When Hermione Granger discovered her pregnancy just days after the final Battle of Hogwarts it wasn't as big of a shock as you might think.
She remembered the night Ron left she and Harry in the tent vividly, and for that reason she knew her friends could never find out the true parentage of her child.
They'd think she'd taken advantage of Harry and hate her, and Harry was in love with Ginny- Hermione couldn't ruin his memory like that...
...so she took a leap of faith.
She found out through a mutual friend of Theodore Nott and his struggle to prove his innocence in the war to the Ministry.
When she contacted him asking to meet for tea, she was surprised by how quickly he wrote back with his acceptance.
The day they sat down for tea, she asked what he was willing to do to clear his name and when he told her he would do anything, she made him an offer he greedily accepted.
She offered to come forward with claims of a secret relationship between the two going as far back as their fifth year, in exchange for his last name.
He knew what a relationship with War Heroine Hermione Granger would do for him and his reputation, she would singlehandedly clear his family name.
After he accepted and told her he'd happily make her a Nott if it meant he'd be free of the ministry and their constant accusations, she told him why she wanted his name.
She told him of the child blooming to life within her and that after doing some digging she found out he was a first cousin of Harry Potter, which is why she chose him.
He had the same untamable black hair that anyone with a bit of Potter in their blood had, but he also possessed a striking pair of green eyes which he had inherited from his fathers family.
Once she'd finished explaining she gave him the option to take back his agreement, but he didn't.
He was smarter than that, he knew that by marrying the witch he would clear his name with the ministry...
...but when word got out she was with child, his child, there would be no doubt that he was uninvolved with Voldemort and his followers.
So that very evening the two were married at the ministry, Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas standing in as their witnesses.
Their wedding night had been a formality, they'd shagged- but only because Hermione knew someone had tipped Rita Skeeter off and she was undoubtedly nearby.
The next morning it'd been plaster all over the papers, the news of their marriage, and I'd didn't take long at all for her to begin receiving letters.
One from George, stating that it should have been Fred, but since it couldn't be that he was happy she was finally happy.
One from Ginny, congratulating her and asking for details of the wedding night.
One from Ron, telling her off for disregarding his feelings entirely and how disappointed Harry would be in her.
Theodore had watched as his wife tossed one of the three letters into the fire and replied to the other two, but not the two he expected her to reply to.
She'd told the owl to take her responses to George Weasley and Ginny Weasley, and suddenly he knew that things were changing rapidly for her.
The months leading up to the birth of their baby, her baby, were just as much chaotic as they were calm.
Somewhere between month one and two of marriage he'd asked her on a date, stating that if they were stuck with each other they should try and make it work.
He didn't want to be stuck in a loveless marriage for the rest of his life, and he didn't want the child growing within her to ever question his parentage.
So they began spending more time together, getting to know each other more.
He quickly discovered it wasn't that hard to love the Gryffindor Princess and she found herself falling in love with the Shy Slytherin.
By the time September rolled around and they were invited to return to Hogwarts to redo their seventh year the pair were truly in love.
In the four months after the final battle he'd gone from a boy to a man, a man who had eyes only for his wife.
McGonagall had given the two their own private quarters to live in, the entrance tucked securely behind newly erected portrait of the late Fred Weasley.
Theodore knew that Ron hadn't been the only Weasley brother in love with Hermione, and would wager handsomely that if Fred hadn't died she'd have ended up with him.
The pair of them began spending all their free time together, either studying or bickering about baby names.
When they returned home for the winter holidays they discovered that their child would be a boy...
..which lead to them spending the entire month of December preparing the baby nursery, with the help of Luna Lovegood and her fiancé, George Weasley.
Before the returned to school she made the decision to tell George the truth about their sons biological father, and he'd taken it better than expected.
He didn't curse or yell at Hermione, he didn't blame her at all.
He understood that during the war emotions ran high and that he wouldn't tell anyone the truth.
When they returned to school in January she looked ready to burst, but it wasn't quite time for that yet- they had another month of waiting to do before meeting their child.
Just days before she birthed their son, they finally decided on a name for him.
Demetrius Harrison Nott.
He was born a little after midnight the 12th of February, 1999.
Even though he'd given them much anxiety during the two extra weeks he'd decided to eat before entering the world, it was love at first sight.
Hermione Granger, now Nott, knew she'd do anything and everything for the bundle that rested in her arms.
Theodore Nott knew that he was a father, no matter what the family trees would say, and that he would die to protect his son if need be.
Three months after the birth of Demetrius Nott his Mother and Father graduated from Hogwarts as his Auntie Luna cuddled him securely in her arms.
Shortly after graduating Hermione and Theodore both landed jobs teaching at Hogwarts.
She taking over the position McGonagall left behind to become Headmistress.
He readily stepping into the shoes of his late potion master.
Two years after taking on their teaching positions the Nott's welcomed their second child, their first born daughter, called Opal Luna.
And three years after that a set of twin daughters they named Scarlett Jade and Hazel Sage.
As the years went on Demetrius Nott grew into a young lad within the walls of Hogwarts alongside his little sisters, the three of them growing to know the castle than any student in attendance.
When the time rolled around for the eldest Nott child to begin his first year of schooling it came as no shock to his Mother when he was sorted into Slytherin.
As the years went on his sisters joined him in Slytherin, and they became as close as ever.
He became their knight in shining Quidditch Robes when they experienced their first heart breaks, defending their honor and even once getting into a fist fight with Evandrus Flint.
They were his shoulder to cry on when his first girlfriend, Arrow Davies, cheated on him his fifth year.
The day he graduated was an emotional moment for the Nott family, it marked the end of the Nott quartets reign over the house of Salazar Slytherin.
His parents watched him grow from infant to man and couldn't hav been prouder of the son they raised.
They watched him get accepted into the Auror Program and become one of the best they'd ever seen.
They watched as he slowly fell in love with Apple Wood and asked her to become his wife.
It wasn't until his first born child was born did he ever question his parentage, how could he not.
His daughter had been born with dark red hair, and as far as he knew neither he nor Apple had any relatives with red hair.
The day he confronted them about it they told him the truth, and even though he was upset he'd been kept in the dark his entire life he told them it didn't matter.
Theodore Nott would always be his father, even if biology said differently.
Theo and Hermione spent the rest of their lives watching as their children grew older and began families of their own.
And when the time came for death to take them, they went willingly and without fight.
The day they arrived to the afterlife they were greeted by their friends and family, and one grinning Harry Potter looking exactly as he did the night he died.
"I suppose I need to thank you, Theodore."
He had said, stepping forward to embrace the man.
"Thank you for raising my son when I couldn't be around to do it myself."
(First year Demetrius Nott pictured at top)
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