Harry Potter and the Forgotten Secrets

Ch. 7 ~ Selfish Ron

Ron’s POV

Finally, a long holiday. Family, great food. Everything I ever wanted was right here, and I never wanted to leave. Goodbye Hogwarts, goodbye ‘muggle college,’ hello laziness. Yeah, that was the perfect life for me…if only I could get Hermione to feel the same way. I looked over at her where she had set up her computer and was emailing our assignments to the muggle school. No getting out of that one…Dumbledore insisted we continue from the Burrow. Of all the bloody, insane…anyway…I smiled as Hermione came over and sat on the couch.

“Finished,” she said with a smile. “All of our week’s worth of lessons has been sent to our professors.” She laid her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her.

“Good,” I said, releasing a sigh. “Now maybe we can have a small break.” I was reading the newest Daily Prophet to see if there was anything on Voldemort. 35 pages and not a single word on You-Know-Who. “Nothing today, Harry.”

Harry smirked from his position in front of the fire. “Good, glad to hear it.” He was reading something and Hermione tried to see what it was.

“What is that, Harry?” she asked.

“It’s some records from Durmstrang,” he said, turning the page. “I’m trying to find Lara’s records.”

“Why?” Hermione and I asked together. I tried not to laugh at our ‘twin’ moment.

“Because I have to know why my fiancé won’t tell me her last name.” He flipped the page again.

I chuckled, a disturbing thought coming to mind. Should I verbalize it? Oh, heck, why not? “Maybe she’s Riddle’s or Malfoy’s heir.” I received a small punch from Hermione on the shoulder. “Ow!”

“Be nice.”

Harry flipped the page again. “Here it is!” he said, suddenly sitting upright. “Lara Mary Black…” His voice trailed off, and I was shocked.

“Black?” Hermione asked, a confused look on her face. I was wondering the same thing. Harry nodded. “Are you sure?” He nodded again.

“The year fits. And the first name index says she’s the only Lara,” he said, skipping to the back of the book.

“I didn’t know there was such a thing,” I said.

“Neither did I,” Harry said. He was starting to get quiet and his face was getting whiter by the second. If I knew Harry like I thought I did, he was hurting. I took a quick glance at Hermione. I felt a little guilty that I knew exactly who she was, and Harry didn’t know who Lara was. I looked back at Harry as he closed the book and set it on the fire ledge. “How….why….how could she….” He stopped as the door opened. Lara and Mum had just come back from the store.

“What a mad house. Muggles everywhere.” Hermione and I stood up to go and help. We both took bags from Mum and followed them into the kitchen. “Oh, thank you dears. How was your day?”

I set my bag on the counter next to Hermione’s. “Good. I got our homework sent to the school,” Hermione said to Lara.

“Oh, good,” Lara said, dropping the armful of bags she had. “I’ve been so worried about our biology homework.” Hermione smiled weakly at her. “What’s the matter?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Hermione grabbed my arm and I chose to stop. “Lara…can I talk to you in private?” Hermione asked. Yes, this was best. I nodded, kissing Hermione on the cheek. I walked back to the couch where Harry still sat, staring into the fire.

“Hermione and Lara went to talk,” I said cautiously, not really sure what Harry’s reaction was going to be. I hadn’t seen him this quiet since he and Hermione lost their child. “Harry?”

Harry seemed to snap out of his trance and looked up at me. “Where’d they go?”

“Out on the porch, but I don’t think we should interrupt. Let Hermione talk to her first.” Harry leapt up from the couch.

“Bloody hell, Ron! This is my fiancé, my fiancé who lied to me! What in bloody hell makes you think I’m just going to let her get away with this!” His eyes had turned a dark shade of green, and he looked at the open kitchen door that led to the porch. He went towards it and I followed quickly. This could get bad.

Harry stopped before the door, listening to them to find the right time to make an appearance.

“He what?”

“Is Sirius your dad?”

I had a slight view of Lara, who nodded, tears starting to fill her eyes. She ran a finger through her hair. “I wasn’t allowed to tell you. I wanted to so much…” She was sobbing now, and I heard Hermione sniff. Girls. “You have to believe me that I wanted to tell you.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Harry said, walking outside. I followed closely behind him, shrugging my shoulders and giving an apologetic look at Hermione. I walked over to stand beside her and she gave me a small smile wiping her cheeks.

Lara turned and took Harry’s hand. “Oh, Harry…I wanted to. Mum made me promise that I wouldn’t…as well as Dumbledore.”

“Lara, I don’t even know who you really are. How did you expect me to know who I was marrying if you didn’t tell me who you were?” He paused, and Lara stood silent. “So, you’re really Sirius’s daughter?” Lara nodded, and I looked down at my shoes. Not exactly pretty, but I didn’t want to see what was going on.

“I didn’t know him. Mum told me of him of course, but he was in Azkaban all my life…and then…” she trailed off, finding it hard to finish. I saw Hermione look at me out of the corner of my eye. “What was my father like, Harry?” This made my head snap up to watch and a light seemed to go off in Harry’s head. He knew Sirius…and his only daughter didn’t. Harry wrapped his arms around her and she began to cry.

“Lara…” Harry couldn’t seem to find the right words. Hermione looked at me and we smiled at each other. It was time for us to leave. I took Hermione's hand and we went into the house.

“Everything okay, dears?” Mum asked when she spotted us standing by the kitchen door.

“Did you know she was Sirius’s daughter?” I asked her. I was a little annoyed that my own mother kept something like that from me.

“Oh, dear.” Mum seemed frightened by this question. “Oh my.” She turned to look at the clock that would tell her where the rest of the family was. Dad was en route home. “Oh dear.” She turned and walked up to her room.

“Well, of all the bloody messes, this has to be the worse,” I mused. Obviously we had found out something that they didn’t want us to know of. Hermione raised an eyebrow at me and I smiled at her innocently. I couldn’t wait to get her alone so I could have my way with her.