went over to Gabriel, she decided to tell Sirius what she was doing.

"Siri," she called out. He was in the midst of some ten year olds, animatedly waving his arms around and in the midst of what looked like a story. He immediately turned at the sound of her voice with a questioning look on his face. She cocked a thumb behind her in an indication that she wanted to talk to him. He immediately turned back and from the disappointed look on the kids' faces, told them that he had to talk to her and would be back.

He walked over to her, questioning look still on his face.

"What's up, Mione?" he asked.

"Uh, I was thinking," she started hesitantly, not quite sure how to word it., "that maybe I'd go and talk to Gabriel. Daphne's son," she added when she saw that Sirius didn't realize who she was talking about.

Immediately comprehension dawned on his face, following by a dark frown marring his features. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"If I want to talk to Daphne soon, yeah," Hermione replied, inadvertently telling him more than she had originally planned to. She mentally facepalmed, cursing herself. She hadn't wanted to tell Sirius anything about her wish to talk to, or rather confront, Daphne until she had actually done it. Lord knows how he would react. She didn't even want to think of what would happen if he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"You what?" he whispered, his voice going dangerously soft.

Hermione scowled. "Sirius, stop. Don't do that. I can take care of this and I do not need you interfering."

Sirius' eyes flashed. "Hermione, you know why I'm saying this-"

Hermione cut him off with a raised hand. "I know, and I'm still telling you, you need to stay out of this. For no one's but Harry's sake. While I'm not a fan of Daphne either, I'm not going to do anything to her and you can't look me in the eye and tell me that you can do the same." She stared expectantly at Sirius, one foot lightly tapping the floor.

He had the decency to look slightly ashamed at her words, losing his defiant posture. He rubbed the back of his neck slowly as he thought over her words. Finally, his shoulders slumped and he let out a defeated sigh.

"I know. I know you're capable but I still worry, you know that right?"

Hermione's features softened. "And I truly do appreciate you for it, but I think everyone needs this, don't you? Harry, most of all. And I'm not going to tell him to go and talk to her, not when he's finally gotten better."

Sirius nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't dream of doing that, in any case. If you can believe it, I think I actually support you doing this. Everyone does need the closure."

Hermione let out a small sigh of relief. While she would've gone ahead with her plan even if she didn't have Sirius' approval, it did make her feel better that she did.

She leaned forward to peck him on the cheek, enjoying the stubbly feeling. She could feel Sirius smiling as she pulled back.

"I'll see you, yeah?"

He nodded, grey eyes now twinkling with something she couldn't quite decipher. But she didn't dwell on that as she set her sights on Gabriel.

She would figure this out before the week was up, just watch.

Okay, since it's been a long time, I just wanted to clear this up.

Daphne has a son, his name is Gabriel and he's about 3.

It's been almost 3 years since Harry started the School, and the War was 6 years ago. Even though I've written a pretty complicated timeline down, it's still confusing to me :3 But yeah, don't hesitate to ask if you have any doubts about this!