I do not on Harry Potter.

…. 3 Months Later ….

Harry woke feeling rested, something he was slowly getting used to every day. He stretched in bed before turning towards the French doors that lead out to the beach. He motioned towards them and opened the curtains wide, letting the sunshine in before motioning again to open the doors wide, letting the sounds of the ocean in. His hair fluttered in the breeze as it rushed through his room. He reached for his glasses and fluffed his pillow before resting his head down again. He could see Rose and Sera out on the beach, playing in the sand and smiled. This vacation was exactly what they needed. They had already been here for a month and each day he could practically see Rose heal more and more. And it had been just as restorative for him as well. He was so focused on finding the girls, then helping them through the aftermath that he had not realized how much he had been affected by what happened.

After the trial he had tried to resign from the Ministry, but the Minister insisted he take a leave of absence instead. He was sure he was done but the Minister didn't want him to make a rash decision. He asked Harry to take a year off instead and if he still felt he wanted to retire after that then the Minister would accept his resignation. They had argued the point back and forth for over an hour and Harry, just wanting to get out of the damn building, finally agreed to the year off.

They had initially returned to everyday life, all heading back to the school. But while Lily had flourished, Rose had not. Lily enjoyed being around her friends again and she was so excited to join the Unspeakables that she was eager to learn everything she could. It was Lily that forced him to acknowledge things he wasn't ready to and he thought back on that difficult conversation…

"Dad?"

"Yeah Pumpkin?"

"We need to talk."

Harry stopped reviewing papers at his desk and looked up at her, "What's wrong?"

"Can you…I need you to listen. I mean really listen."

Harry stood and moved towards her, "Okay." He sat down on the couch and focused all his attention on her and nodded for her to begin.

"I'm doing okay."

Harry smiled and said, "I know, I can see it."

"I have Isabella and Raine and we're learning the coolest things. Plus, on the weekends I get to see Scorpius… things are just going well for me."

"I'm glad, sweetheart."

Lily moved to sit next to him, looking at him earnestly, "But Rose isn't happy here."

Harry frowned, immediately getting ready to deny her claim but she grabbed his hand stopping him before he got started. "Dad, she's not happy here. Trust me, I just know it."

Harry sighed in acceptance, so Lily continued, "She's only here because you and I are. And you're only here because I am."

Again, Harry tried to speak to deny it, but Lily shook her head at him, "It's true and you know it."

"It's important to me that you finish school."

"I know… And so does Rose. That's the only reason why she's here. You wanted me to finish school and I wanted her with me so now she's stuck here, miserable."

"She's not…"

"She is Dad. Before everything happened, she was so excited to turn 17 and model full time. She wasn't even going to finish Hogwarts she loved modeling so much. And then she literally gave up everything for me… her career, her freedom, her body… all to find me. Do you have any idea how that feels? To have someone literally sacrifice themselves for you?"

"Yes," said Harry softly.

She was about to deny his claim then quickly shut her mouth remembering his mother, her grandmother, literally died for him. "Sorry, I…"

"It's okay, sweetheart," he replied, squeezing her hand.

"I just feel so much pressure, like this burden is weighing on me, to make it up to her somehow, to make sure it wasn't all for nothing. And I can see how miserable she is here. She hates being in classes, hates being away from Sera, hates being away from you. She never smiles during the day unless she's talking about Sera. Did you know they keep asking her to model again and I know she wants to, but she always says no. And I just know I'm the reason."

"Lily, sweetheart, you can't let yourself feel responsible for Rose. You both have to find your own way to recover from this."

"But I'm keeping her from recovering!"

"I don't think that's true."

"It is! And you're all blind to it! Everyone is so focused on us finishing school that no one is stopping to see if that's what we really want!"

"Lily…"

"We didn't take an extended fucking vacation Dad. We were brutalized for months. Who gives a shit about OWLs and NEWTs! Shouldn't everyone care more about us recovering?"

Harry's eyes flashed angrily, "I care very much about you both recovering. Don't you dare sit there and tell me I don't."

"Then help me help Rose, Dad."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, okay. What do you need help with?"

"You need to take her and Sera away from here. Away from me."

"What do you mean, like on a vacation?"

Lily shook her head, "I mean take her somewhere far away, for as long as she needs, until she can recover, until she figures out what she wants to do."

Harry shifted, "I'm really not comfortable leaving you Lily."

Lily sat down and grabbed her father's hands, "Please, Daddy. It's going to be hard enough convincing Rose to leave me. But if somehow, I could convince her to take Sera someplace nice, would you really be comfortable letting them go alone?"

Harry sighed, "Not really. But maybe Hermione could go with them?"

Lily shook her head, "Dad, you have to face the fact that you and Rose, you have to figure out how to raise Sera together. Like it or not, you have a child together."

Harry glared at her, "I love Sera."

"Yes, but you don't love her mother. You act like her mother is a burden that you have to put up with!"

Harry spluttered, angry but unable to formulate a response before Lily continued.

"The Rose that was your niece is dead. What she did to you, what she went through for me, having Sera, she's a completely different person now and you need to figure out how to have some sort of relationship with her, even if it's just for Sera's sake."

Harry sat back, stunned, "I don't know what to say."

"…"

"I certainly didn't intend to treat Rose like she was a burden."

"I know."

"And I do love her… it's just…"

"Complicated?"

"Yeah," replied Harry chuckling, "a bit."

"Don't you see, Daddy. Getting away from here, just the three of you, could allow you time to figure things out."

Harry ran his hands through his hair, "It feels like you're trying to set me up here, Lily. I don't know that I'm capable of giving Rose what she wants from me."

Lily shook her head, "I swear that's not what I'm doing, Daddy. I just want what's best for Rose and you are the only other person besides me that can comfort her. If I'm going to convince her to leave me for a bit to take care of herself it will be easier if she knows you'll be there with her."

"But what about you?"

"I'll stay here at school and keep taking my classes and training. Isabella, Raine and I are going to try and take our exams in a few months. Jason said if we don't do well, then we can just study more and take them again since they setup our schooling differently than Hogwarts due to our," she made air quotes, "extenuating circumstances," she finished with an eye roll.

"And you feel safe here?"

"Yes, Daddy," she replied smiling.

"Do you think you'll still feel safe when neither Rose nor I are here?"

"I don't know but I think that's the whole point of separating us. I need to learn how to manage on my own too."

Harry sighed and leaned back, thinking out loud, "I'd have to find someone to take over the school, take over my classes. I'm already on leave from the Ministry so that's set. Hermione is not going to be happy about any of this. She'll tell me I'm walking away from my responsibility to the school and these girls, again. Never mind that I'd be taking her daughter and granddaughter away from her. And James and Kristine just had their baby, what kind of grandfather does that make me just taking off like this?"

"Daddy calm down. We can all come visit on the weekends if that will make you feel better."

"Oh. That's a great idea, Pumpkin. Do you think that's too much to ask of James and Kristine? But I really don't want to miss seeing the baby, she's my favorite granddaughter after all."

Lily laughed and said, "Charlotte's your only granddaughter, Dad."

"And hopefully it'll stay that way for a long time," said Harry under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. Assuming you can convince Rose, and I can make a plan for the school, and Hermione doesn't kill us, then I guess that just leaves finding somewhere to go and a place to stay?"

"Sounds about right."

Harry was broken out of his memories when he heard giggling.

Rose was standing in the doorway, a giggling Sera on her hip.

"Morning sleepyhead."

"Hey, good morning," replied Harry, sitting up against his headboard, extending his arms for Sera.

Rose smiled and came into the room, barely able to hold onto Sera as she tried to throw herself into Harry's arms.

"How's my Princess doing this morning?"

"Dada!" she yelled as she was embraced in his arms.

Harry blinked in surprise, then smiled broadly, "Who's the smartest girl in the world? You are, Sera! Yes, I'm Dada." He looked up at Rose to see she had covered her mouth with her hand in surprise, but she was smiling too.

"Dada! Dada! Dada!" she squealed over and over again.

Harry pulled her close and kissed her face, "Dada loves you, Sera."

Rose moved closer and kissed Sera's face, "Such a smart girl, Sera. Mama loves you too."

As she pulled away Harry grabbed her hand and squeezed it, smiling at her as she stepped away from the bed. "I'm going to take a quick shower to get all this sand off me, then we can floo Mom and Lily and tell them all about Sera's first word!"

"Who do you think is going to win the bet?"

Rose laughed, then replied, "Probably Lily but since no one would tell us what word they bet on as her first word it's hard to know."

"They'll probably come over today just to hear it for themselves," said Harry smiling.

"Definitely."

Once Rose had disappeared down the hall Harry asked Sera, "Who am I?"

"Dada!"

Harry smothered her in kisses in response, "Good girl!"

He got out of bed and carried Sera to her room, gathering what he needed before taking her into her bathroom and starting a bath for her. "You have sand all over you too, Princess."

"Dada!"

He smiled, sure that he would never tire of hearing that.

"Let's get you cleaned up for Mama."

"Mmmm…mmmm…"

"That's right Sera. You keep trying. Mama. Mama. Mama."

"Mmmm…mmmm…"

"Good girl," he said as he lowered her into the tub and crouched on the floor next to it. "Ugh, my knees. I'm getting old."

"Dada!"

Harry smiled as he washed his daughter, enjoying how happy she was. She was babbling on and on in a language he couldn't understand but he kept smiling and encouraging her. And every few minutes she would shriek, "Dada!" causing him to nearly burst from happiness.

An hour later he found Rose in the kitchen cutting fruit up for Sera. She smiled at them and said, "Are you all clean now, Princess?"

Sera clapped her hands and gurgled in response.

Harry kissed Sera's face before he placed her in the highchair next to the island.

Rose placed the cut-up fruit in front of Sera while Harry filled a bottle with watered down juice for her.

They both sat down at the island and watched Sera happily eating.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in this morning," said Harry.

"No problem. I feel like I'm finally on some sort of normal schedule again… It's been a lot harder than I thought it would be… sleeping alone."

Harry reached over and squeezed her hand in support.

"I know I fought this tooth and nail when Lily first suggested it, but I think she was right. I needed this to find myself again."

"I'm glad."

Rose turned towards him and said, "You never did tell me what she had to do to convince you to do this? I'm sure you didn't just agree…"

Harry frowned and said, "Why do you think that?"

Rose shrugged and said, "Because I'm sure you didn't want to leave her."

"Sera's my daughter too," he replied, evading her question.

Rose stood to leave, and he grabbed her wrist to stop her, making her cringe. He quickly dropped her wrist and said, "Sorry. I shouldn't have…"

She shook then rubbed her wrist, moving away from him, "It's fine."

"It's not. I have no right to touch you."

Rose rolled her eyes

"What?" he snapped

"Nothing."

"It's obviously something," he replied, irritated.

She clenched her jaw to keep from yelling at him, then looked to see Sera had finished her snack. "All done, baby?"

Sera was practically falling asleep in her highchair, so Rose wiped her face and hands before taking her out of the chair. "Let me put her down for her nap, then we can talk," she said to Harry, not even bothering to look back at him.

Harry covered his face with his hands, frustrated. They had been like this since they got to the beach house, always avoiding confrontations, and skirting around whatever it was they were. He cleaned up the kitchen while he waited.

"Want to sit outside," Rose asked, waving the baby monitor at him.

"Sure," he said following her.

They sat down on the lounge chairs on the beach, just in front of the house.

"So, are we finally going to talk about us?" she asked

"You tell me."

"You don't owe me anything Harry. I don't want your pity," she snapped.

"What are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "Please, spare me. The way you act around me… it's like I'm some kind of burden you're stuck with!"

"I do not!"

"You do. I appreciate the thought, but I can take care of Sera, you don't need to stay."

"Rose, I know you can take care of Sera," but Rose cut him off before he could finish, "It's not like I'm going to keep her from you Harry, we can share custody of her, so you get to spend time with her too."

"What? Rose, don't be ridiculous…"

"Maybe we can just have her spend a full week with one of us then switch so that we each get her two weeks a month but we don't have to go two weeks straight without her because I'm not sure I could handle that much time away from her," she continued to ramble.

Harry was starting to feel sick to his stomach the more she talked. Finally, unable to take it anymore he sat up and moved towards her, grabbing her hands with his to get her to stop talking. She looked up at him teary eyed and he said, "Rose, please, stop talking about sharing custody."

She looked down at their hands and he squeezed them again.

"Just, let me talk for a minute, okay?" he asked.

She nodded, still not looking at him.

"You are not a burden. Do you understand me? I'm sorry if that's how I've made you feel. But I don't want to share Sera back and forth with you. I want to be with Sera every day, not just half the time."

She looked up at him confused, "But how?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, I'm trying to figure it out, but this is hard for me too."

"I don't know if I can keep doing this, Harry…"

He frowned, "What do you mean?"

She narrowed her eyes and motioned between the two of them, "I can't keep being your roommate! Sometimes you treat me like I'm an ex you wish wasn't around, other times you treat me like your niece, then once in a while you look at me, really look at me and it feels like you see me, the real me but then it's gone and I'm just left thinking it was my imagination."

He sighed, "I'm trying, Rose, I am."

She shook her head, "But what are you trying to do? That's what I don't understand. Do you just want us to coparent?"

"Isn't that what you want?"

Rose shook her head, "No! That's not at all what I want!"

Harry frowned, "I don't understand."

Rose stood and started pacing in front of the chairs, "Merlin, you can't imagine how many times I've cursed myself for what I did to you."

"Rose, not this again, we've been over this," said Harry frustrated.

"Let me finish!"

He clenched his jaw and motioned for her to continue.

"I can't get it out of my fucking head! The way we were together, the way your touch set me on fire, the way you cared for me while I was pregnant, even when you didn't know. It's like a fucking curse. I'm never going to be satisfied with just coparenting. I want it all with you. And I know it's more than I deserve, more than I have a right to ask."

"…."

"Which is why I'm telling you we can't keep this arrangement up much longer; I can't take it. Just let me recover and try to move on. Maybe one day I'll find someone else that can make me feel that way again."

"Rose,"

She shook her head and wiped the tears from her face, "No, don't apologize. It's my own fault. But I didn't expect to fall for you…"

"…."

"I'll be fine. I'm going to start modeling again and that will keep me busy, plus Sera, I won't have much time for a love life. And the thought of someone touching me, besides you, makes me want to vomit anyway."

Harry stood. Clearly, she wasn't going to stop talking anytime soon. He moved forward and pulled her into his arms, surprising her. He lifted her chin with his hand until she looked into his eyes.

"Rose, please, just stop talking for a second."

She snapped her mouth shut, eyes wide in surprise.

"Just let me try to respond, okay?"

She nodded.

He moved both his hands to her arms, still holding her but only lightly in case she wanted to break away, "I remember it too, the way we felt together. The way your touch sent tingles throughout my body. And after the bonding, how soothing it was to just be in your presence."

"…"

"And I think I've sort of locked away that one night with you and the ritual as something that happened with another person. Trying desperately to pretend that it was a one-night stand that gave us Sera, but that will never happen again. Something that happened because we were desperate to find Lily but would have never happened under normal circumstances. And because I can't handle facing that it might be more than that, you're left feeling like a burden, like you don't mean anything to me. And that, Rose, couldn't be further from the truth. I'm terrified of what could happen if I just stop fighting..."

"Harry…"

"I'm sorry, I never meant to make things harder for you," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers.

"It's my fault for getting us into this mess," replied Rose.

"We're beyond that now, Rose. We agreed," he replied sternly.

"I know. But wow, what a mess I made," she chuckled.

He squeezed her arms and kissed her forehead, "But we're going to move forward, right?"

"Yeah…"

He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms lightly around her, as she placed her head on his chest, snuggling under his chin.

"So, we're okay?"

"We're okay," he confirmed.

"I'm not your ex. I'm not a burden. And I'm not your niece."

"No, you're not," he replied, heavily, as if knowing what she was going to ask next.

"Then what am I?"

He was quiet for a good minute before he replied, "You're the mother of my child, you're very important to me and you make me happy."

She smiled against his chest and asked, "And?"

He huffed then finished, "And I'm still trying to figure out how to adjust my life to this new development."

"If it makes you feel better, I don't have it figured out yet either," replied Rose, looking up at him.

He smiled down at her fondly.

"But I can tell you that when I think about a time in the future, when I'm more recovered, when I'm ready, you're the only one I can even imagine ..."

He swallowed hard, then nodded once, unable to respond verbally.

She didn't pressure him for more, simply happy to have had this long overdue talk. It would still take a while for them to adjust to each other in this new dynamic, but it was a start. Sighing in relief, she rested her head on his chest again, enjoying the comfort he provided.

After several minutes he said, "Hey, your birthday is coming up. Is there anything special you wanted to do?"

Rose groaned and said, "Can we just pretend it's a regular day and do nothing?"

Harry frowned and said, "You don't want to do anything?"

Rose shook her head, "I don't exactly have fond memories from my last birthday party."

Harry hugged her tighter and said, "But your actual birthday wasn't the day of the party. It was before the party. In fact, I believe you spent the night with a devilishly handsome man."

Rose smiled and said, "Did I?"

"You did."

"Hmm. Are you sure? I don't remember that."

"I'm sure. In fact, I'm also sure our Princess was conceived that night. And surely, that's something good to remember from your last birthday."

Rose smiled and squeezed him tight, "Ah, I remember now. I suppose you're right. Perhaps, we could just celebrate with a quiet dinner."

"And cake."

"And cake," she agreed.

Author's Note: Just another chapter or two to finish the story off!