Chapter 11

A/N: I know this chapter has taken a while to get out. I'm really sorry about that. I blame it on the wonderful stories that I've been reading. There will only be an Epilogue left. Please, read and review. Thanks again to the almighty RobisonRocket -- Without you, I'm not me.

Chapter 11

Severus stood in the doorway of the bedroom that Grace occupied before she was old enough to attend Hogwarts as a student. He silently reminisced about the precocious child she had been with an entire castle to explore. He smiled when he felt arms reach around him from behind.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"I was just thinking," Severus replied.

"What were you thinking about?"

"That when Grace was merely seven years of age, she could have greatly contributed to that bloody Marauder's Map," Severus said with a derisive chuckle.

"Very true," Hermione said absently. "She should be arriving any moment now. Devon said he would bring her here straight away. It will be nice having her here with us, even though it will only be for a short time."

"I'm pleasantly surprised she decided to stay here," Severus said thoughtfully. "I thought you were going to have to put up a fight, but thankfully, she was agreeable that this would be the best place for her to recuperate."

"Well, I reminded her that she couldn't do anything on her own yet, and she can get immediate medical attention if she needs it," Hermione said.

"And her mother is here to baby her," Severus added dryly.

"Ha – ha – ha! You are too funny; but, yes, I plan on fussing about her for as long as she'll let me," Hermione said, causing Severus to chuckle.

"What is taking that boy so long?" Severus asked grumpily.

Hermione rolled her eyes and detached herself from her husband. She walked around him to sit on Grace's childhood bed. "Don't you think you're being a wee bit impatient, Professor? Gracie had to take the train; Neville's orders, remember?"

Severus gave an agitated groan. "I still don't see why we couldn't ride with her."

"Because, darling, she wanted some time alone with Devon. He is her affianced, if you recall. Just be glad she's decided to put the wedding off for a while – otherwise she'd be recuperating under his watchful eye instead of yours."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Miss Granger," Severus grunted.

"Oh, come now, Severus, lighten up a little. She will be fine," Hermione said cajolingly.

Suddenly, there was a resounding knock coming from the large, oak door.

"That's her," Severus said as he bounded to the door with Hermione on his heels.

Just before he opened the door, he stopped to straighten himself, but Hermione playfully elbowed him out of the way and pulled the door open.

"Gracie!" Hermione bellowed and through her arms around her daughter.

"Hello, Mum. Ugh! You're suffocating me," Grace said jovially.

"Well, come in, come in. You too, Devon, come in. We'll have a cup of tea," Hermione said.

As they entered the foyer of the Headmaster's residence chambers, Grace came face to face with Severus. "Hello, Dad," she said quietly, suddenly shy.

"Hello, my dear," Severus answered and then strode forward to take Grace into a gentle embrace. After he let her go, he gave a curt nod to Devon before silently bidding them both to follow him into the sitting room.

"Thank you both for letting me come back here to recuperate," Grace said, slapping Devon's hands away as he tried to help her into a chair.

"You don't have to thank us, Grace; you're our daughter. It isn't likely that we'd turn you away," Hermione said, setting the tea tray down.

Devon immediately reached down and poured Grace a cup of tea, adding two sugar cubes. "Here you are," he said, handing her the cup.

"You have got to stop fussing, Dev. You're driving me mad," Grace said, rolling her eyes.

Severus and Hermione watched the exchange in amused silence. The silence stretched on after Devon sat down next to Grace and sipped his own tea.

"So," Hermione began. "Have you two set a date, yet?"

Grace and Devon exchanged a furtive glance. "Actually, we were hoping to do it next month. I should be fully recovered by then, and we can do it here in the castle. That is, of course, if the Headmaster is agreeable," Grace said with a gentle smirk toward Severus.

"Oh, how lovely," Hermione beamed. "Of course, he's agreeable. I can help you, you know. I've never been terribly gifted with decorating, but I can call upon some old friends of mine who are fantastic. Let's not forget your Aunt Ginny: wicked with charms, that one. And, Luna, of course," Hermione added quickly.

Grace nodded her head absently, which caused a frown to crease Hermione's brows.

Severus studied his daughter for a moment. "What is the matter, child?"

Grace exchanged a glance with Devon, who gave her hand an encouraging squeeze and said, "Tell them, Gracie."

Grace gave him an appreciative smile and took a deep breath. "Mum, Dad, I need to tell you about some things that happened while I was unconscious."

Taken aback, Severus and Hermione simultaneously leaned forward.

"I saw my father; I spoke to him, actually," Grace said softly without meeting their eyes.

"What do you mean you spoke to him?" Hermione asked concernedly.

Grace looked her mother in the eye and repeated herself with more confidence. "I spoke to him, Mum. My memory of the exact circumstances is a bit hazy, but I remember everything we talked about."

Hermione shrank back in her chair. "I don't understand," she whispered to herself.

Severus, on the other hand, was looking closely at Grace, but spoke to his wife. "Hermione, listen to her; she will help you to understand."

Grace narrowed her eyes at him. "You understand, don't you?"

Severus nodded his head slowly. "I have never had the experience, but I've heard it takes a very magically gifted person to have such an encounter with someone who has passed on. I believe you must also hold a strong bond of sorts with the person whom you connect with. I would guess that you saw him as he was before he died – still a young man."

"Yes," she agreed simply. "He looked to be in his late teens."

Hermione let a tear slide down her cheek. "He was twenty-two," she said quietly.

"Dad, he wanted me to tell you that all debts have been paid in full and that they have been for a long time," Grace said. She had decided not to tell him that she'd witnessed his breakdown in the graveyard. "He was very thankful that you didn't leave him alone in the clearing that day," she added.

Severus looked down at his hands and gave a slight nod.

Grace looked pointedly at her mother. "Mum," she said gently.

Hermione, still gaping at her daughter, started a little, "I'm sorry, honey, this is just so much to take in."

"Listen, Mum, he had a request for you as well."

"H-He did?" Hermione said nervously.

"He said there is a letter that he wrote you the night before the Final Battle. He wants you to let me and Dad read it," Grace said with a crack in her voice.

Hermione paled. A part of her didn't want to believe what Grace was telling her. She wanted to think that it was all just a dream or something, but Grace didn't know, she couldn't have known, that the letter was from her father; she had never told her what it was. She stood with her knees shaking and left the room. Only a moment later she returned, clutching a box.

Devon started to stand. "I think I'll go to my own quarters for a while, Gracie. This is a family thing here."

"For which you will soon be a part of," Hermione stated calmly. "Please, stay."

Devon gave a slight nod and sat back down next to Grace.

Hermione held the box in her lap. "I didn't want to believe it was possible that you saw your father, but, I'm glad that you did. It fills some sort of gap, you see. One of the hardest parts about losing Ron was that he would never get to meet you. I'm glad that you had the chance, however strange it was, to finally come face to face with him. I should have shown you this letter a long time ago, but I just couldn't. This letter was the first and last thing he ever wrote to me." Hermione finished with a brief cough to disguise her tiny sob.

She took a deep breath and continued. "Severus, you of all people should have read this letter ages ago. I owed it to you to share it with you, as you have shared so much of yourself with me."

"Hermione, I understand why you didn't show it to me. That letter was something of Ron that was yours and yours alone. You don't have to show it to me now if you would prefer," Severus said uncomfortably.

"Nonsense," Hermione said. "I need to let you read it. I think it would finally give me some closure of some sort."

With shaking fingers, Hermione opened the box on her lap. She took out a wrinkled piece of parchment and handed it to her husband. "Would you please read it aloud? I don't think I can."

He nodded and gently took it from her, allowing his hand to caress hers for only a moment. He opened the letter carefully so as not to disturb its fragile creases. Many years of handling delicate potion ingredients allowed him the intuition to handle the aged letter with just as much care and concentration.

He glanced at his audience briefly before clearing his throat to read the familiar scrawl of the Gryffindor student whom he'd been forced ridicule and the man whom he'd befriended, albeit too late. Severus felt a tinge of pain and guilt as he began to read in his melodic tone:

Dear Hermione,

Ronald B. Weasley

Silence filled the air as Severus folded the letter carefully and handed it back to Hermione. He met her eyes and was shocked to discover that they were dry and she was smiling.

Grace, on the other hand, was sobbing into Devon's shoulder. He had a tight grip on her and gave his future in-laws an apologetic smile.

"Gracie, there is no need for tears," Hermione said gently.

Grace extracted herself from Devon and glared at her mother. "Maybe not for you, Mum, but you've read that letter hundreds of times. Those were my father's last words, and he spoke mostly about me and his love for me. I needed to hear that. I needed to hear that a long, long time ago. My entire life, he's been part of my imagination... an entity that I couldn't grasp. You've told me that I know him because I know myself, and I'm just like him. But, you don't understand what I've needed all this time. I've needed something from him that you couldn't give me, and it was in that letter all this time," Grace finished bitterly.

Hermione's smile had faded the moment Grace began to speak. She looked down at her hands guiltily.

Severus sat up calmly. "Mr. Malfoy, would you kindly escort my wife down to the kitchens and ask the house-elf, Dobby, to make her a strong cup of tea? I need to have a word with my daughter."

"Yes, sir," Devon said with a soft squeeze of Grace's hand. He stood and offered his arm to Hermione, which she took without looking at either Severus or Grace.

Once the door had closed behind them, Grace began to defend her comments, but Severus held up a hand to stop her.

"I believe you've had your turn, child; it is my turn now," Severus said without a hint of emotion.

He stood from his seat and walked to the fireplace. He took the decanter of Firewhiskey off of the mantle and poured himself a drink, not offering one to his daughter. He returned the decanter to the mantle, but did not return to his seat. Staring into the fire, he seemed to be mulling over his words. Finally, when he spoke, it was in his low, velvety voice, and again, free from emotion.

"When you were born, your mother was a terrified child of only twenty-three-years of age. Your father was not just her beloved, he was her dearest friend. Before you accuse her of being a selfish witch, you should know her story. She did not have the opportunity to finish her time at Hogwarts because she, along with your father and godfather, were in the midst of hunting and destroying pieces of the Dark Lord's soul. Quite a sad turn for the cleverest witch of the age, wouldn't you say?"

Severus didn't wait for a response, and Grace knew he wasn't really asking for one. So, he continued.

"It took approximately four years of hiding, spying, and... soul searching before it all came to an end on that fateful day. The war was over, Grace, when your father was murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange. Imagine what your pregnant mother went through when I brought her a body and a knapsack. I cannot describe the pain and devastation that she underwent. It was enough to kill her, but she forced herself to be strong for you, thereby, not taking time to mourn his loss. That letter and you were all she had left of Ronald Weasley. After your birth, she clung to you for dear life, and the letter was forgotten for many years. I don't believe she ever took it out again until I saw her with it on the day of the anniversary party at The Burrow."

Severus heaved a sigh and walked back to where Grace was sitting. He knelt down before her and, after wiping a stray tear from her cheek, grasped both of her small hands into his larger ones. He spoke lovingly, as if she were still a small child.

"You must understand something about your mother, my love. She wanted nothing more than for you to know your father; however, she wanted you to find him inside yourself. The words spoken in that letter were merely words. The true love that he had for you is all around you: Your mother, the Weasleys, your godfather, and all of those who loved him. They have given you much more of Ronald Weasley than a piece of wrinkled parchment could ever give you. But, that wrinkled piece of parchment and her memories are all that Hermione could hold onto. She had lost so much on that battlefield that she deserved to have something that would only belong to her. If you believe she was selfish, then perhaps she was in a way. However, she has spent her entire life as a giving friend and a loving mother to you and your brother, and therefore, I don't believe you or anyone else has the right to make her feel guilty for not sharing a single piece of parchment. If you feel that you will find more comfort in that letter than you have found in the eyes of so many who knew him and loved him, then perhaps you haven't looked hard enough."

Grace crumbled to the floor and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you so much, Dad. You're right, as usual."

Locked in an embrace is how Devon and Hermione found them. The moment Grace spotted her mother, she stood steadily from the floor and was in her mother's arms in an instant.

"I'm so sorry, Mum. I never should have said those things – I don't know what came over me," Grace sobbed.

Hermione soothed her daughter with soft words of love and forgiveness. When Grace had finally calmed down, Hermione walked to the table and picked up the letter.

"Here, darling, I want you to have this," Hermione said kindly.

Grace shook her head. "No, Mum, it belongs to you."

Hermione took Grace's hand and placed the letter inside her palm and closed her own hands around Grace's so that the young girl would have a firm and understanding grasp on her father's words. "This letter never belonged to me; I know that now. I was just keeping it safe until you were ready to have it. I truly believe that's what Ron intended all along, which is why he told you to read it. His love for you was the strongest he'd ever had for anyone, and that's saying something. And, just in case you didn't notice, it was Ron who gave you your name."

At Grace's puzzled expression, Hermione gestured for her to open the letter. Hermione pointed to the untidy scrawl of the last sentence of the second paragraph. Grace smiled peacefully at the words: Our baby is God's grace, and it goes to show that there are some things greater and more powerful than magic.

Grace beamed up at her mother. Hermione wiped an errant tear from her daughter's face and turned away from her to retrieve the box which had held the letter for so many years. "There's something else that you deserve to have," Hermione said, as she strode back to Grace, clutching the box.

She opened the box and Grace's heart hammered in her own ears when she set her eyes on the slender and well-worn sliver of wood that Hermione withdrew from the box.

Hermione held Ron's wand firmly in her hand for a moment. "It contains one unicorn tail-hair," Hermione said as she handed the wand to Grace.

As soon as Grace took the wand, it emitted a spark, which caused her to giggle. "Unicorn tail-hair; just like mine," Grace said astounded.

Hermione smiled at her. "Yes, my love, just like yours."