Shadow - Sequel To Light

Chapter Seventeen: Shadow

After finding my parents and discovering that their adopted daughter, my sister, was kidnapped, Harry called back-up and took us home. I had needed to be away from the scene. I couldn't stand the sight of my parents, just laying there, their life drained from them. I had done so much in the past to keep them safe, keep them from death, and now they were gone. To top off everything, I had to find my sister now. She might not know me or care but she was now the last thing connecting my parents and I, I was going to find her.

As soon as Harry got me back to the Burrow, he carried me up to our room and laid with me while I wept. Through my sobs, Harry held me. I let the shadow of pain and loss swallow me but Harry was there for me the entire time, holding me tight. He was the light, breaking through the shadows to pull me out. I remember him saying once that I had been his light, in those moments of agony, he was mine.

I resurfaced from the shadow sometime after mid-day and I hated myself for not being able to cry longer, hated myself for already having accepted their absence from my life so much that this wasn't as painful as it should be. I was hurt that my parents were gone but I wasn't devastated the way other people would say I should have been.

In some ways, I felt it was understandable that I wasn't as broken as expected. I had let them go long ago and I had moved on to starting my own family and being accepted into another. As much as I loved them, the more I contemplated it, I realized that I would probably be hurt much more if it had been Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that had been killed. They were my parents now, despite never giving birth to me.

When I finally came to the realization that, though I loved my parents, I had already accepted their loss so many years ago and had let others in, my tears drifted away. Downstairs, I could hear my family moving about as my emotions stabilized. There would be no question about finding my parents killer, I would do that. However, I had a family right there, right down the stairs, that loved me and was a part of me now. Logic won over emotions and I was able to sit up in bed, drying my eyes.

"Alright, love?" Harry asked for the millionth time.

"Yeah, I will be. I just.., I need to be with the babies and the family. I need to be with you." I murmured.

"I'm sorry about how this all went, love. For all I know, I'm the reason they were found. If I hadn't wanted to help you reconnect with them, they wouldn't have stayed out of danger."

"We don't know that, Harry. This guy seems obsessed with me, he would have done his research on my past. Their memories and records might have been gone but mine weren't. He could have found out from multiple sources. This wasn't your fault." I insisted, reaching up and stroking his hair. "We're going to find their killer and take care of him. We're going to get my sister back and take her in. We're going to do all that and, you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because it's what we do. We find evil and we defeat it. You're 'the Boy who lived' and one of the greatest wizards alive. I'm known for being one of the brightest witches of the time and I'm a pretty good witch, if I say so myself." I grinned and Harry let out a tiny chuckle. "We combat evil and that's all their killer was. We'll get him, just hold on to that. I am." We were silent for a long moment, just sitting there together, then a knock sounded on the door.

"Come in." Harry called towards the door. Mum peeked her head inside, pushing through the door with a tray of tea and biscuits.

"Oh, Hermione, dear, I'm so sorry about your parents. I've been trying to keep from coming up here but I needed to make sure you were alright." She immediately gushed, sitting the tray aside and pulling me into her arms.

Despite everything, the second she pulled me into her arms, tears came again. Not because I was that broken and I was losing the plot, no. I cried because being in her arms felt so much like home, like what my mother used to feel like before I left. The shadow of despair threatened to consume me, a punishment for not mourning as I should.

"We'll ensure we give them a proper send away, dear. They were a part of you which means they were a part of this family as well." Dad said from the door, alerting us to his presence.

Not only was he there but the rest of the clan was there, children included. The second he moved a little, the young Weasley's flocked into the room and laid against me, breaking mum and I apart.

"Please don't be sad anymore, Auntie 'Mione." Chorused my little nieces and nephews.

I giggled at the way they said my name, some of them too young to say the whole thing. I hugged all of them close, giving out kisses and a watery smile. The shadow pulled back, accepting defeat at the hands of my family.

"Alright, you lot." Percy smiled, patting my leg gently and shooing the young ones. "Let's give your aunt some breathing room. I know two little ones that need her more right now." He smirked, nodding his head behind him to where Draco stood, holding fussing Lily and James in his arms. I was shocked to see him here, specifically because this could blow his cover officially.

"What are you doing here, Draco?" I asked as he came to give me the babies.

"I was willing to risk it for my mates and Godchildren. I was originally just dropping by for the anniversary but, when they told me what happened, I decided it might be best to stay." He explained, passing the babies over.

"I made some calls within the Ministry and got him a covert passage here through the Floo systems." Percy insisted. "Nobody's cover is getting broken on my watch." He smiled, patting Draco on the back.

"Thank you all, it means so much to me that you lot are here for me." I smiled, cooing down at my babies, the two tiny pieces of my heart that lived outside of my body. I looked up to Harry, the third piece outside of my body, and he kissed my forehead.

"We'll always be here for you, dear. It's what we do, it's what families should always do." Mum smiled, brushing back my hair and kissing my forehead. "Now, you just rest as long as you need and we'll be downstairs when you feel like coming down." She grinned, standing and gesturing for the family to file out. Soon, it was just Harry, the babies and I there, sitting silently together.

"What else did you have planned for today? My parent's time difference would have allowed us to visit them and come back with plenty of time to finish our anniversary." I found myself asking, curious as to what my husband had planned before everything had taken a turn.

"It was nothing special, love. The biggest thing had been going to see your parents, the rest was just going to be a bonus." He shrugged as though it didn't matter but, for some reason, it mattered to me.

"I want to know." I insisted, adding a "Please" when he hesitated.

"I was going to bring you back here to get changed into something more elegant and I made plans for us to have dinner at your favorite museum. We were set to have a private tour together then we were moving to the dinner."

"How did you accomplish that?" I gasped.

"I called in a favor or two and the family pitched in. Everybody wanted you to have a good anniversary, love." He gave me a half-smile.

"Who says I can't?" I surprised both of us by asking. "I don't mean I'm going to completely forget that my parents were killed but I think that cancelling our anniversary is going to hurt me. I don't want to look back on our very first anniversary and remember nothing but sadness. I don't want this shadow of pain and hurt to linger over us today and the rest of our marriage. If we stop pushing for happiness every time something bad happens then we lose." I ranted.

"Alright, love." Harry stopped me when I paused to take a breath. "If you truly would like to finish our day then we can. I haven't cancelled anything yet so I'll just check to make sure all is right." He grinned, kissing my forehead. "You rest here with these two while I'm gone." He smoothed my hair back behind my ear, kissed the babies and I and left the room. The second he was gone, the dark cloud threatened to invade the light he and the babies had put back into my world but I fought back. I wasn't going to let the shadow of my hurt linger over my family. I would fight tooth and nail before I let it consume me.