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A Kiss is Just a Kiss | ||||
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Category: Twin Travel Challenge (2008-3) Characters:None Genres: General Warnings: None Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 16 Summary: Harry was glad to be able to forget about Voldemort and his unpleasant future for a fortnight, and he was well on the way to managing between escaping Grimmauld Place, the twins, and Ginny's party. Then his future came to visit - permanently. Hitcount: Story Total: 7560 Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work. Author's Notes: Rating is possibly excessive, but better safe than sorry. |
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‘You may say that, Hermione dear,’ said Fred, waving the chicken like a conductor’s baton and making his knife and fork do a tap dance, ‘but there comes a time in every child’s life when what one really wants is a wand that turns into a rubber chicken you can use to make loud noises with.’ ‘And Ludo Bagman,’ said Ron. The twins exchanged a dark look. ‘There’s always the deluxe model, though,’ said George. ‘And what does that do?’ said Ginny as she undid the large “14” badge. ‘Hits him over the head instead.’ ‘With a rubber chicken?’ said Harry. George shook his head. ‘With the cutlery.’ Hermione stared at them for a moment. ‘And do you not think that might be slightly dangerous?’ They shrugged. ‘As we said, it’s the deluxe model, specially made for mad, bad, crazy ex-wasps. But, come on Hermione, give us a chance. Just you wait and see what we’ve been cooking up.’ ‘You mean those explosions aren’t just because you like the noise?’ said Ginny. ‘You wound us, Ginny,’ said Fred, clutching his hands to his chest. ‘Noise? We are really looking forward to some ice-cream.’ Harry glanced behind him; Mrs Weasley coming in with several cartons of ice-cream from the magical picnic bag temporarily kept in Mr Weasley’s shed — no doubt feigning cluelessness. She’d confiscated enough extendable ears to be well aware the twins were up to something. ‘Who wants some ice-cream then?’ said Mr Weasley, following Mrs Weasley inside with yet more cartons floating in behind him. ‘I know you do,’ he added, not even needing to look to know Ron had opened his mouth. Pop. Harry frowned. That sounded like it came from the living room. The house was warded, wasn’t it? Professor Dumbledore had made a point of having someone tell him not to do something stupid because of the effort people had gone to to make the Burrow well-fortified. He snorted. It wasn’t like having Cedric drop dead in front of him wasn’t a big enough warning. ‘Arthur?’ said Mrs Weasley. Mr Weasley shrugged and stood, Bill and Charlie going with him toward the lounge. As soon as Mrs Weasley’s back was turned the twins got up and crept out the back door. They were completely silent. Harry decided he’d rather not think about the amount of practice they’d had. Mrs Weasley realised after a moment, getting up and chasing after them both. The four of them left looked at each other, pulled out their wands, and followed Mr Weasley. ‘Grandpa!’ said a young girl’s voice. ‘James did it. I was just watching to see what would happen.’ Harry frowned at Mr Weasley’s back as the man entered the room. Grandpa? ‘Well, Lily told me to. I didn’t think it was working.’ ‘Harry!’ Harry turned in time to see Mrs Weasley bearing down on him like an enraged rhinoceros. He flattened himself against the wall as she charged past, pushing her way through her two boys blocking the door. Ron shrugged apologetically. ‘Mum likes children.’ Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘Really?’ Ginny nodded. ‘You’re one of them, Harry. If she can feed it, look after it, and fill a gap in its life, Mum’ll adopt it.’ Harry hoped his face was firmly in neutral. Ron and Ginny chaffed at Mrs Weasley, but Harry liked being mothered in a funny sort of a way. Though as he wasn’t hers Mrs Weasley obviously felt there were lines she couldn’t cross and, of course, he could actually say stop if he really wanted to. Not that he’d ever admit to it. She’d tried to make him talk about Cedric too... he’d nipped that one in the bud as soon as he could, though. Cedric... hurt. Ginny grinned impishly. ‘The question is which one of my brothers you’ll have to replace after Mum’s finished with them for not telling her they’ve given her grand-children,’ she said over the sounds of the two children arguing She screwed her face up. ‘Can you imagine Charlie as a father? Unless Bill met someone in Egypt while robbing tombs.’ ‘Bet she’s dead pretty,’ said Ron. The children’s argument stopped dead as the four entered the room. ‘Dad!’ cried the boy, throwing himself at Harry. ‘It was Lily’s fault! I was just looking at it, but she —’ ‘No it’s not! He’s lying Mum,’ said the girl, hugging Ginny and looking up at her. ‘I was just trying on the necklace, and he touched it and...’ she sniffed. ‘And now we’re dead.’ Someone moved Harry’s arm so he was hugging the boy as he stared down at the boy’s black hair. He was having some sort of hallucination, right? Sausages on sticks were a fine idea, but cold? There must have been some sort of bug growing on them. Did salmonella give you hallucinations? He was fairly sure he’d remember having had sex with Cho. No, the girl had called Ginny Mum, hadn’t she? Anyway, he was sure he’d have remembered having sex with any girl, be it Cho or Ginny. ‘Dad!’ Harry blinked and looked up. That was him, wasn’t it? He could feel his face starting to heat up as everyone stared at him. Ginny gestured impatiently at him behind the girl’s back. What was everyone looking at him for? ‘Listen to your mother,’ he said, deciding that it’d probably work under virtually any circumstance. Unfortunately, Ginny had evidently decided the same thing and he got a dirty look. ‘Come on then you two,’ she said, shepherding the girl toward the door. ‘Upstairs. You as well, Daddy.’ Harry trailed out after them, unable to take his eyes off the boy’s black hair. He looked so like him it was spooky — but with Ginny’s eyes. He wondered if that was how Sirius felt when he looked at him... James Potter but with Lily’s eyes. He ended up in Bill and Charlie’s room, Ginny nowhere in sight and the two children looking at him expectantly. He could feel his brow heating up. ‘Yes?’ The little girl gave him a look eerily similar to the one he’d just got from Ginny, her hands on her hips. ‘You’re not listening to me Daddy!’ ‘Where are our pyjamas?’ muttered the boy. ‘Er...’ said Harry. ‘We’ve forgotten them,’ said Ginny as she came in, two mugs in her hands and two T-shirts over her arm. She passed the two mugs — hot milk — to him and tossed the two T-shirts to the children, who were warily eyeing up the mugs. ‘Those’ll do for tonight and we’ll sort you out in the morning.’ ‘I’m not wearing a nightdress,’ muttered the boy. ‘It’s a T-shirt, and it’s that or just sleep in your underwear,’ said Ginny easily. ‘It’s your choice.’ Harry wasn’t quite sure how she did it, but after five minutes, and neatly avoiding what had initially been a hypothetical argument about who was going to get what toothbrush by bringing back two blue ones, she had them both in bed. ‘What’s wrong Daddy?’ said the girl. You, thought Harry. ‘Nothing’s wrong, Lily,’ said Ginny, sitting down on the end of the girl’s — Lily’s — bed. ‘But you two are both going to explain to us exactly why you were misbehaving.’ ‘One at a time,’ said Harry as they both started loudly talking over each other. James and Lily snapped their heads around to look at him, then glanced at each other. ‘Aunt Hermione was explaining to us what you did in the war,’ said James. ‘And Lily was going to copy it down so we didn’t have to keep asking. Then Aunt Hermione had to go and help Grandma and Lily tried on the necklace in it and —’ ‘It wasn’t my fault! You were the one who... sorry, Mummy.’ ‘Go on James,’ said Ginny, returning her gaze to him. ‘Lily tried on the necklace,’ repeated James, taking the opportunity to try and innocently re-enforce that fact that it was his sister’s fault in their minds. ‘And then everything sort of... blinked...’ Harry’s brain coughed a few times then emerged from its stunned fog. Necklace... children... ‘Did this necklace have an hourglass on the end?’ Lily nodded. ‘Yes it did, and James messed with it.’ This couldn’t be happening. Who was he kidding: He was Harry Potter — of course it could. ‘And you spun it around, James?’ said Harry, moving so he could see James’ face. James swallowed and nodded. ‘Only once.’ ‘Once?’ said Ginny. ‘Well... a bit. Not many.’ ‘No you didn’t James,’ piped up Lily. ‘You spinned it lots and lots and lots.’ James glared at her until Ginny caught his eye and he stared at the floor. Ginny looked at Harry questioningly. He nodded. He knew what was going on. He really didn’t want to know how many times lots and lots and lots was though. ‘If there’s a problem I’m in the bedroom across the landing,’ said Ginny, passing Lily the mug from the bedside table. ‘And Daddy’s all the way up in the bedroom at the very top, okay?’ James nodded as Harry passed him his drink. ‘There’s really nothing wrong?’ ‘No James,’ said Ginny, as if by repeating it enough she’d make it true. ‘Nothing’s wrong.’ He glanced back down at his drink suspiciously. ‘Really?’ ‘Yes, really.’ The two children downed the drinks virtually in one, wiping milk moustaches away with the backs of their hands. Ginny tagged them with her wand long before they reached the quilt. ‘Goodnight Lily,’ said Ginny, tucking her in and kissing her cheek. Harry froze as an expectant pair of green eyes latched onto his as Ginny moved over to James. Ginny not so subtly got him moving by elbowing him in the back. He felt horribly awkward as he leaned down and pecked her cheek, murmuring goodnight. Lily didn’t seem to mind, though, an angelic smile on her face. Repeating the same procedure for James was just as bad. He glanced back at the two children — both already asleep — as Ginny turned the lights out and pulled the door mostly-closed. Why was it always him? He followed Ginny into her room and she shut the door firmly behind her and leaned against it. He was just about to ask her how on earth she managed to be so calm about this when she opened her mouth and turned the air blue, the torrent of abuse finally running out of steam after well over a minute. ‘Feeling better?’ said Harry, aiming for levity and hitting rock bottom. Ginny nodded. ‘Just as long as the children didn’t hear.’ Harry snorted. ‘You said you knew what was going on?’ said Ginny weakly. ‘Hermione had a time-turner in her diary. And... well... spinned it lots and lots and lots so... if what they’re saying is true they’re —’ he swallowed and looked away from Ginny. ‘— they’re our children.’ ‘From however many years in the future,’ said Ginny faintly. ‘I’m sure it’s all your fault.’ ‘My fault?’ said Ginny, pinning him to the wall with her stare. ‘So how can it be my fault?’ ‘Obviously inherited it from you,’ said Harry, sitting down on the bed. ‘Messing around with a time turner is exactly the sort of thing the twins’d do.’ Momentarily forgetting about the Marauders was purely co-incidental, of course. ‘Says the boy who ends up getting into an adventure every year without fail.’ ‘Adventure? Adventure? You go and have a little adventure every year, and —’ ‘I was the baddie in first year Harry,’ said Ginny coolly, her eyes looking haunted for a moment. ‘I know perfectly well that they’re not adventures.’ Harry stood very still. ‘Sorry,’ he said stiffly, guilt squirming around inside his chest. Ginny gave him a forced smile. ‘No doubt between the two of us we created quite the pair of troublemakers.’ ‘I don’t go looking for trouble,’ protested Harry, the faint smile on Ginny’s lips making him smile a little despite himself. ‘Trouble finds me.’ Ginny nodded. ‘You’re a trouble... magnet? Which makes this your fault.’ She sighed. ‘Not what I wanted for my birthday.’ She suddenly smiled at him, a genuine smile. ‘You definitely know what this means, don’t you?’ Harry searched her happy, smiling face. ‘That the Prophet have something else to make snide comments about, only dragging you through the mud too?’ Ginny’s smile dimmed for an instant. ‘Probably, but... if you married... me... would you want to have kids if Voldemort was still around?’ ‘Of course not,’ said Harry immediately. A smile slowly crept over his face. ‘Oh...’ Ginny grinned at him. ‘Every cloud has a silver lining, and your particular cloud isn’t going to be hanging over your head forever. Come on, let’s go back downstairs and see how in Merlin’s name we’re going to fix this.’ Again, all activity in the room stopped when Harry and Ginny walked in, Mr Weasley looking up from the sofa where he was ministering to a passed out Mrs Weasley. ‘We seem to have two small problems on our hands,’ said Ginny, collapsing onto the empty sofa. ‘Apparently our children were being told by their Aunt Hermione about how Daddy defeated Voldemort and Aunt Hermione thought it was a good idea to leave them with access to a time-turner without supervision. James spun it lots and lots and lots and here they are.’ ‘We assumed it was something like that,’ said Dumbledore, coming in from behind them with the twins. ‘It’s a bit of a boon for us, really.’ ‘A boon, Professor?’ said Ginny, exchanging overwhelming sarcasm for distinct undertones of menace. Harry moved over and sat down beside her so he could see the book Dumbledore passed her. Through Hell and Back Again A Horcrux Holiday By Hermione Jean Granger ‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘That’s a diary that the future Miss Granger kept while you were on your quest to defeat the Dark Lord,’ said Dumbledore, not even looking at him while talking to him. ‘The other’ — he gestured toward a small, thin book on a sidetable — ‘is a diary from the future that your daughter is keeping.’ ‘Only Hermione,’ muttered Harry. ‘It will be an important part of the historical record,’ said Hermione, looking down her nose at him. ‘Of course I recorded it for the future.’ ‘The point,’ said Dumbledore before Ron could fan the sparks in Hermione’s eyes, ‘is that here we have instructions detailing exactly how to defeat Voldemort.’ ‘We do?’ said the twins. ‘Voldemort is quite ingenious, really,’ said Dumbledore, taking the book off Ginny. ‘He’s modified a very dark spell and hidden his organs in various locations. When the organs are destroyed so is he.’ ‘Knew he was brainless,’ said Ron, Fred and George. They turned and exchanged sour glances. Dumbledore nodded happily. ‘The order can go and collect them and it’ll all be over by Christmas.’ ‘Do you not think there are more important things to worry about?’ said Harry. Dumbledore looked at him quizzically. ‘Like getting the children back to where they’re supposed to be?’ said Ginny, her voice rapidly approaching sub-arctic temperatures. ‘Where are they?’ said Mrs Weasley, forcing herself upright despite Mr Weasley’s efforts. ‘We put them to bed in Bill and Charlie’s room,’ said Ginny, sending her two brothers a quelling stare. ‘They obviously did something they weren’t supposed to and punishing them by sending them to bed early got them out of here before they could start really thinking about what was going on and why — why they could see their dead uncle George.’ Ginny wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. You couldn’t tell she was upset by her voice, though. ‘And I took a leaf out of Mum’s book and gave them a dose of dreamless sleep. It’s better that they sleep through this and we can present them with a solution in the morning, rather getting them hysterical then trying to get them to sleep.’ The look she gave Dumbledore left no doubt that there had better be a solution. Harry couldn’t agree more. The last thing the children needed was to be... years? decades?... away from their parents. The only way this situation could be worse was if someone’d dumped babies into his lap. He shifted to look at Ginny, still staring expectantly at Dumbledore. At least she had her head screwed on. ‘Alas,’ said Dumbledore, looking at Ginny sadly, ‘that’s not possible.’ ‘I beg your pardon,’ said Mrs Weasley. ‘It’s not possible to use a time turner to travel forward in time. The only thing to do is wait until they reach their own time naturally.’ He and Ginny looked at each other worriedly. ‘But what about paradoxes Professor?’ said Hermione, frowning. ‘They’re only little children — they’re not going to know what a wrong word can do.’ ‘Too late for that now, Hermione,’ said George, hollowly. ‘I end up dead. Fred...’ ‘Yes, George?’ George grabbed his twin’s hand. ‘No time to waste; things to do, people to prank — I want to put Zonko’s out of business before I go.’ ‘Don’t wake the children!’ shouted Ginny and Mrs Weasley as the twins thundered out. ‘This isn’t common knowledge,’ said Professor Dumbledore, eyes twinkling as the exuberant twins pounded their way up the stairs, ‘and for obvious reasons the Ministry doesn’t spread the word, but time is rather fixed. History heals itself, as it were. If something happens, it has already happened, so they’re supposed to say whatever they’re supposed to say, or else their not causing a paradox would cause a paradox.’ Ron was looking hopelessly lost, but Harry was just about hanging on, even if he had a headache developing. ‘People come back all the time,’ said Dumbledore, tucking Hermione’s diary into his robes. ‘It’s usually Ministry researchers rather than children, of course, but it’s quite normal.’ ‘It’s a bit of an open secret in the Ministry,’ said Mr Weasley. ‘For a while I had two versions of Perkins in the office when he was still helping out the unspeakables on the odd thing.’ ‘So you’re saying our children are stuck here, permanently?’ said Ginny. Dumbledore nodded. ‘That’s what I’m saying, yes.’ ‘But the Ministry aren’t going to arrest them for meddling with time or anything else.’ Dumbledore nodded. Ginny gave a funny sort of half-sigh, half-sob, then leaned back on the sofa, her eyes shut. Harry... had children — at fifteen. His gut twisted: Would Voldemort come after them? Would they die just like Cedric? Assuming he didn’t screw up and do his job for him. He didn’t have the foggiest about how to deal with a child. He knew what not to do — anything he could remember of his life away from Hogwarts provided that in not just spades, but diggers. Ginny seemed to manage fine, though. He supposed she could help him through it. And no doubt Mrs Weasley’d step in long before he actually made a mistake. ‘Professor,’ said Harry. ‘Concerned about Voldemort, Harry?’ said Dumbledore gravely. ‘For the moment they’ll be safe here with the protections and the simple fact that he doesn’t have a clue they exist. Tomorrow I’ll come back hopefully with some more concrete plans. Speaking of plans, there’s an order meeting now, so if you’ll excuse me.’ ‘Ginny?’ said Harry quietly when she still hadn’t opened her eyes a good minute later. She sat up and gave him a sickly smile. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Mrs Weasley, fending off her husband and sitting up. ‘I’ll look after them and —’ ‘Mrs Weasley they’re... my —’ he looked at Ginny and she nodded ‘— our children. We ought to do what we can and... well... my parents died — but they didn’t abandon me.’ Harry was uncomfortably aware of everyone in the room looking at him, from Ron’s look of horror to Mrs Weasley’s glistening eyes. He didn’t dare to look at Ginny. Mrs Weasley broke the unbearable stillness, crossing the room and wrapping them both in a tight hug, tears running down her cheeks. She smiled tremulously. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to give me grandchildren to spoil for a while Ginny. Now I get to feed them and spoil them, then hand them back to you a whole six years early.’ ‘Wonderful,’ muttered Ginny. ‘I’m going to bed,’ said Harry, standing up. ‘Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and discover this has all been a horrible dream.’ He’d intended to head up to Ron’s room and sit on his bed, but instead found himself leaning on the doorframe of Bill and Charlie’s room, watching the children sleep, Lily’s long red hair arrayed on the pillow like a messy halo. ‘Cute, aren’t they?’ said Ginny quietly, ducking underneath his arm so she could see. ‘Yeah — though more so if they weren’t snoring like a pair of trolls.’ Ginny poked him. ‘I’m going to mess this up so badly.’ ‘You managed fine earlier. You’re better than I am.’ ‘It’s a case of the partially-sighed leaving the blind, then.’ ‘What you did earlier was hardly being clueless.’ Ginny shrugged. ‘That was simple manipulation; you try growing up the youngest and only girl and managing without it.’ ‘Worked, didn’t it?’ ‘I suppose.’ They stood there a while longer, just watching their children in silence. ‘Goodnight Harry,’ said Ginny a little later. ‘G’night Ginny,’ he said, moving his arm and letting her walk past, the scent of her shampoo trailing along after her. It wasn’t until he was lying awake hours later his mind processed the remainder of his predicament. In the future, it wasn’t Cho he’d married. It was Ginny Weasley. ‘Good morning,’ said Ginny when he came downstairs at five, finally giving up on catching more than a cat-nap. He forced himself to meet her eyes. ‘Good morning,’ he said, sitting next to her at the kitchen table. ‘You couldn’t sleep either?’ ‘No. Mind was buzzing with trying to work out what we’re going to say to the children that’s not going to scar them for life and — and other things.’ ‘Snap,’ said Harry. ‘I’m trying not to,’ said Ginny quietly, clasping her cup like a lifebelt. ‘I suppose it makes a change,’ said Harry, looking away from Ginny’s rapidly blinking eyes. ‘For once the problem’s not someone out to kill me, but someone that... loves... me.’ Ginny reached out and squeezed his hand. She looked at him for a moment. ‘Want to go for a fly? We’ve got over two hours before the potion wears off.’ Harry nodded. ‘Finished?’ he said as he stood, gesturing at Ginny’s cup. ‘Yeah, thanks.’ Harry wasn’t quite sure what he expected from Ginny — especially the new Ginny who seemed quite happy to be herself around him — but whatever it was, it wasn’t what he got. She leapt on her broom and rocketed up into the sky, hurling herself through violent acrobatics without even seeming to think about it. ‘Surprised?’ she said when he caught up with her. ‘A bit,’ admitted Harry, watching her as she corkscrewed around him. ‘I’d no idea you flew. Why didn’t you say something and you could have joined in the Quidditch games.’ ‘No-one asked,’ said Ginny from above him, her soft red hair dangling down into his eyes briefly. ‘And I like having this little secret from my brothers — I’ve been sneaking out for years. When Angelina and Alicia leave I’m going to try out for chaser.’ Harry still felt a little guilty. ‘Your brothers won’t forget it, that’s for certain.’ Ginny grinned. ‘I hope not.’ Harry began corkscrewing too, the two of them spinning around each other until they reached the boundary before wordlessly turning together to run across again — each spiralling around the other the entire time. Ginny neatly broke off, gracefully swooping down then gliding upward, coming to a halt just below Harry. ‘How do you think they’ll take it?’ she said as Harry hovered alongside her. Harry shrugged. ‘Tears, I’d imagine. Or... well, this is us — they might just think of it as an adventure. I’m not sure how you can place all the blame on me when you’ve been sneaking out at night for however long.’ ‘Maybe,’ she said, drifting closer to him. ‘The real person to blame is Hermione: If it wasn’t for her they wouldn’t have got their hands on a time turner in the first place.’ They hovered there for ages, watching the sun paint the sky pink. ‘We’d best be getting back,’ said Ginny, jerking Harry out of his doze. ‘Mummy and Daddy are going to need to do some explaining soon.’ Harry nodded and dove to the ground, taking out his frustrations on the broom handle as he jerked it upward at the last possible instant, going from diving to walking in the space of a few seconds. ‘Ah, there you are,’ said Mrs Weasley when they came into the kitchen, giving them both a penetrating look. ‘I didn’t ask last night, but how big a dose did you give the children?’ ‘They’ll be waking up soon,’ said Ginny, sitting back down where she’d been when Harry came downstairs. ‘I thought we’d tell them when they woke up; apparently when they’re upset I dose them with hot milk, so they both suspect something’s up already.’ Mrs Weasley smiled. ‘I told you that you’d do it to your own children.’ Ginny stuck her tongue out at her. ‘They’re not twelve, Mum.’ ‘Neither were you when I started.’ The house echoed with a loud explosion. Mrs Weasley sighed as she put the sausages in the frying pan. ‘Sounds like the twins have woken up. You two’d best go up to yours — dreamless sleep or not a noise like that will wake anyone save Ron.’ Your twins... The twins were more or less awake when they went into their room, Lily looking anxiously at them both. ‘Good morning Lily, James,’ said Ginny, sitting down on James’ bed. ‘Your m-mother and I need to talk to you both,’ said Harry sitting down on Lily’s bed. ‘Are you making me a little sister?’ said Lily excitedly, sitting bolt upright in bed. ‘No, Lily,’ said Ginny. ‘We —’ ‘Are we going to see the Cannons?’ said James. ‘No, James,’ said Harry. ‘We —’ ‘Are we going to Diagon Alley?’ said Lily. ‘N — maybe, Lily, if you’re good,’ said Ginny. ‘Now hush, both of you.’ ‘You remember that necklace James spun?’ said Harry. The two children nodded. ‘It’s called a time turner,’ said Ginny looking from one to the other. ‘And when you spin it, you go back in time. You can see your Uncle George because you come far enough back in time that he’s not dead yet.’ Harry couldn’t believe she’d managed to get that sentence out without her voice quavering at all. ‘You’ve come back so far, you’ve not even been born here,’ he said as the children adopted confused looks. Lily and James looked stunned. Lily frowned. ‘So Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione...’ ‘Aren’t married,’ said Ginny. ‘And that’s why grandpa still has hair,’ said James. Harry nodded. Lily grabbed Harry’s hand and stared at it a moment before turning it over. ‘You and Mummy aren’t married too,’ she said quietly. ‘That’s right,’ said Ginny. ‘But — but you’re still our Mummy and Daddy?’ said Lily, looking at Harry with her heart in her eyes. Harry and Ginny glanced at each other. ‘Yes,’ they both said. Harry held his arms open and Lily crawled into his lap, the tears starting to fall as soon as he wrapped her up in his arms. It was a strange sensation to have someone this close to him. Nice in a funny sort of way, were she not crying. Harry had a feeling that Ginny’d be saying something to Lily, but he had no idea what, so he just settled for hugging her. Lily’s tears set her brother off, Ginny pulling him into her lap and — as Harry suspected — whispering something in his ear. Harry wasn’t sure how long they sat across from each other like that, their children in their laps. Eventually the tears stopped, Lily just happy to cuddle up to him. ‘Go clean your teeth,’ said Ginny, sliding James off her lap, ‘and then we’ll go and see what Grandma’s made for breakfast.’ Both of them disappeared like lightning. Harry and Ginny looked at each other. ‘Adventure,’ they said drily. ‘Didn’t go too badly, did it?’ said Harry. Ginny shook her head, her eyes lingering on him. ‘No, it went well, very well, Harry.’ She smiled. ‘Or should —’ ‘MUMMY! JAMES IS USING MY TOOTHBRUSH!’ ‘And so it begins,’ muttered Ginny as they went to initiate a set of peace-talks that’d put Northern Ireland to shame. Harry wasn’t quite sure how Lily’s dolls were better and more valuable than James’ Quidditch Pitch — they weren’t — but it didn’t seem to matter to James. Harry turned and shot a venomous glance at the black dog laughing outside the window. Sirius was having far too much fun with this for his liking. He’d already exploded at Sirius once, then Ginny’d bitten his head off after she’d heard second-hand what he’d been insinuating — via Lily and James. Though she probably wouldn’t have been best pleased even if the children hadn’t heard various words they shouldn’t. ‘James,’ whispered Harry, looking around with exaggerated caution. He didn’t need to, as when James had started to get himself worked-up they’d sent Lily to wait outside with Hagrid, but it’d make the Quidditch pitch more valuable if he thought he was getting one-up on his sister. ‘Don’t tell your Mum, but your Quidditch Pitch is more expensive than Lily’s dolls. Lilly could get five dolls for the price of your Quidditch pitch.’ James couldn’t care less, however. ‘S-she gets m-more than me!’ ‘But you’ve got fifteen people with your Quidditch Pitch, James,’ said Ginny, squatting down so she was at eye-level with him. ‘Lily’s only got two.’ He looked at her as if she was stupid. ‘You bought Lily two presents.’ Harry could feel the other shoppers starting to stare unabashed at them. They’d planned to do this first thing before the shops got too busy, but they couldn’t leave until they saw Dumbledore. In the end, when he hadn’t appeared after lunch, they gave up waiting and did it anyway; the side effect being that James was having a tantrum in front of a large audience. ‘Okay James,’ said Ginny, her voice still light despite how she must be aware of the scene James was causing. ‘If you put the Quidditch Pitch back, you can get two smaller presents. One big one, or two little ones.’ James moved up a gear instead of calming down. Harry’d no idea how such a little person could make such a big noise. ‘James,’ said Ginny warningly. ‘If you don’t start behaving we’re going straight home.’ ‘Without any present at all,’ added Harry as the noise showed no signs of stopping. It was the longest thirty seconds of Harry’s life, watching James’ red, tear-streaked face and willing him to put a sock in it. ‘Right,’ said Ginny, standing up and taking hold of James’ hand. ‘You were warned James. We’re going.’ The noise trebled, James straining back toward the brightly coloured boxes. ‘Mummy! I want the Quidditch Pitch! I w-want —’ Harry smiled apologetically at the other shoppers then quickly followed Ginny, grabbing James’ trailing hand and helping her physically drag him from the toy-shop. It was a fun walk back to the Leaky Cauldron. Lily was sitting on Hagrid’s shoulders, so people’d be looking at them anyway, then there was the sight of him and Ginny with a screaming James, and finally Sirius — who thought the whole thing was funny, and was howling along with James, despite Ginny’s muttered threats about locking him in Ron’s room stuck as Padfoot. After Ginny’d smothered James with horror stories about boys who’d misbehaved in the floo, Hagrid flooed back with James and some of the shopping; the theory being that if something did go wrong and Hagrid came out the wrong grate, it were better that it were Hagrid than Harry or Ginny, and if James did start acting up Hagrid could just hold him still without much of a problem. When Harry arrived back in the Burrow with Lily he was greeted by the sight of a very ashamed James being scolded by Mrs Weasley. ‘What do you say?’ she prompted as Hagrid came through the fire, Padfoot in his arms. James walked over to Ginny and muttered something. Ginny hugged him. He turned and shuffled over to Harry. ‘Sorry Daddy,’ he said quietly. ‘That’s okay James,’ said Harry, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘Just don’t do it again.’ James nodded morosely and shuffled out the kitchen. ‘We’ll be going to an Order meeting once your father’s finished talking with Professor Dumbledore,’ said Mrs Weasley to Ginny. ‘Apparently Mundungus Fletcher has actually been of use rather than using Headquarters as a place to store his stolen goods for once, so it’ll just be the twins and you four in the house.’ ‘We’ll be fine, Mum,’ said Ginny. ‘You sent James to his room?’ Mrs Weasley nodded. ‘He can come out in half-an-hour.’ Harry turned as the door to the lounge opened, Mr Weasley and Dumbledore stepping out. ‘Ah, Miss Weasley, Harry,’ said Dumbledore as he entered the kitchen. ‘How was your little expedition?’ Sirius howled mournfully. ‘Oh dear,’ said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling. ‘That bad?’ ‘Apart from one episode in the toyshop it went fine, Professor,’ said Harry, looking straight at Dumbledore, who evaded his gaze. Why wouldn’t he look at him? Dumbledore smiled. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t be here earlier, but duty called, I’m afraid. Under the circumstances, the children are going to stay with their paternal grandparents...’ He trailed off as Harry and Ginny fixed him with furious glares. ‘Lily,’ said Ginny, her voice artificially sweet. ‘Why don’t you go and see if Aunt Hermione’d like to play dolls with you.’ Lily gave them both a similar look to the one James had given Ginny earlier. At least they hadn’t had stupid children — even if it’d be nice if Lily was oblivious to the undercurrents. ‘Okay Mummy,’ she said, grabbing the brightly coloured bag with her dolls in and running toward the stairs, shouting for Aunt Hermione as she went. He and Ginny looked at each other, asking a silent question. ‘No,’ said Ginny, her fists clenching at her sides. ‘Our children are never going near the Dursleys Professor; I’ve picked up enough from overheard conversations based on my brothers’ trip before first year. Think again.’ Mr Weasley sat down heavily in a chair. ‘Ginny, Harry, I know you don’t like the idea, but it’s important to keep your children safe.’ ‘So let’s move back to Headquarters then,’ said Harry. ‘I’m not letting the Dursleys near either of the children.’ ‘Harry,’ said Professor Dumbledore, looking earnestly at Ginny. ‘I realise that the Dursleys isn’t as pleasant as the Burrow, or even Grimauld Place, but there are more important things than happiness.’ ‘The children are not going to Privet Drive!’ snapped Harry, his nails digging into his palms. ‘Have you any idea what it’s like? Any idea whatsoever? THEY KEPT ME IN A CUPBOARD UNTIL I WAS ELEVEN. AFTER MY FIRST YEAR THEY LOCKED ME IN MY ROOM AND PUT BARS ON THE WINDOW! LILY AND JAMES ARE GOING THERE OVER MY DEAD BODY!’ ‘What about theirs, Harry?’ said Dumbledore into the echoing silence. There was a pop as Sirius transformed. ‘She’s right, Albus. You can go away and come up with a better idea, because I might have just let you persuade me to allow Harry to go back, but there’s no way I’m going to let you put defenceless magical kids in there again. I’ll kick the order out, put up my own fidelius, and take the four of them in if I have to.’ ‘Here here,’ said Mrs Weasley, looking at Harry sadly. ‘No grand-child of mine is going near those — those people.’ Dumbledore frowned. ‘Molly, you agreed that for their own safety —’ ‘That was before she found out Harry’s spent most of his life in a cupboard,’ said Ginny icily. ‘And if our children are dead, that’s because Voldemort already killed the rest of the family.’ Harry’s insides twinged at that. It was one thing for him to die fighting off Voldemort, but another for Ginny to die like his mother had. He knew perfectly well it wasn’t worth even trying to persuade her otherwise, though. And he really didn’t want Lily and James at Privet Drive, even if Ginny and he were with them. Dumbledore sighed. ‘Are you quite sure you don’t want your children in the safest possible place?’ ‘Yes,’ said Harry and Ginny without a second’s hesitation. Harry fixed his gaze on Dumbledore. ‘Anyway, how is Privet Drive safe? You can’t have forgotten the Dementors already, Professor.’ ‘Very well,’ said Dumbledore reaching for the floo powder. ‘I just hope you don’t regret your decision. Molly, Arthur.’ Harry stared at the green flames as Dumbledore flooed away. ‘Mum, Dad,’ said Ginny, whirling around to face her parents. ‘The next time you make a decision about what happens to James and Lily, you won’t forget to include their parents, will you?’ She stalked out, leaving an uncomfortable silence in her wake. ‘Harry,’ began Mrs Weasley. ‘Excuse me,’ said Harry, turning and following Ginny. She was in the lounge, sitting spinelessly in an armchair. ‘You alright?’ said Harry as he shut the door behind him. She said nothing, just raised an eyebrow. ‘Yeah,’ said Harry, collapsing into the remaining armchair, suddenly exhausted. ‘Stupid question.’ The door opened a few minutes later, two dolls preceding Lily into the room. The drained look disappeared from Ginny’s face as if by magic. ‘Mummy?’ said Lily as she sat down in Harry’s lap. ‘Will you play dolls with me now?’ Lily showed no signs of being willing to move from her perch, so Ginny sat on the arm of Harry’s chair, taking the part of Phillip Samuel... something or other. Happily, as a mountain, or cliff, or whatever it was the dolls were climbing all over, Harry didn’t have a speaking part as he was sure his daughter’d lambast him for being unable to remember the dolls overly-long names. Harry couldn’t help but smile as he let the enthusiastic, excited chatter wash over him. After twenty-five minutes Ginny sent Lily to go and tell James he could leave his room, the drained look re-appearing as soon as the door closed. ‘Shift over,’ said Ginny, sliding down the arm and partially into the chair. ‘My turn to be the castle and veg out for a little while.’ ‘I don’t even know the name of the doll,’ said Harry as he moved onto the arm, gravity slipping Ginny into place as he moved. ‘Never mind what you two’ve actually been doing.’ ‘Don’t worry,’ said Ginny, closing her eyes for a moment. ‘Neither does she.’ Oh yes she did. And she told him so — loudly. Ginny took over again in under a minute and Harry left them to it, going to find James. He couldn’t help but wonder... how would Cho be coping? Within a couple of days neither Ginny nor Harry could imagine not having their children around. Harry found himself enjoying the routine; getting them up in the morning, putting them to bed in the evening, and the touches, hugs and kisses that came his way through the day. Admittedly, the latter were less welcome when he was comforting one or the other for whatever reason — Uncle Fred and Uncle George’s pranks mostly — but that was rare. Other bits of his new routine, however, were distinctly less welcome. ‘You’re not payment,’ said Harry, giving the photograph of himself on the front of the Prophet the evil eye. ‘And even if you were offered I wouldn’t accept you.’ ‘Oh, thanks, Harry,’ said Ginny from behind the newspaper. ‘That makes me feel better.’ Harry speared a sausage with his fork. ‘That’s not what I meant and you know it. And have you even been to the maternity ward in St. Mungo’s?’ ‘Once, for three days or so,’ said Ginny. ‘You have?’ ‘I had to be born somewhere.’ Ginny put the paper down and got up, re-tying her dressing gown tighter around her. ‘Can you get Ron up too, please,’ said Mrs Weasley, crossing over from the stove with her own breakfast. ‘I’ll do it,’ said Harry after he’d swallowed a bite of sausage. ‘I’ll be going to get dressed in a minute.’ ‘Thank you,’ said Mrs Weasley. She turned and looked at the clock, Mr Weasley’s hand still on “work” even though his shift ended over twelve hours ago. ‘Go and sleep Mum,’ said Ginny, pausing in the doorway. ‘I can manage to re-heat what you’ve already cooked if needs be, and even Ron can make a sandwich on his third attempt.’ Mrs Weasley nodded. ‘Maybe I will go and have a little lie down. Wake me if your father comes home.’ Harry and Ginny nodded. After waking Ron up Harry got dressed, wearing a long sleeved T-shirt as he knew James’d have him on a broom before the day was out, then headed back downstairs to take over from Mrs Weasley and let her get to bed. He met Ginny on her landing, coming out of her room and putting her hair into a ponytail. ‘Lily was in James’ bed again,’ said Ginny, a faint frown looking out of place on her face. On one hand, Harry didn’t mind because it stopped him being woken up in the middle of the night, on the other it meant that one or the other — probably Lily — had a nightmare or something and still didn’t feel she could go to her parents about it. And on the third hand, if one of the children had a problem during the night they’d go to Ginny as they wouldn’t have to go up all those stairs, which was irrelevant, really, but made him feel at fault somehow. ‘I’m sure that if there was a problem they’d tell us,’ said Harry reassuringly as they walked downstairs. ‘That’s three nights in a row, and five out of nine. Are you sure Lily’d say something?’ Harry shrugged. ‘I’d hope so. The only other thing to do is to watch.’ Ginny nodded. ‘Hello, Harry,’ said Fred as they reached the bottom flight of stairs, the twins and Ron looking up at them from where they were blocking the corridor. ‘It seems you’ve been doing things you shouldn’t with our baby sister,’ said George, grinning evilly. ‘Oh grow up,’ said Harry. ‘And it’d be no business of yours if we had,’ said Ginny, eyes flashing. ‘If you ever try and do this to any of my boyfriends, what I’ll do to you will make the cruciatus look mild by comparison.’ ‘Prove it!’ said Fred. ‘What’s three plus three, George?’ ‘Six.’ ‘Well done George,’ said Harry, applauding. ‘Now... this is the tricky bit... what’s fourteen take away six?’ ‘Eight,’ said Ron. ‘Can girls have babies when they’re eight, Ron?’ said Ginny. He shook his head. ‘No, they can’t, that’s right. How old was I when I first met Harry?’ ‘Ten,’ said Fred smirking. ‘And you were ever so excite —’ ‘So the children are too old even if I could have had children,’ snapped Ginny, on the verge of losing her cool. ‘Le —’ ‘Ah,’ said George, shaking his head. ‘But Prophet said the healer said that they were born last year and you’ve given them aging potion.’ ‘If you three don’t shut up and leave us alone,’ said Ginny, getting her wand out. ‘I’m going to set a terrible example to our children and curse you until you won’t be leaving St. Mungo’s — ever. What will it be?’ The three looked at the wand pointed at Fred’s head and fled. ‘Sorry,’ said Ginny, tucking her wand into her skirt. ‘I should have expected them to try that after they got over the shock.’ ‘Not your fault,’ said Harry, carefully not admitting that the scene could almost have come straight from one of his nightmares apart from Ginny’d protected him here. ‘I’m sure they’ve been planning it for years — you’re just the first one they could try it out on.’ ‘Take more than that to scare me away from you and the children. Besides,’ said Harry, stepping back and moving Ginny in front of him, ‘if the worst comes to the worst I’ll just hide behind Mummy’s skirts.’ Ginny covered his hands with hers, holding them on her hips. ‘Don’t you think this might get a bit awkward?’ ‘Better awkward with you than a sitting duck with others.’ ‘In that case,’ said Ginny, turning around and looking up at him then glancing down at her almost knee-length skirt, ‘I think I’ll need to buy bigger skirts. I’d hate to have the children lose their father to the mother of all pranks, wouldn’t you?’ She smiled. ‘Or you could invest in some of your own.’ ‘Good Morning Daddy,’ said Lily as they entered the kitchen, jumping out of her seat and giving him a hug. ‘’Morning Lily,’ said Harry, picking her up and carrying her back to her seat, kissing her on the cheek. ‘’Morning James.’ ‘’Morning Daddy,’ said James, giving the world a lovely view of mashed up sausage. ‘Don’t talk with your mouth full, James,’ said Ginny, sitting down next to him. ‘Go on up Mum. We’ll manage.’ ‘Nothing to manage,’ said Mrs Weasley, smiling at the children. ‘They’ve been behaving beautifully, haven’t you?’ Both the children nodded. ‘Mummy,’ said Lily, pausing a fraction before she opened her mouth to swallow whatever was in it. ‘Grandma said that —’ ‘Grandpa’s coming home,’ said Mrs Weasley, smiling. Mr Weasley’s hand moved to home just as there was a pop outside the back door. ‘Good Morning all,’ he said, his voice expressionless. ‘Arthur?’ said Mrs Weasley, running her eyes over him as if to check he still had all his limbs. ‘What happened?’ ‘Mundungus Fletcher — for reasons only known to himself — named me his next of kin,’ said Mr Weasley wearily, pouring himself a cup of tea. ‘Anyway, he was in the middle of some sort of business transaction —’ Mrs Weasley made a funny noise in the back of her throat. ‘— and it went sour. Anyway, after doing everything that was needed as Arthur Weasley, the goods needed me to spend hours as Department Head Weasley.’ ‘The poor man,’ said Mrs Weasley. Mr Weasley nodded. Mrs Weasley froze. ‘There’s no...’ she tilted her head toward James and Lily. He shook his head and Mrs Weasley sighed in relief. ‘Harry, you might as well move into Percy’s room,’ said Mr Weasley, glancing at his wife. ‘There’s no point having an empty room in the house, and it’ll put you closer to Lily and James.’ ‘Arthur...’ ‘He’s made his bed, Molly,’ said Mr Weasley grimly. ‘He can sleep in it. And if my son does ever pull his head out of the sand I’m sure Harry wouldn’t mind sharing with Ron again.’ Harry shook his head. Mrs Weasley’s lips were a thin line. ‘Ginny, could you make Percy’s bed for me, please? The sheets are in the scullery.’ ‘Nobody’s listening to me,’ said Lily, her hands on her hips. ‘Pardon Lily?’ said Ginny as Mrs Weasley left the kitchen, Mr Weasley hurrying after her. ‘I said, Grandma said we were going to go on a picnic, and James and I could go and pick the fruit after breakfast.’ Harry’d seen the Weasley twins pick fruit before — only about half survived to go into the basket. He smiled. Regardless of how much waste there was, he was sure their twins’d have a blast. As far as he was concerned, that was worth it. Harry woke up with a grunt as a warm, heavy weight landed on his waist. ‘Daddy?’ said Lily. Harry cracked his eyes open. It was still dark outside. At least she probably wouldn’t have woken anyone else up. ‘Yes Lily?’ He started to sit up, but found he couldn’t. Thick ropes bound his hands and feet to the corners of the bed. ‘I love you Daddy,’ said Lily, leaning down and kissing him on the lips. She giggled. ‘Lily, untie me right now.’ She shook her head, smiling broadly. ‘I don’t think so, Daddy.’ Harry yanked on the ropes, but all it did was tighten the knots. ‘Lily Potter, y —’ Harry stared in horror as his little girl’s face warped and twisted, developing thick brows and ragged black hair. He looked up at the face of Bellatrix Lestrange, an icicle of fear piercing his heart. ‘What have you done with Lily?’ Lestrange threw her head back and laughed hysterically. ‘That’s right Potter. The Dark Lord discovered how your children went back in time and kidnapped them, substituting me and my Husband instead.’ ‘Where is she?’ snarled Harry. ‘She’s wight here, Daddy,’ said Lestrange scornfully. ‘Took Severus a while, but he eventually managed to create custom polyjuice potion. It was pathetic — all those wards and we just walked through the front door.’ They’d been set up. The whole charade was a trap. Ginny! Harry yelled and thrashed against the restraints, trying to make noise — any noise — that someone might hear and come to investigate. The rope was rubbing deep, painful welts into his wrists, but better that than the Lestranges kill Ginny or portkey him to Voldemort or survive to kill other people. ‘Scream for me Daddy,’ whispered Lestrange. It wasn’t hard to comply as he writhed underneath her, screaming his guts out under the cruciatus. Normally he’d hate to give her the satisfaction — the glint in her eye told him satisfaction was an understatement — but in this case any noise was good noise. ‘Wasn’t that fun?’ said Lestrange, leaning down so her breath blasted him in the face — minty-fresh thanks to Ginny making sure she’d cleaned her teeth earlier. ‘Yeah,’ said Harry shakily as his muscles slowly unclenched. ‘A real scream.’ Lestrange placed her wand in the hollow of Harry’s neck. ‘Bye-b —’ The door blew in, Harry screwing his eyes up as splinters pelted him. He could feel Lestrange turn toward the door. ‘Av —’ He jerked his body, knocking her off balance. ‘Stupefy!’ yelled Ginny. Lestrange went limp, falling off him and landing on the floor with a thump. Ginny’s worried face appeared above him. ‘Harry?’ ‘I’m fine,’ he said, ignoring the lingering memory of the cruciatus. ‘You?’ She nodded. ‘Rudolphus didn’t bother tying me up, so I kneed him in the crotch then stunned him as he was curled up on the floor. Harry, they —’ ‘— posed as our children from the future,’ said Harry as Ginny’s eyes filled with tears. ‘It was them the entire time Ginny. Lily and James never existed.’ ‘Are you sure?’ she whispered, her voice barely audible. ‘Absolutely sure?’ Harry nodded, the pain in Ginny’s face turning the cruciatus into a distant memory. ‘Lestrange admitted it. If it weren’t true she’d have been taunting me about having killed our children.’ Ginny choked back a sob. Harry started to move his arms to hug her, but stopped as the ropes bit back into his wrists. Ginny sniffed and threw her arms around him, crying into his shoulder. Harry wasn’t sure how long they lay there, him frantically blinking tears away and Ginny crying freely. Ginny’s warm weight on top of him was soothing almost, a bit like hugging James or Lily but in reverse, as it were. ‘Sorry,’ she said quietly after she’d cried herself out, shifting on the bed so she wasn’t lying on top of him anymore. ‘I’m just so... so relieved.’ ‘It’s alright,’ said Harry. He frowned: Lestrange had gone, or been moved by someone. He felt himself flush. He really didn’t fancy being seen with Ginny lying on top of him. ‘Ginny, could you...’ Ginny got up and untied his feet, then his wrists, her eyes going wide when she saw the raw, red marks on his wrists. Harry was painfully aware that one or another of them should have made some sort of comment by now, even if it wasn’t really funny, but all his mind could focus on was the image of Lily turning into Bellatrix Lestrange. ‘Thanks for saving my life,’ said Harry softly as Ginny sat back down next to him, rubbing his left wrist between her hands. ‘Snap,’ said Ginny, turning to look at him with damp eyes. Harry closed his eyes, trying to wish the images away. ‘I’m trying not to,’ he said. ‘I’m trying not to.’ ‘We ought to go downstairs,’ said Ginny, placing his wrist across his chest and standing. Harry nodded and shifted over the warm spot where Ginny’d been and sliding his legs off the bed. They stood there in the dark, looking into each other’s bright eyes. ‘Voldemort ought to have known better,’ said Ginny eventually, turning toward the door. ‘They do say not to work with children or animals.’ ‘Yeah,’ said Harry. ‘That’s got the bitch coming and going.’ The rest of that day passed in blur of bad news, activities to try and forget what they’d just heard, and more bad news. The Order were scurrying around frantically trying to limit the damage and improve security, horrified by the sheer amount of information Bellatrix had uncovered and transmitted to Voldemort via her diary — which promptly copied the entry to a second diary in (presumably) Voldemort’s possession. Ginny eventually consented to go and play Quidditch with Harry, Ron and the twins in an attempt to take their mind of the reports coming in. Didn’t really work, but Harry enjoyed the game while it lasted — and the look on the Weasleys’ faces as Ginny blew them out of the water. But the bad news kept rolling in: Tonks and Remus were missing, assumed dead; Mad-Eye’d been arrested by the MLE for breaking and entering; Kingsley and Mr Weasley were facing enquiries; Fudge hushed up the re-capture of the escaped prisoners the same way he did their escape; and Fudge dismissed the Lestranges’ statements that Voldemort was back as the ravings of lunatics. And, worse than all of that put together, he’d spent the last fortnight loving the Lestranges. He went up to bed early, preferring to brood in privacy rather than downstairs where Mrs Weasley would fuss over him and Ginny — something neither of them wanted. He didn’t make it past the first landing, however, ending up standing in the doorway of Bill and Charlie’s room, staring at his children’s empty beds. He felt Ginny’s presence before he saw her. ‘I thought I’d find you here’ she said quietly, ducking underneath his arm and standing by him. ‘You escaped too?’ ‘Do you see a mug of hot milk in my hand?’ Harry smiled. She stepped closer and snaked an arm around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder. ‘I know that they were the Lestranges,’ said Ginny as he gingerly put an arm around her shoulders. ‘That James was a twenty-seven year old Death Eater, and Lily was a sadistic, psychopathic fanatic...’ She shifted slightly to look at the two beds in the cold shaft of moonlight. ‘But we miss our children anyway,’ finished Harry. ‘School would have been difficult,’ said Ginny, leaning against Harry again, so close all he could smell was her shampoo. ‘But...’ ‘That’s what private tutors are for,’ said Harry. He felt her smile. ‘Thanks, Harry.’ ‘For what?’ he said, looking down at the top of her head. ‘For just being you.’ They both flushed. ‘I can’t believe I’ve just said that,’ muttered Ginny, loosening her hold on him. Harry decided to keep his mouth shut to keep his feet out of it. He was surprised Ginny’s long red hair wasn’t literally aflame given the amount of heat pouring off him. ‘We’d best go,’ said Ginny after they’d stood there in the moonlight for several minutes. ‘You think Mum’s bad now, she’ll be worse if she finds us in here mooning over their beds.’ ‘Yeah,’ said Harry. She pulled him into a hug, Harry’s arms sliding tightly around her of their own accord now. ‘Goodnight Harry,’ she said softly. ‘’Night Ginny,’ he said as they released each other. Harry turned and watched her until she disappeared into her room, leaving nothing behind but the scent of her strawberry hair. |
| Reviews 16 |
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