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SIYE Time:19:40 on 28th March 2024
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It Happened One Night
By SunDevil05

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Category: Post-OotP, Buried Gems
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: Angst, Drama, Fluff, General
Warnings: Death, Sexual Situations, Violence
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 1042
Summary: Harry and Ginny make a decision that changes their lives....
Hitcount: Story Total: 253588; Chapter Total: 10215







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A/N: So here you go. The next chapter. I am trying to work as fast as I can on this but please realize that I do work at two jobs and I'm in the middle of summer school. I am trying the best I can!

Anyway, read away and enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: You know the drill.




Chapter Twenty Two


Harry ran a hand through his slightly damp hair as he stood outside his locker in the boys locker room near the Quidditch pitch. He was exhausted and all he wanted to do was sleep. Ron had been brutal in all their practices since their match against Slytherin was at the beginning of next month, which meant they had two weeks left, which meant that Ron would become even more ruthless.

He sighed and opened his locker to retrieve his clothes. Harry pulled out his jeans and noticed that a small piece of paper fell out. He bent down and picked it up. A flicker of pain came across his face as he stared at the picture of James on his toy broomstick.. Regardless of what Ginny had said at Christmas, Harry had snuck the broomstick out of her trunk and put James on it. He managed to keep him on with a little magic and snapped a quick picture of it before stowing the toy broomstick back in Ginny’s trunk without her knowing. To prevent her from finding the picture he put the picture in his locker and the fact that it was in there had slipped his mind. Closing his eyes briefly, he shoved the picture back in his locker and continued to dress, his mind filled with thoughts of his family.

He kept thinking of what they looked like in the hallway the week before. He just wanted to hold them and take care of them like they deserved, but he couldn’t risk it. He wasn’t sure if he should have done what he did anyway since he still didn’t know who the spy was, but he couldn’t stand there and watch his family suffer like that.

Ron and Hermione had continued to pester him about talking to Ginny and, like always, he told them he couldn’t. Even Remus had held him after class and talked to him about it on Monday morning. Harry was just about to leave when Remus called for him to stay. Once the last student had left, Remus had asked Harry why James was with Ginny all the time. Harry explained about the argument he had with Ginny and that they were separated at the moment. Remus had looked shocked at the revelation and immediately told him what he thought. He told Harry he was being ridiculous and it would only make things worse. Harry did not want to listen so he quickly said he was late for his next class and hurried out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

It seemed that since that conversation, Harry couldn’t turn a corner without seeing Ginny and James. It was driving him mad to see them all the time. His natural reaction was to go to them and be with his family, but if he was going to keep up this charade, he had to ignore them and pretend they didn’t exist, even if it tore at his heart.

What was even worse was that Harry couldn’t keep his eyes off Ginny. She was constantly doing things that Harry always found so sexy, he often had to leave the room quickly before anyone figured out what sort of reaction he was having. And it didn’t stop there either. During Quidditch practice she would do certain moves that made Harry’s eyes glue to her and as a result he would narrowly miss being hit by Bludgers or find his grip loosening on his broomstick; like she had today for example.

Shaking his thoughts of how Ginny’s Quidditch robes clung to her curves as the wind whipped around her, he continued to dress.

“Ron!” a familiar female voice called. Harry stiffened as he heard Ginny’s voice.

“What is it?” Ron called back. “Ginny!”

He sounded surprised and scandalized and Harry couldn’t help but turn around to look at her.

He gulped.

There she was, standing just inside the doorway in nothing but a thin white towel. Droplets of water were still on her skin and her hair was damp from her previous shower. She clutched the towel to her and looked at Ron innocently.

Harry suddenly found breathing to be rather difficult, his throat had become dry, and he felt his face flush. Imagines of what exactly was beneath that towel flashed in his mind and he found that even swallowing was difficult.

The towel began to slip a bit and Harry caught a quick flash of familiar pale skin. Blood pounded in his ears and his heart was beating so fast, he felt like it would burst from his rib cage.

She pulled the towel closer to her and shook her hair out of her eyes, glancing in Harry’s direction. She bit her bottom lip and looked back at Ron.

Familiar sensations shot through him and he felt the urge to kick everyone out of the locker room and have his way with Ginny.

He quickly averted his eyes from the sight before him and saw that Jack, Andrew, and Blake were eyeing Ginny appreciatively. Harry shot them all murderous looks and the three boys quickly turned back around and faced their lockers. Even if he was pretending he didn’t care, no one looked at his wife like that except for him.

“What are you doing in here wearing that?” Ron demanded.

“I just had a quick question about when the next practice was going to be,” she said innocently.

“You know we won’t be here this weekend so it’s Monday, now get out and put on some clothes!” Ron shouted.

“Oh, that’s right. Silly me forgot,” Ginny said and smiled apologetically at him. She slowly turned around, glancing at Harry, and left the locker room. He didn’t see the satisfied look on her face.

Harry slammed his locker shut, muttering “Snape in a bikini, Snape in a bikini,” but it didn’t work. He grabbed a towel to hide his embarrassment. Ron frowned at him.

“Where are you going?” he asked, closing his locker.

“To take a shower,” Harry replied. “A very cold one with lots of ice.”

“What do you need a cold shower for?” Ron questioned, staring at his friend.

“You don’t want to know,” Harry replied.

And with that, he hurried to the shower stalls, turned the handle and placed a mild Freezing Charm on the spray of water.


* * * * *


Moonlight shone through the window of the seventh year boys’ dormitory later that night. The silence was pierced with the sounds of a few different snores that echoed in the room. All of the boys slept on peacefully while one was not.

Harry was lying wide awake in his bed. He couldn’t sleep. His mind was on Ginny and James, like it always was. And it didn’t help that he had yet another nightmare.

Harry sighed and sat up. Sleep was no use. He grabbed his glasses then climbed towards the end of the bed. He noticed that Neville’s snore was missing and he smirked to himself. He was more than likely having a late night meeting with Luna Lovegood in the Astronomy Tower again. Harry chuckled, thinking of the time he had caught them behind a suit of armor the week before.

He looked around the moonlit room and saw the new black dress robes sitting on the top of Ron’s trunk. The ceremony for Arthur was that weekend and Ron and Ginny were leaving right after classes on Friday. Harry was proud that Arthur was chosen for the position; he couldn’t see anyone better for the job. He smiled softly and opened his trunk. Harry rummaged around for a book to read and his hand skimmed across a familiar tome.

It was the photo album Ginny had given to him for his birthday.

Sitting back, he opened the photo album and stared down at the pictures of his family. Page after page brought him pain that tore at his heart. This was what he was giving up: his wife and his son, his family whom he loved with all his heart, all because he was trying to be a hero. Ron and Hermione were right, this couldn’t protect them. Voldemort already knew about them and after his display of affection in the Entrance Hall, it clearly showed that he cared.

He heard a familiar cry and his ears perked up. He listened carefully and heard it again and suddenly it was gone. He shut the album and silently climbed out of his bed and left his room.

Harry crept down the stairs and noticed that the silence was thicker than usual, an obvious sign that a Silencing Charm had been cast. Slowly, he reached the bottom of the stairs and peered into the common room.

Ginny was holding James, her wand in one had and she prodded at the cold fireplace. Flames leapt in the hearth and she sat in a nearby armchair, cradling James in her arms.

“I hate it when you’re teething,” she sighed. “It means I get less sleep because you’re grumpy which makes me grumpy. Do you really want your mum to be grumpy?”

Not wanting to be seen, Harry sat on the bottom stair and watched them.

“Now come on James. You need to sleep. It’s a big day for your granddad this weekend and you can’t be falling asleep in the middle of his speech. What would the press say if his own grandson found his speech to be boring?” Ginny continued to talk to James.

Ginny stood James up on her knees and gently bounced him while holding on to his arms. James babbled and laughed at her. He gazed around the room and his eyes fixed on the figure of Harry sitting on the stairs. He wiggled an arm out of Ginny’s grasp and pointed.

“Da!”

Harry couldn’t help but smile. His son was finally calling him “da” and it warmed his heart.

He noticed that Ginny had stiffened and she stared at James. She slowly turned around and squinted. She sat James back in her lap and looked away from Harry.

“Da! Da!” James repeated and tried to twist around to look at Harry. Knowing that he had been spotted, Harry stood up and slowly made his way towards them.

James grinned up at Harry and held his arms out to him.

“Da!” he squealed.

Harry smiled softly down at him and glanced at Ginny to see if she noticed. She was refusing to acknowledge his presence and did not look up. Instead, she rocked James gently in her arms and sang a soft lullaby to him. Harry sat in an armchair far from them and stared into the warm fire.

Ginny’s sweet voice traveled across the room as she sang. Harry always loved to hear her sing. Her voice was soft and gentle, rising and falling in the right places. It was soothing to listen to and Harry often found himself relaxing whenever she sang to James. Her voice was becoming softer as she went on and he chanced a look at them. James had closed his eyes and his chest was rising and falling rhythmically. Ginny had switched to a soft hum as she finished the song. She looked down at James for a few minutes before she stood up. Harry’s eyes found hers and she quickly looked away. Without a word, she went up the girls’ stairs.

Harry closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. Images of Ginny flowed through his mind. He saw her smiling at him and laughing. He saw the caring look on her face when she looked down at James. He saw the twinkle in her eye when she was up to something. He saw the passion and desire on her face when they had made love. He saw her nursing James, completely in awe of their son. A thousand more images came to him, mingling and mixing together.

He heard a sound and opened his eyes. Ginny had returned and was pushing an armchair towards him. She stopped it just in front of him and sat on it. He looked at her in slight surprise and noticed some papers and a quill in her hands.

“I think we need to have a little chat,” she said sternly. Harry sat up straight and tried to avoid her gaze.

“I don’t want to talk. I already told you I don’t want you two in my life,” he said firmly.

“Fine. Then you won’t mind signing these,” she said and thrust the papers at him.

Harry took the papers and looked them over. His eyes widened and he quickly looked up at her.

“Divorce papers?” he asked unbelievingly. She had presented him with divorce papers? He never intended for things to get this far!

“It’s what you want isn’t it? You don’t want anything to do with us so here’s the ultimate solution. Sign the papers and we’ll be gone from your life forever,” she said coolly. “You’ll have no obligations. You won’t have to pay child support or anything. We’ll change our last name to Weasley and I’ll take you off his birth certificate.”


Harry stared at her in shock. She wanted a divorce. He scanned the legal document and saw that her signature was already in the places that needed to be signed. If he signed these then he would lose them forever. What had he done?

“You’re not serious,” he said derisively and shoved the papers back at her.

“I’m very serious. You want nothing to do with us, so here’s the chance,” Ginny replied and shoved them back. She handed the quill she was holding to him.

He wanted everything to do with them! He wanted them in his life more than anything. But he couldn’t risk their safety. Taking a deep breath, Harry took the quill from her.

Ginny’s eyes were fixed on the quill in his hand and Harry looked down at the papers again. He flipped back to the first page where her signature was and held the quill over the line. His hand trembled slightly but it didn’t move any closer to the line. He looked up at her.

“Go on. Sign it,” she encouraged, motioning towards the paper. Harry looked back down and sighed.

“I can’t sign these,” he said shaking his head. Ginny sat back and crossed her legs. Harry couldn’t help but notice how much her night dress raised up her thighs when she did that.

“Why can’t you? Isn’t it what you want?” she asked. Harry closed his eyes. Of course it wasn’t what he wanted, but his stupidity and “nobility complex” had Hermione had termed it had brought him to this point. He had brought a divorce upon himself. He sighed.

“I just can’t do it, all right,” he said feeling very frustrated. Ginny uncrossed her legs and leaned towards him.

“Why is that Harry?” she whispered. Harry looked down at the papers, avoiding her face.

“Because I can’t do it,” he replied quietly.

“Why can’t you?” she asked. “It would protect us wouldn’t it? Keep Voldemort away from us.”

Harry’s head snapped up and he stared at her.

“Think about it Harry. It would be the ultimate way to show that you don’t care, wouldn’t it? Everyone would think that you really didn’t love us and want nothing to do with us,” she said. She slid off the armchair and kneeled in front of him on the floor. She covered his hand that was holding the quill with hers and he felt a tingling sensation shoot through him. It had been so long since he felt her touch that a thrill coursed through him from the simple feeling of her hand on his once more.

“All you have to do is sign your name. Just a few strokes and you’ll have your wish,” she whispered and lowered their hands to the paper. The tip of the quill touched it and Ginny looked up at him.

“Just a few strokes.”

Ginny moved their hands and Harry watched as the ink seeped through the paper and made a black line. She stopped and looked up at him again. “But you say you can’t, even though according to you it would protect us. Yet, I don’t see how that works. See, Voldemort knows about James and me. By you leaving us, it changes nothing.”

She moved their hands again and Harry knew he had to stop her. He pushed his hand back to stop her from lengthening the small line. Ginny looked at him again.

“Tell me Harry,” she said. “Can you honestly tell me that when you look at James, you hate him? Did you feel hate when you saw him a few moments ago and when he called you ‘da da’?”

Harry felt her move their hands and he pushed back again.

“Can you honestly tell me you don’t love him? That you don’t want to hold him and be a proud father?” she went on. She raised her other hand and held it against the side of his face. Harry couldn’t help but look in her eyes. “Can you look at me and tell me you don’t love me? Can you say that you hate me and want nothing to do with me?”

His breath was coming short now and his heart was beating fast.

“Harry, this little act you’re putting on isn’t going to work. I would have seen through it earlier if I wasn’t so hurt by what you said, and believe me that really hurt. I’m not letting you get away from us like this Harry. I love you. I always have and I always will and nothing you do will change that.”

She dropped his hand and lifted her other hand to place it on the other side of his face. She leaned up and kissed him softly. Harry closed his eyes and felt wonderful sensations floating through him. The familiar feel of her lips on his felt wonderful and exhilarating. His heart was beating madly in his chest and he felt the feelings that only Ginny could ever give him tingle in every part of his body. He wanted to kiss her forever.

All too soon, it ended and Harry looked into her eyes. Anxiety was swimming in the pools of brown along with hope and love.

“Tell me you didn’t feel anything,” she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion for the first time that night.

He didn’t reply.

Harry lowered his face and crushed his lips to hers. He felt the papers crinkle between them and he dropped the quill. Ginny reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Harry slid out of the armchair and they ended up on the ground without breaking the kiss. He pushed her gently onto her back in front of the fire and all thoughts of legal papers and signing things left their minds.

Half an hour later, Harry and Ginny were entwined in each other’s arms. They laid beneath a blanket that Ginny had conjured up for them and the fire had reduced to a few embers. Ginny snuggled up to Harry and sighed.

“You realize that the last time we made love was New Year’s,” she said.

“Well we can’t let that happen again. As far as I’m concerned a few days is much too long to wait,” he said. Ginny giggled. He smiled and sighed. “Do you have any idea what sort of torture you’ve been putting me through?”

“What torture?” Ginny asked innocently. He looked over at her and saw the twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

“You know what kind of torture I’m talking about,” he said. Ginny propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him.

“Indulge me,” she prompted. Harry rolled his eyes at her and ran a hand up and down her arm.

“The revealing clothes, that little walk you do, the way you twirl your hair in your fingers, the way you bite your lip when you do your doing your homework, the little faces you make, the way you look in that Quidditch uniform, those moves you do on a broomstick that I wish you were doing to me during practice,” he said and grinned. “Not to mention earlier today when you happened to come into the boys locker room to ask Ron a question in nothing but a towel.”

“Torture, you say?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, Ginny, torture. Very painful torture,” he said. She smiled.

“Pity I didn’t get a chance to torture you some more,” she sighed. Harry frowned at her.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked. She grinned and leaned close to his ear.

“I was going to make an appearance in the common room wearing that red lacy thing you love so much,” she whispered. His eyes widened as the mere thought of her in it.

“Well, then don’t let our making up stop you from doing that,” he said. Ginny giggled and pulled away from him.

“You know I did all that because I knew you about your little game,” she said.

“You did?” he asked. Ginny nodded.

“Originally I thought of getting the twins to send you some brand new joke they wanted tested and then I thought about flirting with other guys, but I knew none of those things would really work. So I thought of just showing you exactly what you were missing. I knew you were just pretending and if that was true then I would have no trouble getting any reaction out of you. So I made sure you saw me doing all those things that I knew drove you crazy,” she said. Harry chuckled softly.

“Well that definitely worked,” he said. He looked up at her and raised his hand to stroke her cheek. “But that wasn’t all of it.”

“It wasn’t?” she questioned, frowning slightly.

“No,” he sighed. “No, the ultimate torture was watching you and James and knowing that I couldn’t be with the two of you. It hurt so much to watch you being so tender and loving to him like you always do, and watching his face light up when he’s with you. I just wanted to hold you both forever and never let go,” he said.

“Why didn’t you?” she asked, lowering herself to lie next to him again.

“Because I was afraid that if the spy saw it, then you two would be in danger and I wasn’t about to do that,” he said. “I know it was a stupid thing to do and trust me, I kicked myself every day for it. I’m sorry I put your through that.”

Ginny sat up again, propping herself on her elbow once more and looking down at him. She held out a hand and traced a finger up and down his jaw line.

“You know I’m still mad at you for all this,” she said softly. Harry raised a hand and ran it through her fiery locks.

“I’m really sorry, Ginny,” he apologized. “I don’t know how to show you how sorry I am.”

She smiled gently at him and it was replaced with a wicked grin. “You already did.”

Harry grinned and kissed her. She smiled and stared down at him.

“Seriously Harry. It really hurt. What you did, what you said, it was horrible. I thought I did something for you to act like that,” Ginny said. “I was so upset. And poor James! Do you know how much he missed you?”

Harry sighed.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you and James. I’ll never do anything like that again,” he said.

“You better not. The next time you do something like this, which better be never, I don’t want to wave divorce papers in front of your face again. I’m just going to chain myself to you and put a charm on it to make it permanent,” she said.

“Being bound to you forever? That sounds rather nice actually,” he said. “There’s a word for that you know. It’s called marriage and I definitely like being married to an angel like you.”

“Oh Harry, that’s so sweet,” Ginny smiled and settled next to him again.

Silence fell over them. Harry knew that everything wasn’t perfect between them yet but he would do anything to get it back to perfect again. All he knew was he wanted Ginny and James and would never push them away again.

“Do you have dress robes?” Ginny suddenly asked. Harry frowned at looked at her.

“I think so. Why?” he asked.

“Dad’s ceremony. You have to be there. All of the family does,” she said.

“Don’t they all hate me right now?” he asked. Ginny sighed. The day after Ginny had seen her brothers in Hogsmeade, several of them had sent Harry howlers and put in their two cents on what they thought about him.

“They might. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine tomorrow. Just treat me like a queen and act like my slave and all shall be well,” she said. Harry smiled and kissed her forehead. She smiled softly at him and a serious look came across her face.

“Don’t ever do that again Harry. Don’t you ever push us away,” she said. “I know you want to protect us, but Harry just because you pretend to hate us doesn’t mean that we’re safe,” Ginny said.

“I know,” Harry replied and sighed heavily. “I just can’t stand the fact that something could happen to either one of you and I want you to be safe.”

“And you don’t think I don’t know what you’re feeling?” Ginny said slightly indignant. “What do you think I feel every time you throw caution to the wind and end up in a situation where you could get killed? Do you think I like to see you in danger? Do you think I don’t worry about you? All I want if for you to be safe, but I know that can’t always be true.”

He looked shamefully at her. Ginny placed a gentle hand on his cheek.

“Harry, I know your intentions were good. I know that you love us and want us to be safe and I want the same for you. And I also know that when it comes down to it, it will be you and Voldemort and that scares me to no end,” she said. She bit her lip and she felt tears come to her eyes. “I know that I could lose you and that thought is so frightening to me.”

“Ginny —” Harry began, but she silenced him.

“No, let me finish,” she said, forcing the tears back. “I have a feeling that time is coming soon, and in the case that I do lose you, I want my final memories of you to be happy. I don’t want to remember these weeks where I thought you hated us. I want to remember what a wonderful father you are to James and what a loving husband you are. I want to have your smile imprinted on my mind always. I don’t want to remember a cold and hateful person; I want to remember the man I love.”

She couldn’t stop the tears this time and Harry pulled her close to him.

“Oh Ginny,” he whispered. She looked up at him with tears falling spilling from her eyes.

“Promise me I won’t lose you,” she whispered tearfully.

“I promise,” he replied. He pulled her to him again and held her tightly. “I promise.”

They held each other, clinging to one another desperately.

A clock chimed somewhere in the common room and Harry realized just how late it was. Ginny had begun to doze off in his arms and he smiled at her.

“I hate to leave you, but we sort of should be going,” Harry sighed.

“Nooo,” Ginny moaned and held on to him. “You’re nice to sleep next to.”

“And I like sleeping next to you, but right now we’re back in separate rooms,” Harry sighed. Ginny pouted.

“That’ll just have to change tomorrow,” she said and sat up. They dressed again and made sure that there were no signs of their nocturnal activities in the common room. Ginny picked up the papers on the floor and stared at them.

“You’re not seriously considering going through with this, are you?” Harry asked, his voice sounding slightly panicked. After what had just happened between them he hoped it wasn’t part of Ginny’s continuing torture. She looked up at him and shook her head then turned to the fireplace. She pulled out her wand and prodded the fire. It sparked and a soft flame started. Ginny took the papers and ripped them in half, then threw the pieces into the fire.

Harry put his arms around her waist and they watched the papers curl and turn into black ashes. Once the flames had completely engulfed the papers, leaving nothing but ashes and no sign of a nearly broken marriage, the couple turned and made their way to the stairs. With a lingering kiss, they said good night and went to their separate rooms.


* * * * *


Neither Harry nor Ginny slept for very long. They both woke just after the crack of dawn and immediately moved their belongings down to the Head Boy’s room again. Somehow, they managed it without waking their roommates and before they knew it, they were back in the same room, together once more.

James was more than happy to be with his father again. His little face was lit up with joy as his father bathed and dressed him for the day. Ginny smiled at them as Harry attempted to put shoes on their son and James enjoyed a game of Roll Away From Daddy.

“Da!” he squealed as Harry picked him up after he was dressed. Harry beamed at him and bent down to pick up his school bag. He kissed James’ forehead and smiled at him.

“Ready?” Ginny asked. Harry looked at her and nodded. They shared a kiss before leaving the room for breakfast.

All present in the Great Hall were surprised to see Ginny and Harry enter with smiles on their faces and James in Harry’s arms. Those who noticed it first nudged their friends who turned to look and would turn back to their friends and talk about what they had just seen. Neither one of them seemed to have noticed anything go on for they continued to make their way down the Gryffindor table. They took seats and began to fill their plates. Harry tied a bib around James neck and pulled out a jar of baby food to feed James.

Ron and Hermione had entered the Great Hall, talking quietly about how worried they were about Harry and Ginny, when to their surprise they spotted Harry spoon feeding James and sitting next to Ginny. They exchanged looks as they made their way closer and had a silent conversation with their eyes on who was going to ask them what was going on. Ron lost. They sat down and they both looked at Harry and Ginny.

“Er, Harry, Ginny?” Ron said quietly.

“What?” Harry replied, catching some food dribbling down James’ chin that he had spit out with the spoon.

“What’s going on?” Ron asked.

“What do you mean?” Ginny asked, looking up from her plate.

“I thought that you two were separated or something,” Ron said uneasily.

Harry and Ginny exchanged looks. Ginny smiled softly at him and turned to her brother and her soon to be sister-in-law.

“We had a long talk last night and we worked things out,” Ginny said.

“You did?” Hermione asked, looking a bit surprised.

“Yes, we did,” Ginny confirmed.

“I realized what I was doing was completely ridiculous and rather stupid,” Harry said, glancing at Ron and shoving the spoon in James’ mouth.

“About time,” Ron grumbled and glared at Harry. He smiled. “I’m glad you did.”

Harry smiled and looked at his wife and son. “Me too.”

“So does this mean that there won’t be a divorce?” Hermione asked, looking anxiously at Ginny. Ginny nodded.

“None whatsoever. We burned the papers last night after we made up,” Ginny explained and Hermione smiled.

“Good, so now I can talk to you about wedding plans this weekend without feeling awful,” Hermione sighed in relief and beamed at Ron.

“Definitely,” Ginny replied and smiled at them.

The four of them began to discuss the plans for the weekend when Neville cautiously approached them. Harry glanced at his friend and saw that he looked pale and it was obvious that he hadn’t had much sleep the night before.

“Have fun with Luna last night?” he asked, grinning knowingly. Ginny looked at Neville in surprise, then glanced at the Ravenclaw table where Luna was reading the latest issue of The Quibbler upside down again. Neville simply stared at him for a moment with a blank expression before slowly nodding his head.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking very apologetic. “I’m really, really sorry.”

Harry and Ginny looked at him in confusion.

“For what?” Ginny asked, concerned for her friend.

“For . . . for,” he began.

He seemed to have a hard time finding the words to say, his face screwed up in some sort of inner battle. He stared down at the table, fiddling with a napkin in his hands and both Harry and Ginny were starting to worry about him.

“For barging in on you two,” he finally said.

“Barging in on us?” Harry repeated, looking very confused. Neville nodded.

“Yeah, I went to . . . to . . . to see, er Luna last night and when I got back I sort of saw you two doing stuff in the common room,” Neville explained, his cheeks becoming a bright red. “I — I didn’t mean to do it and I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Harry was turning red himself and Ginny’s face was matching her hair. “That’s, uh, that’s alright Neville. We really didn’t notice you come in.”

“We were a bit too loud to notice anything,” Ginny muttered under her breath, smiling to herself at the memory.

Ron was staring at them in shock.

“You were having sex in the common room?” he asked in shock. He shuddered in disgust.

“Oh shut up Ron. I swear, if you say something else about that I’ll turn your dress robes bright pink and hex you to next Tuesday,” she growled at him. Ron shrank back into his seat and moved his attention to his plate.

“I’m sorry,” Neville whispered and Harry noticed he looked somewhat frightened.

Neville stood up and left the Great Hall, hands stuffed in his pockets and his head bowed.

Ginny turned to look at Harry.

“Something’s bothering him,” she said, watching Harry feed James another spoonful of baby food.

“It’s these bloo — the N.E.W.Ts. He’s really worried he’ll fail,” Harry said, setting the jar and spoon down and picking up a napkin to clean James off. “And to be frank, so am I.”

Ginny thought for a moment. “Yeah, you’re probably right. He’ll do fine and so will you.”

Harry smiled at her and continued to clean up James.

Harry had insisted on keeping James with him the whole day. He wanted to make up for lost time and wanted Ginny to have a break. Ginny had given in, kissed James and Harry good bye and made her way to Care of Magical Creatures.

Harry made sure that James was taken care of then he got out his supplies for Defense Against the Dark Arts. He arranged everything on his desk and waited for class to begin.

Remus smiled at the sight of them and approached Harry. Harry glanced up at his professor and saw a smile on his face.

“Good to see you thinking straight again, Harry,” he said quietly. Harry nodded in agreement and looked down at his son. Remus smiled at the infant and made his way to the front of the class.

“Good morning everyone. Today we are going to talk about what sort of spells you can use to protect yourself and your loved ones,” Remus began, looking pointedly at Harry. Harry sank in his seat slightly. Why didn’t I think of that? No, I had to be stupid enough to nearly lose my family trying to protect them, he thought. “Now there are potions you can make that help to protect your loved ones as well as spells. However, since this is a defense class we will be discussing the different shields you can use for protection. Today we are going to practice a Shield Charm that most of you should know by now. Protego. Wands out and I want everyone to practice casting the charm.”

Voices mingled together as the class said the charm aloud. Harry had no trouble performing the task as he had done it numerous times before.


“Good! Very good!” Remus said after he called the class to stop. “Now, we are going to expand that just a bit. We are going to try a charm that will cast a shield around yourself and another person. Protego cingo casts a shield around other people as well as yourself. This is a fairly difficult Charm to do since you are using more of your magical energy to protect more people than yourself. I want you all to try to cast the spell on yourself and a partner.”

The class divided up and tried the variation of the charm. Remus wasn’t kidding when he said it was difficult. Harry wasn’t able to cast the charm on himself and Ron. Both tried again and again, but neither managed to get it. Harry sighed and checked on James. He watched as his son stared around the room in interest. James caught his father’s eyes and smiled.

“Da da da da!” he squealed and reached up for Harry. Harry wondered if it would work if the other person he was casting the spell over was smaller. He knelt down next to James and tried it out.

Protego cingo!” he said and managed a weak shield over himself and his son. It flickered for a few seconds and then it faded away. He sighed and tired again, getting the same results.

“At least it sort of works,” he sighed and leaned over to gently kiss James on the forehead. He stood up and continued trying out the charm.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur and before Harry knew it, he was trying to get James into a jumper and look presentable.

“James, will you stay still and let me get this on you!” Harry chased after the infant as James quickly crawled towards the bed. He giggled at his father and tried to go under the bed. Harry caught him in time and scooped him into his arms.

“Gotcha!” Harry exclaimed and sat him on the bed. Harry quickly tugged the jumper over his head and was able to finish dressing him.

“Harry, did you get everything you’re going to need?” Ginny asked as she placed her dress robes in Harry’s trunk. They had decided to use one trunk for the three of them since they were only going to need things for two nights.

“Yeah,” Harry replied as he picked up James and put him in the carrier. He fastened him in and handed James a teething ring. James immediately began to chew on it.

“Okay, now we need to shrink the swing, the crib, and the stroller. Oh! Did you get that from the broom cupboard in the Entrance Hall?” Ginny looked up at her husband.

“Yes and I already shrunk it. We just need the crib and the swing and we should be set,” Harry replied and waved his wand at the aforementioned furniture.

“Good,” Ginny said. “You have your dress robes in here, right?”

“Yes dear,” Harry replied, scooping up the tiny furniture and handing them to her.

“And there’s enough toys for James?” she asked.

“Yes dear,” Harry replied.

“And we have enough nappies as well?” she asked again.

“Ginny, we have everything. It’s only for two nights, love,” he said. Ginny sighed.

“I know, I just want to be prepared,” Ginny said and closed the lid.

“All set then. Dumbledore said that a house elf was going to take care of our trunks. Hermione wasn’t happy to hear that,” Ginny giggled and stood up. She looked over at Harry. “Ready to face the angry mob?”

Harry sighed and placed his hands on her waist.

“Not really,” he sighed. Ginny smiled and leaned up to kiss him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll deal with my brothers. I’m a force they don’t want to reckon with,” Ginny said. Harry smiled and let her go. He picked up the baby bag and Ginny picked up James in the carrier as he began to nod off.

“Let’s go then,” Harry said and they headed out of their room. They met Ron and Hermione in the common room and they all went down to the Entrance Hall together where Professor Dumbledore was waiting for them with a Port Key.

The Headmaster smiled gently at the approaching group. His eyes twinkled with approval when he saw that Harry was with them. He nodded slightly at Harry and Harry returned the nod, slipping his hand onto the small of Ginny’s back as they walked.

“Good evening,” Professor Dumbledore greeted them and the teenagers returned the greeting. “Now, I want to assure you all that you will be safe for the weekend. Extra wards and Aurors are stationed everywhere as well as Order members. There is nothing you need to worry about concerning your safety. However that does not mean you should forget about keeping constant vigilance.”

The four of them nodded at this, each of them thinking of Mad-Eye Moody at the Headmaster’s last words.
The elderly wizard pulled out a battered book and held it out to them.

“This will activate in one minute. Enjoy your weekend,” Professor Dumbledore said and smiled at them. Each of them reached out a hand and waited.

Harry glanced down at James and saw that he was fast asleep and the teething ring was hanging limply in his hands. He hoped that traveling by Port Key would wake him, but somehow he doubted that. It wasn’t long that Harry felt a tug around his navel and the Entrance Hall had disappeared from his view.
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