Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and characters belongs to J.K. Rowling, unfortunately not me.

A/N: Thanks to all the favorites, follows, and reviews! The moment we've all been waiting for, folks :)

Chapter 22

The day that Harry had been both counting down to and dreading was finally upon them. It was the day that his children were going back to Hogwarts. To Harry, this also meant that today was the day he would sit down and ask his wife for a divorce. Every time he thought about it, his heart would speed up both in excitement and panic.

"Albus, Lily, James, you need to get down here, or we will be late!" Ginny called up the stairs, jarring Harry out of his thoughts. He sighed quietly, sensing the tension rolling off his wife in waves. He had a feeling that she knew what was coming tonight and was not at all happy about it.

"One minute!" Albus called back, as his siblings came running down the stairs. Ginny huffed in frustration.

"Gin, why don't you take James and Lily, and I'll be there in just a minute or two with Albus," Harry suggested.

Ginny paused for a moment before nodding and gathering the two children to her. A moment later they Apparated away with a pop. Albus soon made his way down the stairs with his trunk in tow. "Did they leave?"

Harry nodded. "I told them to go ahead. I wanted to talk to you for a minute."

Albus grimaced slightly. They hadn't had a chance to talk, just the two of them, since the night in Malfoy Manor. "I won't mention anything to James and Lily."

"Well I'm glad, but that's not what I wanted to talk about. I got a letter from Draco this morning with some new information about New Year's Eve."

Albus's head fell. "I can't believe Scorpius told him," he mumbled sadly.

"Hey," Harry said gently, reaching out to lift his son's chin. "I don't care that you were drunk. I would prefer that you don't make it a regular occurrence, but I understand. I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Albus smiled and hugged his dad. "Thanks, Dad, and yeah I'll be okay. I guess I feel less alone after the other night."

Harry returned the hug with enthusiasm. "I'm glad. If you ever feel alone like that again, you can owl me anytime, okay?"

Albus nodded as he pulled away from his father's embrace. "We should go before Mum loses it." Harry chuckled and held out his arm for his son to grab. Albus paused for a moment and added in a conspiratory whisper, "Keep me updated on what's going on with you and Mr. Malfoy. You don't want me to hear everything from Scorpius."

Harry laughed and agreed, holding his arm out once again. Albus grabbed on, and the pair Apparated to the closest apparition point to King's Cross Station. When they stepped through to Platform 9 ¾, the Hogwarts Express was already there waiting. Ginny spotted them and gave Harry a murderous look. "You are lucky you made it," she hissed as they stopped next to the rest of the family.

The next few moments were filled with hugs and a chorus of goodbyes as the three children rushed onto the Hogwarts Express to meet their friends. As Harry and Ginny turned to go after the train pulled away, Harry's eyes were drawn to the gorgeous, blond man that had recently occupied most of his thoughts. Within seconds, Draco turned to meet his eyes with a small smile. Harry returned the smile and gave him a subtle wave, not wanting to draw any attention to the interaction lest Ginny notice and yell at him some more.

They made their way to the apparition point in uncomfortable, tense silence. When they found themselves in their living room, the couple simply stared at each other. Harry knew that now was the time, but he couldn't figure out where to begin. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, hoping that inspiration would strike once he started talking, but he was cut off by Ginny. "I know what you're going to say. As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. We're not working anymore, and I don't think there's anything that's going to fix that. You want a divorce, right?" Ginny said flatly, no emotion on her face.

Harry's face fell in despair, but he nodded. "I'm so sorry, Gin. I wish things were different, but they're just not…" He trailed off, not knowing what else to say to adequately describe how he felt.

"And you've found someone else haven't you?" There was still no emotion in her voice.

Harry felt the blood drain from his face. "Why would you say that?" he rasped.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm not blind, Harry. I've seen the signs. You keep disappearing for hours at a time, sometimes overnight. I know you've been out fucking someone."

Harry swallowed roughly. "I haven't slept with anyone else, Ginny."

"But you're seeing someone," she shot back.

Harry shook his head helplessly. "Not exactly. I have found someone that I intend to pursue once our divorce is over, but we haven't really been seeing each other."

Harry watched as Ginny fell apart in front of his eyes. She slid to the floor, sobs wracking her body. Harry had no idea what to do so he slid down and pulled her into his arms. "I'm so sorry, Gin, so sorry," he soothed, rubbing her back gently. She continued to cry into his chest, and Harry felt a few tears roll down his cheeks as well. How had they gotten to this point? Where did everything go so wrong?

Several minutes later, Ginny pulled back wiping her tears off her face. "Who is she?" Her voice was back to emotionless.

"Does it really matter?" Harry asked, trying to stall.

"Yes. I need to know."

Harry nodded curtly, avoiding her eyes. "It's, well, it's… Draco Malfoy," he mumbled quietly, stealing a glance at Ginny.

Ginny stared at him in shock, mouth falling open, before collapsing in a fit of giggles. Harry had thought about this moment many times over the last couple weeks, but this is the last response he had expected. Because of this, he had no idea how to respond. "I'm sorry," she gasped, falling back into raucous laughter once again. "It's just...it just makes so much bloody sense! I can't believe this didn't happen years ago."

Now it was Harry's turn to gape. "What?" he blurted.

"All that hate? All those fights with the two of you rolling around on the ground, despite the fact that you both had wands? You basically ran on sexual tension all through school. I'm just surprised I didn't see it sooner."

"Well," Harry began carefully. "You may have played a small role in it."

At that Ginny snapped her head up. "What do you mean?" she asked tentatively.

"You accused me of being obsessed with him, and after that I was obsessed with your comment. I mentioned it to Draco once, and it freaked him out. Astoria divorced him because she thought he was in love with me," Harry admitted quietly.

Ginny nodded slowly. "Well, as much as I should be appalled that I played a role in your affair-" Harry opened his mouth to argue with the classification, but Ginny continued, "in a weird way, I'm glad. Plus, this is much better than you falling for some young, hot woman."

Harry chuckled weakly. "I want you to know that I never meant to cheat on you, and we only kissed twice. That's as far as it ever went."

"It's okay, Harry, or at least it will be. We haven't been happy in a long time; we just didn't notice because we were so preoccupied with the kids."

"I really thought you'd be a bit more...angry," Harry admitted sheepishly.

Ginny let out a quiet giggle. "Me too, but I just think I'm too tired to be angry anymore. I've been angry for so long. I'd just like to start moving on, you know? Plus, I don't want our children to be torn between the two of us. They've seen enough negativity already."

Harry pulled his wife, who wasn't going to be his wife much longer, into another hug. "Thank you. I agree. So what happens now?"

"Well, as much as I would like to move on, it's not something that will just happen overnight. I think I may need some space," she said sadly, pulling away to look at Harry's response.

"I completely understand. You can stay here; I'll stay at Ron and Hermione's."

"Well," Ginny began, biting her lip. "I'd like a few days to process everything before we tell our kids and the family. If you stay at Ron and Hermione's they'll know something's up. Why don't you ask Mal-um Draco if you can stay with him?"

Harry stared at Ginny in shock. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Ginny gave him a small smile. "Go get your man, Harry. I'm going to be just as sad no matter where you stay so you might as well be happy. Plus, I just can't face my family right now."

Harry nodded in understanding. "If that's what you want. I could always stay at the Leaky if you'd prefer it."

Ginny shook her head adamantly. "Go see Draco later. We'll take a few days, and then we can talk about telling everyone." Harry tried his best to hold in his smile, but he wasn't very successful. "You really like him don't you?"

Harry's grin grew. "Yeah, Gin, I really do. Also, I should let you know...Al already knows about the divorce."

Ginny glared at Harry. "And how the bloody hell did that happen?" Harry winced and told her about New Year's Eve, ending the explanation with a sincere apology. Ginny sighed but the only thing she said was, "So our son is gay, huh? Like father like son."

Harry stuck his tongue out childishly. "Thank you for being so cool about this, Gin."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go pack and find your man before I start crying again."

Harry gave Ginny one last hug before doing just that.