Chapter Text
He sat there stroking her hair. She had cried herself to sleep. The girls at her school had been particularly evil today. Torturing her far beyond normal about the fact that she didn't have a mum. They have claimed this time that her dad was so bad he had run her off to start another family, because how could she love her when, after all, she was half of her father.
He leaned down and kissed her brow. "Sleep well, my little flower."
He got up and walked out the door, closing it behind him. He walked down the stairs into the living room where he was greeted by the closest thing he had left to father in this world... or the other.
"Did she finally fall asleep, Harry?" asked Dan.
Harry plopped down on the sofa with a sigh. "Yes, not that anything I said did her much good. She knows what happened to her mom in the sense that she..." Harry paused; he could hardly ever say the word. It tore him up inside, and it tore Dan up, too. After all, she was his daughter. "In the sense that she's no longer here, but that doesn't change the fact that those girls are evil for even suggesting anything else."
Dan folded his paper and stared at what he considered a son-in-law across the living room from him. "You're right, Harry, they are evil. All we can do is tell her that she is loved by us and was loved by her mother. One day soon, you'll be able to tell her why she died, what she died for, and who she really is. Hopefully, you'll have raised her well enough for her to understand why you hid it from her. HEY OW!" Dan yelped as his wife cuffed him in the back of the head.
"Of course, Harry has raised her well enough to understand that Dan." Emma chided him. "Harry, you have done a marvelous job raising her. I know it's been hard. I remember some of the challenges of raising Hermione."
Her name brought on a cold, pregnant pause to the conversation. Emma shook her head and tried to bring back the mood. "We have some leftover cake. How about a slice and some tea before we are off to bed?" She looks at both her husband and son.
"That would be lovely, dear," Dan responded. Harry just nodded. Emma gave a slight smile and retrieved the cake and tea. They enjoyed their sweet nightcap and bid Harry a goodnight.
He let out a long, low sigh and began to think to himself. There wasn't much he could do about the girls at school. One, she was far too independent to allow her father to go and have a discussion with the teachers about how she was being treated. Harry chuckled to himself, a trait she no doubt had inherited from him. Her mother was always the one to get the proper people involved. Two, even if he went to the teachers, there wasn't much they could do. As it stood, it was she-said-she-said. Harry sighed again. Hermione would know what to do if she were here. Harry chuckled and then started to cry. If Hermione were here, this wouldn't even be an issue.
Harry heaved himself off the couch, grabbed his cup and plate from the coffee table, took them to the kitchen sink, and began washing them and the other and setting them in the drainer to dry. Harry stared out the kitchen window. The night was fairly clear, and the moon was very bright, which allowed him to examine and think back on so many events from the life he had left behind. He closed the blind, turned out the light, and made his way up the stairs. He paused at the first door and ran his fingers over the name that decorated the door.
"Soon, my little flower. Everything will make sense soon. Goodnight, Holly, I love you." He whispered to the door. He patted the door once, then pushed off and made his way down the hall to the room. He closed his door behind him with a soft click, changed into his sleeping pants, and lay down in his bed, turning off his bedside light he turned to look at the photo of Hermione sitting next to his bed. She looked as sad as he felt. "Soon." He reaffirmed in his head.