It was going to be a big day. Hermione knew it. Her and Ron's divorce had become official the day before, and they were getting everyone together to make the announcement tonight.
Hermione's work was almost finished. As she prepared to leave for the day, she practiced the speech in her head. She prepared an answer to every question she could imagine them asking.
"When did it happen?"
"A couple years ago, after we saw a counselor and it still wasn't improving."
"Why did you wait until now to tell us?"
"We knew there was no saving it, and we didn't want you to try."
"How will you split everything?"
"It's already taken care of."
Yes, Hermione knew, as she Apparated from the Ministry to Grimmauld Place, that it was going to be a big day. But she would never have guessed it's ending.
~ooo~
Harry waited in his living room for Ron and Hermione, along with his children and theirs, wondering exactly what he was waiting for. All the others wondered the same thing aloud, but very few suggestions were offered. Nobody could seem to think of anything that would be important enough to gather them all here.
Ron and Hermione arrived together, but Harry could clearly see a difference in their behavior. Everyone had instinctively arranged themselves so that the couple could sit together. Ron and Hermione took the seats that had been left for them, but still sat at an awkward distance. They didn't touch or even look at each other. Then again, they didn't really look at anybody. Both were looking at the ground, not knowing how to start.
Hermione sighed before she began to talk, knowing that she would be doing all the talking. "I know you're all wondering why we're all here. Well," she paused, "Ron and I have something to tell you."
Everybody raised their eyebrows expectantly.
Hermione sighed again. There was no easy way to do this, so she might as well just rip the bandaid off. "We're here to tell you that... We got divorced."
For a moment, they were all stunned into silence. Rose was the first one to say anything. "It's not official yet, is it?"
"Yes, it is," Hermione told her.
"But that takes a long time," Hugo piped up. "How did you keep it a secret for so long?"
"The same way we kept it a secret the whole time you were growing up." Ron spoke, to Hermione's surprise.
"You were broken up when we were kids?" Rose cried.
"Not the entire time," Hermione said, trying to comfort her daughter. "But for some of it, yes."
"I don't believe this!" Rose shouted, rising from her seat and running from the room.
Hermione shook her head. Comfort never was her strong suit.
"I'll go make sure she's okay," Lily said, jogging up the stairs after Rose.
~ooo~
"Rose?" Lily called, not sure where the girl had gone. "Rose?"
"In here," came Rose's voice from down the hall.
Lily found her in the bathroom that was connected to Harry's bedroom. She was clutching the edge of the sink, breathing heavily and looking sweaty and pale. She offered a weak smile when Lily entered. "Sorry. This was the first bathroom I came across."
"It's alright," Lily said."I think my dad has a potion for things like this. Do you want me to find it?"
Rose nodded. "Yes, please."
Lily nodded and turned back into her father's bedroom. Where does he keep that stuff? she wondered. She checked the nightstand, and sure enough, there it was, in the top drawer.
If she had been a little less vigilant, she might not have even noticed. But underneath the bottle was a piece of parchment - which Lily may not have thought anything of if she hadn't recognized Hermione's handwriting.
Her eyes widened as she read the letter.
When was this letter written? There was no date, but it was clearly old. How long had they been hiding this?
"Lily?" Rose called from the bathroom.
Lily hastily shoved the letter back where she found it. Rose was shaken up already, this was the last thing she needed.
Lily hurried back into the bathroom and handed Rose the potion. "You should probably only have a bit of that, it's pretty strong."
Rose nodded and took a sip. She sat down on the closed toilet lid. "It's ridiculous, isn't it? That they kept it from us for so long."
Lily sat on the edge of the bathtub. "I know... " She muttered, thinking about something completely different.
"Honestly, I'd rather they just told us. What favors did they think they were doing us by lying to us?"
"They probably just thought you would be happier if you thought they were."
Rose shook her head. "But now that I know they were suffering the whole time, I can't help but feel like it's my fault."
"It's not."
"Deep down, I know that. It's just..." She did something between a sigh and a laugh. "Why can't people realize they don't like each other before they reproduce?"
Lily laughed. "That's true." She paused, making her expression serious again. "Are you gonna be okay?"
"I think so."
"Good," she offered a smile. "So, are you ready to go back down?"
Rose sighed and stood up. "Ready as I'll ever be."
And together, they braced themselves to face their families again.
~ooo~
An hour or so later, the meeting drew to an end. All of the details had been disclosed. Hermione was going to keep the house and Ron had gotten his own apartment. They were on good terms. It was all okay, it really was.
Everybody left around the same time except for Lily. Harry wondered why, but he didn't ask. He supposed he shouldn't complain about any extra time his daughter wanted to spend with him. When he went to his bedroom, he found her waiting there for him. His heart skipped a beat when he saw what she was holding.
"Dad," she said calmly, "can you explain this to me?"
"Where did you find that?" he asked, reaching for the letter, but Lily held it away from him.
"In your drawer."
"Why were in my drawer?"
"I was looking for your Soothing Potion for Rose."
Harry instantly regretted moving the letter from his office to his nightstand. He had assumed it would be safer there now that he had the house to himself. Clearly he was mistaken.
"Give it to me," Harry said, grabbing at the letter again, but Lily snatched it out of his reach.
"...if we do end up together somehow... or even if we don't, I just want you to know that no matter what, I will always love you." Lily read out loud. She turned to look Harry in the eye. "When did she write this?"
"Ages ago. For all we know, it doesn't even apply anymore," said Harry desperately.
"Always," Lily said. "It says so right here." She pointed at the word. Harry took this opportunity to take the letter, but his daughter was too quick for him.
Harry sighed. "It doesn't matter. The entire point of the letter was to say that we couldn't be together."
"...if we do end up together somehow (which is not impossible - we've undoubtedly learned by now that life really is unpredictable)..." Lily read out loud again. "Dad, don't you understand? It is possible now!"
"No, it's not," said Harry firmly, finally successfully taking the letter - though, to be honest, it was mostly because Lily didn't try to keep it from him this time.
"Yes, it is! It just became official tonight! The woman you love literally just came over to tell you that she's single!"
"Yeah, me and five other people."
"Dad, it must have killed you to have to hide it for that long. There's nothing stopping you now."
"There's plenty of things stopping me, actually."
Lily knew exactly what he meant. "Dad," she said, her voice level, "Mum's been dead for three years now. You can move on now. She'd have wanted you to."
Harry shook his head. "It's more complicated than that."
"Dad-"
"Goodnight, Lily."
Lily recognized the tone of his voice. It only made the occasional appearance - he didn't like using it much. It was his "Dad Voice." It was the voice he used when she misbehaved as a child. It was the voice that meant the conversation was over.
"Goodnight, Dad."
A/N: I'm so sorry about the super long stretch between updates. There's no good excuse other than that I didn't have any ideas for a really long time. But anyway, I finally got an update, and I plan to put up another one very soon. Months without a single idea, and now they're endless. Welcome to the life of a writer. Anyway, sorry for the wait, and I hope you enjoyed the update!