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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny, Other Genres: Angst, Drama, Romance Warnings: Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 713 Summary: Can love survive, no matter what someone does to destroy it? Hitcount: Story Total: 154213; Chapter Total: 6560 Awards: View Trophy Room |
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Author’s Note: And…we’re back! So sorry! Little bit longer of a hiatus than I intended, but such is life. Thanks to all my betas for their great work and support throughout this bit of a drought. I truly have the most amazing trio of HP fanfic fanatics helping me get this piece out to you guys. Speaking of my betas, I was given strict instructions to add a warning here about this chapter, but I’m not sure exactly what to say. Perhaps avoid beverages, food, and other choking hazards while reading? Have a loved on standby to check up on you? Avoid operating heavy machinery for at least twelve to fourteen hours after completion of said chapter? Or maybe it’s not as shocking as I think it is. Please let me know what you think when you’re done. Bound by Blood Ginny winced as she stood and worked her arms through the sleeves of the jumper. Truthfully, she had been fibbing a little bit when she told her healers how much better she was feeling. It was necessary, though. They wouldn’t release her from the hospital until she was able to get out of bed and walk around the room, so she had gritted her teeth and slowly made her way from the door to the windows, keeping her moans between her lips as she did. It had been an hour ago and her legs still felt a bit wobbly, but it was worth it. After two and a half weeks in the hospital, she and her baby could go home. She smiled down at him as he peacefully explored the world from his bassinette. Her baby snored loudly. He latched onto her breast with the ferocity of a dragon. He burped in her ear and spit up on her shoulder. He wanted to feed the second she needed to go to the loo and would demand to be held until her arms felt ready to fall off. In between all that, he would cry until his face matched the natural red hair he had been born with before depositing an astonishing amount of runny excrement in his diaper. In short, he was perfect. Carefully, she sat down on the bed again and pulled his bassinette close. “Are you ready to go home, sweetheart?” Ginny asked him. “We get to leave today and go back to Hastom. That’s where we live. Now, our house isn’t quite ready yet so we’re going to be staying with Harry for a while.” At his name, the Snitch’s hair turned black for a moment before settling back to canary yellow, the same shade of the wall he was staring at. Ginny smiled and whispered softly, “You know him, don’t you? I’m not surprised. He’s been camped out here with us. I’d chastise him about being more smothering than your Grannie except that I like having him here too much. You seem to as well. Do you like Harry? Because he sure does like you.” The baby cooed loudly, as if to say, “Of course he likes me, Mummy. How could anyone not?” “So we’ll be with him for the near future and we’ll finally get to open our Christmas presents at his house, even though it’s nearly January. Well, you get to open your presents. I’m a grown-up now. Father Christmas spends all his time on little ones like you, not on old biddies like me. Now, uh, he didn’t exactly expect you to be coming as soon as you did so I don’t want you to think there’s going to be a mountain of presents there. That’s not what Christmas is about. It’s about being together as a family, and you have no idea how lucky we are that we’re going to be together.” “We’re all lucky.” Her mother’s voice from behind her startled Ginny and she fought not to yelp. Molly sat beside her on the bed and cooed at her grandson before wrapping an arm around Ginny. “So very lucky.” “Mum, please don’t cry again. Then I’ll cry again and it’s only noon, and I promised myself today I’d only cry three times before three o’clock. I already used up two in the shower and the other when I couldn’t find matching booties for him.” “Oh, hush now. I’m just happy that you’re finally leaving here and going…going back to Hastom.” Ginny pulled back and stared her mother straight in the eye. “Mum, for the last time, I have to go back. If I went to stay with you now, I wouldn’t be able to become a citizen.” “I just don’t see the harm in you coming to the Burrow with me and your father,” Molly huffed. “The couple we rented to just bought a home in Scotland and with your father still trapped in that blasted cast, we can’t continue the rest of our trip.” She glanced sadly back and forth between Ginny and the baby. “Just for a week or two, luv. I’m sure if you asked the people on this Council, they’d agree that you should be with your mother now.” Ginny sighed and rested her head against her mother’s shoulder. “I can’t ask that, and even if I could, I wouldn’t,” she told Molly, keeping her eyes on her son. “I need to do this by myself.” “Ginevra, I appreciate that you want to take care of him on your own. Any decent mother understands that urge. But you are still weak from this whole terrible ordeal and you need help.” She tensed underneath her daughter’s touch. “Not to mention that you don’t even have a proper home built yet.” Ginny tried to stay calm. After all, it wasn’t time for a cry yet. Not until after three. “Harry is taking time off of work so I have help with the baby, and Nell is going to check in with me every day. As for my house, it’ll be built when I become a citizen. Until then, I-” “Have to live with a young man whose heart you broke many years ago. A heartbreak I fear he may never have recovered from.” Ginny tried to turn away from her mother, but Molly kept a tight grip on her shoulders. “In my soul, Harry is my son as much as you are my daughter, and I don’t want to see either of you suffer any more. You both drifted away from the family when…when things ended badly last time. I just can’t bear to see that happen again if your living situation becomes untenable.” “Mum, we’ve been living together for months,” Ginny explained, doing her best to ignore her own anxiety of what was to come when she left the confines of St. Mungo’s. “Not with a baby you haven’t. It’s an enormous leap to go from two to three.” “Harry’s told me before that he wouldn’t mind if the baby and I stayed with him, dozens of times, and he’s even using his vacation days to help until I’m back on my feet, and there’s a room at his house all ready for the baby,” Ginny said in a rush, so as not to dwell too long on any particular point herself. Bringing the baby home was stressful enough without adding her wrung-out heart to the mix. “And…and you’ve seen him here in the hospital with the Snitch. Harry’s fine with him. Wonderful, in fact.” Molly opened and closed her mouth before she sighed and nodded slowly. “He is,” she agreed. “My dear girl, shouldn’t that tell you something? Something important? Something that you need to discuss with Harry?” What exactly? How amazing he’s been? How grateful I am to have him with me and the Snitch right now? Or how about how I feel guilty I can’t remember something that happened between us at the ball that obviously mattered a great deal to him? Really, Mum, which should we hit first? There had been no discussion of the ball since the night she had woken up. Every time she tried to broach the subject with Harry, he brushed it off, telling her it wasn’t important or not to worry over it before bringing her a home-cooked meal or taking the baby while she freshened up in the shower or any other of dozen things he had done to make her stay in the hospital manageable. When she had asked Nell if Harry had said anything unusual about the ball, Nell told her that he hadn’t said anything to her. Ron and Hermione had given her similar answers. Bart was another story, though. Just last night, Ginny had finally gotten a moment alone with him, as they went over the travel plans for today, and when she asked him the same question she asked the others, he hesitated before he answered. “It’s something you need to talk about with Harry,” Bart finally said when she pressed him. Nell bustled back into her room then, leaving Ginny no chance to question Bart any more. How lovely for everyone, that they all seemed to know exactly what she required most in life. “I need,” Ginny said to her mother, “to leave this hospital that smells far too clean and go to see if the lake in Hastom has finally frozen over; to see if Bart has enough ale at the pub to tide the hordes over on New Year’s Eve and if Councilman Stellner’s hellebores have bloomed yet.” She snuggled deeper into Molly, hoping she could avoid any further mention of Harry right then and just enjoy the few moments she had left with her mother before they were separated again. “I need to go home, Mum.” Molly’s shoulders trembled as she fought to regain her voice. “Yes,” she eventually said. “Yes, you do.” She sniffed and clasped Ginny’s hand tightly. “Just remember that someday, this little boy is going to say something like that to you, and believe me when I tell you that as a mother, it’ll hurt. Parenthood will break your heart a thousand times over. Every sniffle, every wound, every break-up, and every owl that brings a booklist in the summer will crush you, but none of that compares to when you realize that your child belongs to someone else the way they belong to you.” “It’s worth it, though,” Ginny whispered. “Isn’t it?” “Ten thousand times over,” Molly promised. She turned and kissed her daughter’s forehead, lingering for a moment. The peace of mother and daughter was interrupted by a squawk from the bassinette. Immediately, Ginny pulled back and reached for her son, cuddling him close, despite the flare of pain in her stomach that shot up when she lifted him. “I can’t decide if he looks more like Dad or Bill,” she said, examining the miniature features on the boy’s face. “The nose and his forehead are certainly Dad’s, but his mouth and his jaw seem to favor Bill.” “He is beautiful.” Molly leaned in and placed a smacking kiss of the baby’s nose. He gurgled and the women giggled softly. With a soft touch, Molly tucked a stray hair behind Ginny’s ear and let her finger brush against Ginny’s cheek until she came to the corner of her eye. “I think I most love his eyes. They’re yours, you know.” “They’re ours,” Ginny corrected gently. The sound of laughing voices in the hallway caught Ginny’s ear and she swallowed back the sudden onslaught of fear welling inside her. The moment of freedom–the moment her life was to begin anew was upon her. Biting her lip, she turned to her mother one more time. “I…I can do this, right? I can be a good mum? Like you?” “Of course you can,” Molly told her purposefully as the door opened and Bart, Nell, and Harry entered the room. “You have no choice. He needs you to be.” “Well, what I need,” Bart said, catching the tail end of the conversation, “is to get you to leave your husband, Mrs. Weasley, for a real man such as myself.” He bent at the waist to place a kiss on Molly’s hand before helping her to her feet. “This little dance of ours has to end eventually. Might as well give in and just stop fighting it.” Molly scoffed and swatted Bart’s hand away before taking him into a big hug. “Oh, Mr. Nixon…even if I wanted to, you couldn’t handle me.” “Mum!” Ginny groaned, shaking her head in disgust at the mental picture she now had in her mind. Even Harry looked a little green around the gills. The flirting pair both laughed as they pulled back. Molly took his face in her hands and said, “Now, I expect to see you and your lovely wife often this summer at my home. Preferably with at least one baby in her belly.” “Mum!” Ginny repeated, chastising this time. Instead of reddening, Bart only nodded once. “I will take that under advisement.” Nell ducked her head and smiled a little as she gave Molly her own hug. Ginny glanced at Harry in question and he only shrugged his shoulders in response to their friends’ behavior. “As for you, young man,” Molly told Harry after she released Nell, walking over and pulling him into her arms, “I want you to take good care of my daughter and my grandbaby.” He smiled warmly at Ginny over Molly’s shoulder when he answered, “I will. I promise.” “And I want at least an owl a day from one of you,” she continued, turning back to glance at Ginny, “as well as Floo calls whenever either of you has a question, morning, noon, or night. Do you understand?” “We do.” “And pictures. Lots and lots of pictures of him,” she continued. “You have no idea how much he’s going to change every day.” With a choking little wheeze, Molly pulled away from Harry. She looked him up and down from head to toe with raised eyebrows. “When was the last time you ate anything? You’re far too skinny.” Harry simply smiled at her. “I’m fine, Molly.” She ignored him, addressing Nell. “There is food in his house, isn’t there? I can send something along if he doesn’t have any. I think I have a pot roast that I can-” “We’ll all be well and fed,” Harry assured her. “No one that you’ve ever taught to cook has gone hungry and if you remember from that summer after the war, I was an excellent student.” “Yes, you were,” Molly agreed, giving his cheek a loving pat. Returning to her daughter’s side, she pulled Ginny and the baby into one last embrace. “You will be a wonderful mother,” she murmured to her daughter one more time. “Thank you.” Ginny held the baby up for Molly to say goodbye. “Give our love to Dad. How has he been, going get up and down stairs with a cast on his leg?” “He’s been living on the couch and will continue to do so for for the next two months. It’s a pleasant reminder to him of all the nights he spent there when the twins were teething.” Smoothing her hand through the Snitch’s downy hair one last time, Molly bid them a slow farewell and left for the Apparition point. This is it, Ginny thought, gathering her courage and her strength. Time to go home. Time for motherhood to truly begin. “Ready to head home?” Nell asked, giving Ginny’s chart one last check. No. “Yes,” she said out loud. Handing the baby off to Harry, she let Nell run her wand over her for a final internal exam. “There’s still scarring in your abdomen from the removal. It’ll be hard for you to move around on your feet, but you’ll recover quicker if you can manage to walk each day. We’ll just keep you off the stairs for a bit, and no lifting the baby up on your own for a few weeks.” “Nell, I-” “If you want to go home now as opposed to sticking around here for a few more days, then you’ll follow my orders to the letter. I’ll check in with you every afternoon and besides, you’ll have…help.” Ginny shot a quick glance at Harry. He was too busy mumbling what sounded like a plan to build a snowman in the front yard to be being pay attention to anything else. “Did Fleur send over the crib?” Ginny asked him. “Uh, no,” he told her, bouncing on the balls of his feet with the baby. “But don’t worry,” he continued when he saw her start to panic, “I…I had some of Teddy’s old things in storage. The room’s all made up, the one across from yours.” “But that’s Teddy’s room. I don’t want him to be put out when he comes to visit you.” “Ginny, its fine. I talked about it with him, how that room will be better for you and the Snitch because it’s closer to yours.” The baby heard his nickname and flailed an arm out of his blankets. Harry caught it and rubbed the tiny, sleeper-covered arm between his thumb and forefinger. “Teddy was happy because now he gets the much bigger spare room that overlooks the lake and all his old furniture is cleaned up and waiting. Everything’s all ready for this little man. Okay mate? Are you excited to go home?” Harry asked the baby happily, who squirmed in reply. He was so engrossed with the baby that he didn’t notice the raised eyebrow Bart threw at him. Ginny did, but the image of Harry with the baby was just too memorizing for her to care. “I’m sure he can’t wait to see what Hastom is like when he’s outside of me,” she said quietly. Her heart was tender and aching as she watched her two loves life interact. “So,” Bart said, clapping his hands, “we ready to get this show on the road?” “Sounds good to me,” Nell answered. “Harry, want to give the baby to Bart so you can take Ginny?” He looked very much like he didn’t want to. With all the wards and enchantments he had securing the house, it was safer to have Harry Apparate into the house with Ginny and Nell (who needed to assess Ginny immediately after travel) and have Bart Floo in with the baby once Harry lowered the wards. Ginny was no happier about it than he was. It felt wrong to not have the baby with her, even if it would only be for a few brief moments. However, the real danger would be having the Snitch injured during Apparition by any sudden movement he may make. “Alright, fork him over,” Bart said, gesturing for Harry to give him the Snitch. Ginny bit her lip in worry. “Are your hands clean?” “Yes, I washed them today,” Bart told her with his hands still out. “When?” “Um, I don’t know. Last time I went to the bathroom.” “Which was?” “An hour ago, Nervous Nancy. He’s not going to catch Ebola from me holding him for five minutes,” Bart groused. Ginny folded her arms across her chest and turned to her best friend. “Nell, would you mind-?” Nell held up her hand in understanding and said, “It’d be my pleasure.” With the speed of a Seeker going for a fluttering gold ball, she yanked backwards on her husband’s ear. “Ouch!” “Are you going to stop being a smartass?” “Yes.” “Are you going to take seriously that you are in charge of this child’s safety during travel?” “Yes.” “Are you going to-?” “Yes, yes, yes. Whatever I need to say yes to so you’ll release my ear, then yes!” Nell let him go and he glared at her. “You know, there are some women in this world that don’t love inflicting bodily injury to their husbands.” “Yes, darling, but those women aren’t married to you now, are they?” Bart considered this before he nodded in acceptance. “I suppose you’re right.” “As always,” Nell added quickly. “Fine, fine. You, Wife, smart. Me, Husband, buffoon. Now that that’s settled, can I have my godson so he and his mother can finally go home?” Harry brought the baby over to Ginny one more time and bent so she could say goodbye. “You be a good boy for Uncle Bart,” she whispered to her son, placing her lips against his soft forehead. “He’s going to take excellent care of you. It…It’ll only be for a few moments. You won’t even miss me. Promise.” Reminding herself that the sooner she let him go, the sooner they could begin their brief separation and end it even quicker, Ginny pulled back and nodded to Bart to take the baby. “All right, buddy,” Bart said to the newborn as Harry slowly passed the Snitch over, keeping his hands underneath the baby until the boy was fully nestled in Bart’s stiff arms. “You are under my care and supervision for the time being, so you know what that means? No pooping whatsoever. For real, if I see or smell baby poop, I’m going to faint. That’s no joke. I’m not proud of it, but that’s the deal, kiddo. I’d also appreciate it if we can keep the peeing situation under control. I won’t faint if I’m peed on, although there is a small chance I could cry…” Bart’s voice faded as he took the baby out of the room. There was such a strong part of Ginny that wished to chase after them; to snatch her child back and put him in her arms where he belonged. “He’ll be fine,” Harry assured her, rubbing a comforting hand up and down her back. “He’ll probably just fall asleep and not know that anything happened.” She looked up at Harry to find his eyes still on the door Bart had just walked out of. Nell cleared her throat a little. “Harry, if you’ll be so kind to take the patient, we can get her home in her own bed.” Shaking his head, Harry leaned down and lifted Ginny easily into his arms, cradling her against his chest. Looping her own arms around his neck as he stood straight, Ginny fought to keep herself from shaking as her skin nearly sizzled at the notion of being pressed so close to him. Nell was barely able to keep her smirk in check when she joined them. Shut it, Ginny told the healer with her eyes. No, I don’t think I will, Nell taunted back, tucking herself into Harry’s side. Harry’s breath brushed against Ginny, gently ruffling her fringe. “Do we have everything? Bags and shampoo and what…whatnot?” Nell held up the duffle full of Ginny’s belongings. It rattled and rustled, the Extendable Charm on it allowing room for all of the flowers, balloons, and letters of well-wishes Ginny and the baby had accumulated during their stay. “Okay then,” Harry said with a nod. Shutting his eyes to concentrate, his head dipped slightly until his forehead grazed Ginny’s. Her breath caught just as the Apparition began, and the weight of the world pressed into her from all sides. It was over almost before Ginny realized it had begun. The shock of release made her gasp out loud as Harry braced his feet to steady their landing on the hardwood floor. “Are you alright?” Harry asked. Immediately, his eyes moved up and down her body. “Did you Splinch? Do you need-?” “I’m fine,” she rushed to reassure him and Nell, the healer’s wand already scanning over Ginny. “The Apparition just caught me off guard.” “Are you sure?” Harry’s grip didn’t loosen. “Maybe I should bring you back. Have them run more tests to make sure everything’s fine.” Ginny shook her head, trying to regain control of her voice. “What you should do is lift the wards and open the Floo connection before Bart traumatizes my son for life.” She offered a small smile. “Or, more likely, that the baby traumatizes Bart.” “Right,” Harry agreed in kind. As carefully as he could, he lowered Ginny down into a chair, his nose brushing against her hair as he settled her, and left the two women alone in the room while he went downstairs. It wasn’t until Ginny leaned back that she realized Harry had put her into a rocking chair. “Oh,” she sighed quietly, looking around the room she was in. The walls were the softest blue, with white clouds doting all around them. Squinting, Ginny was surprised to see the clouds moving ever so slowly. The sleigh crib and changing table were the exact same cherry wood as the rocking she sat in, and a veritable army of box-new stuffed animals waited in the corner to be played with. The crib was handcrafted and looked more expensive than every piece of furniture in the Burrow; a pair of small, hand-drawn sketches of what looked like woodland creatures hung over it, two deer from the looks of it. A small marking rested on the headboard in elegant script. Squinting, Ginny couldn’t tell what it was; perhaps an “F” or a “P”, maybe even a “B”. The entire room smelled clean, with hints of talcum powder and fresh linens filling Ginny’s nostrils. The only thing it was missing was her son. “I can’t believe he went to all this trouble,” she said to herself. “I can,” Nell chimed in. She knelt beside Ginny and ran her wand down from Ginny’s head to her toes, hues of grey and light yellow popping up over various points along Ginny’s stomach. Other than a bout of slowly receding soreness, the Apparition had left her none worse for the wear. After all the colors faded, Nell looked up at Ginny with grave eyes. “He cares a great deal about you both.” Unable to speak at her friend’s bluntness, Ginny only stared down as Nell continued. “You have no idea how scared he was the night of the ball or in the hospital in the days before you woke up. I’ve never seen him so…so…unglued before. The only thing that kept him from completely losing it was the baby. Harry never left him alone, not once he was cleared by the healers.” “My mum mentioned that,” Ginny said feebly. This conversation was driving quickly to a place she wasn’t ready to arrive at. “Did she also mention how Harry called in nearly every favor from every Auror in his department so that St. Mungo’s was under tighter security than the vaults at Gringotts? Or that he had experts brought in from all over the world to check up on you and your son? Or that he didn’t sleep more than five minutes at a time to make sure the baby was safe?” “Nell, please-” “No showers, no strolls for fresh air, no life outside the nursery of St. Mungo’s. As a healer, I would have expressed concern over his bathroom schedule except for the fact he wouldn’t drink more than a sip or two of water every few hours nor did he trouble himself with eating more than a piece of stale toast.” Nell leaned back on her haunches and folded her arms. “Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?” Ginny bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling. There were even floating clouds up there as well. “I think you’re trying to tell me that you’ve come up with a new definition for neutral,” she answered. “You could have died,” Nell told her. “The baby could have died. The both of you could have easily slipped away from the Earth, and I don’t like to imagine what would have become of my friend Harry if any of those things had happened.” From downstairs, they heard the fireplace flare to life and the muffled voices of Harry and Bart start to drift up the stairs. “My son is finally home. I’m not doing this now,” Ginny muttered darkly. “Fine,” Nell relented, standing up and brushing the dust off her pants as the voices got closer, “but if you think I’m going to let either you or Harry get away with this for much longer, then you’re sorely mistaken. Neither of you were ready to deal with this before. However, if we keep waiting for you both to be ready, you’ll be gray and wrinkled before you decide the timing is right. There’s just too much at stake to do this delicately anymore.” Great, Ginny thought. Because all I need right now is for my friends to start meddling in whatever mess I made with Harry. The only thing that could keep her frustrations at bay arrived in Bart’s arms. As soon as Bart brought her son across the threshold, Ginny held out her arms for the baby. “Oh, I missed you,” Ginny cooed to him once he was in them, relishing how familiar his weight against her had become. “Did you miss Mummy? Did you?” Bart scoffed. “Please. It was maybe five minutes. The kid didn’t even know…” Ginny turned her hurt brown eyes up to him and he quickly backtracked. “I mean, he was inconsolable, obviously. Not out loud, per se, but I could tell that on the inside, he was in agony.” Ginny frowned and rearranged the blankets more securely. “Too much the other way, luv,” Nell said to him. Bart nodded, examining the room. “And I knew it, too. Just couldn’t reel it back in.” He whistled loudly, turning in a slow circle. “I love what you’ve done with the room, Harry. Truly top-notch work, buddy.” “Thanks,” Harry said, leaning against the doorway with his hands tucked in his pockets. His eyes lingered on Ginny rocking with the Snitch and she smiled. “No, thank you. It’s beautiful,” Ginny said sincerely. “I couldn’t have imagined anything better.” “You’re welcome.” He returned her smile with shy one of his own. “It wasn’t all me, though. Everyone in the village pitched in something or another. The quilt in his crib is from the Wallaces and Cy Gentry helped me with the wall enchantments.” “Mrs. Alverez sewed the curtains herself,” Nell added, “the Brouman boys built the toy chest, and Councilwoman Elton made sure the cupboards were filled with baby bottles.” “Not to mention the garden of flower bouquets, and the piles of fruit baskets and cakes that have commandeered the living room and kitchen,” Bart chimed in. “From the village and from your son’s many outside admirers. I think he’s getting more marriage proposals than you at this point.” “They didn’t have to-” “We take care of our own here,” Bart cut her off. “And there’s also a bassinette in your room,” Harry continued. “I know it’ll be hard for you to get around at first, and I figured you’d want him close.” Ginny ducked her head and nodded in appreciation of all the love she felt around her. How well Harry knew her, even with this new person called Mummy she was slowly becoming. “You know, I’ve got to say,” Bart began, “that this furniture looks a little different from the last time I saw it.” There was a strange glint of amusement in his face as he stopped beside Harry, who stared back at him in annoyance. Nell frowned a little as she studied the crib and ran a hand over it. “It does, actually. Wasn’t it white when Teddy was younger?” “Honey, I think that you’re right. It definitely had some ivory overtones to it a few years back.” He raised his eyebrows at Harry in question. From the look he was given Harry, it seemed like he already knew the answer. “Did you, uh, change it up a little? Go for something more traditional, perhaps?” “Yeah,” Harry replied slowly. “That’s exactly what I went for.” Giving a more genuine smile to the women, he told them, “I fixed it up the Muggle way last night when I came over to straighten up. I put a new coat of finishing on everything to spruce things all up.” “Finishing? Is that like paint?” “Yes, Ginny, it is exactly like paint,” Bart said helpfully. “But–and correct me if I’m wrong–doesn’t it take quite a bit of time for paint or finishing to dry, old pal?” Harry’s smile bordered on venomous as he turned back to answer Bart. “Not if you dry it the magical way it doesn’t.” Bart wrapped an arm around Harry and tugged him into a friendly headlock. “So smart. So, so smart this guy. He’s got all the answers.” Harry laughed along him, but reached up behind Bart to give his hair a painful tug. Bart released him, still smirking to himself, while Harry sheepishly scratched the back of his head. What was that about? Ginny wondered. The baby started moving his mouth open and shut, nuzzling against her tender breasts, little whimpers escaping from him. Ginny turned her attention back towards her son. “Guys, why don’t you put together some lunch for us while Ginny feeds the baby?” Nell, ever the caretaker, asked Bart and Harry. “Sure,” Harry replied, turning on his heel for the door. Bart remained where he was. “No, I’ll stay.” “She needs to breastfeed him, give her some privacy.” “But I want to watch!” “Bart!” “Are you joking?!” Ginny cried out. She pressed a hand against the neck of her shirt to hide as much skin as possible. “I’m sorry, what did he just say?” Harry asked, coming back into the nursery. “Not for the reason you sickos assume I do!” Bart told the room at large. “I just…I’ve been told it’s a special experience that is quite lovely to be behold.” “Well, you won’t be beholding it with me, that’s for damn sure,” she muttered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. My mistake for thinking that a friendship like ours was blind to exposed nipples and,” Bart gestured towards his torso, “chesticle areas.” “Oh, sweet Merlin,” Nell groaned into her hands. “Harry, please get him out of here.” “Gladly.” With a gentle tug, Harry pulled him backwards from the nursery. Bart dragged his feet. His eyes pleaded with his wife and Ginny. “I really am sorry.” One look at the earnestness of his face and all was forgiven. It always was with Bart. “We know,” Ginny assured him with a tiny smile. “I won’t ask again.” “Thanks.” He shrugged at his wife. “I just wanted to learn, that’s all. For…that thing we talked about.” Nell’s entire demeanor softened. “I know.” Bart finally gave into Harry’s tugging and left. Unbuttoning her blouse with one hand, Ginny looked expectantly at Nell. “What’s all that talk about learning?” “Nothing.” Nell fluttered over to the dresser and opened a drawer, pulling out the carefully arranged sleepers and refolding them. “We, that is to say Bart and I, ar-are expanding our intellectual pursuits, as we all should in our lives. He just…He’s become interested in feeding rituals of diff-different cultures of the world. That’s all. That’s all there is to it.” “You lie worse than anyone when you’re put on the spot.” Ginny gasped slightly as the baby latched on. “I wasn’t lying!” “Fine, whatever you say. I’m not going to make you tell me. Unlike some people, I know when I should stick my nose in-” Nell flew back to the chair, knelt beside Ginny and blurted out, “I went off the potion!” Ginny blinked in surprise. “I’m sorry?” “The birth control potion, I poured it down the drain last week.” She squealed with joy. “I’m having unprotected sex!” “So you mean you’re…” “Trying to give you a godchild of your own.” Nell beamed, her eyes watering. “Oh Nell,” Ginny sighed happily. “That’s wonderful. I’d hug you, but there’s a person attached to me.” Nell settled for giving Ginny’s knee a squeeze. “We just…we were watching the baby through the window at St. Mungo’s when Bart turned to me all of a sudden and said…” She trailed off, smiling at the memory. “I’m so happy for you.” There was no child that could ask for better parents than Bart and Nell. Their child would have a tender heart of steel, like their mother, and fierce desire to see the world smile, like their father. And hopefully, her own son could gain a friend for life from their offspring. “I mean, I know logically it’s going to take some time to conceive. It might take up to six months for everything to get back on track internally. I just can’t seem to stop myself from wanting to buy playpens and parenting magazines.” “How’s Bart doing with everything?” Nell’s smile dimmed a bit. “He’s…He’s adjusting. He says he’s ready every time I ask, but after we…” She glanced at the baby and frowned “Complete your mating rituals?” Ginny supplied. “Yes, after that he gets so quiet. I think he really wants a baby, but the reality of it still terrifies him.” “He has time. The stork isn’t dropping the baby off on the doorstep tomorrow.” She smiled down at the Snitch. “In the meantime, you guys are welcome to help out with this little wizard whenever you want.” “I will take you up on that offer more times than you’ll be comfortable with.” The both sat listening to the gentle suckling echoing in the room for a few moments until Nell spoke again. “Ginny?” “Yes?” “You need to talk to Harry.” “Nell…” “Something happened at the ball between you two. When I told him you had woken up, there was something in his eyes that just came back to life. I saw him getting you flowers and trying to comb his hair out, getting all spruced up to see you, but then nothing happened after you talked.” “For the last time, I don’t remember anything about the ball or anything we may have talked about.” “You could try restorative therapies. There are potions you can take, charms that can be performed that will allow you to remember…” She paused at the look of distress that came over her friend’s face. “I don’t want to remember almost dying and losing my child,” Ginny said quietly. “You said…you told me I was conscious and that I knew what was going on when you found me. There’s no prize that’ll be worth remembering something as awful as thinking that my baby was going to die inside of me.” “Even if it helps you to have a future with the man you love?” A pause. “Yes. Yes, that’s right.” Nell eyed her suspiciously. “Is that what you really think, in your heart of hearts? That remembering a few moments of terror is too frightening to handle rather than remembering whatever happened at the ball with Harry?” Nell’s eyes sparked with realization. “Or is it the other way around? It’s too scary to think of moving forward with him so you use your son as an excuse. But why am I not surprised? You’ve been using him that way all these months.” Ginny only looked down at the Snitch in reply, emotion welling in her throat. There were disadvantages to having a big sister sometimes. “I don’t know what was going through your head before you took a sip from that goblet,” Nell said in Ginny’s silence, her tone softening. She propped her chin up on the armrest. “I do know that it’s perfectly natural for you to feel guilty over drinking the Thead, even though you have absolutely no cause to be. You did nothing wrong; on the contrary, you did everything right, Ginny. You got yourself help as soon as you realized the danger. But if you believe that having a future with Harry is too scary to even try, then it’s something you need to work through. Preferably with Harry, and preferably before this one is potty-trained.” “I just got home with him,” Ginny said, transferring the Snitch to her other breast amid his mewling protests. “This isn’t the time to make any sweeping changes.” “Well, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you’re holding a big old pile of sweeping change against your tit right now.” “I know, I know,” Ginny agreed off-handedly. She rocked gently with her baby boy. There would be a time when the world outside the peace she had now invaded her life. For now, she’d simply take these moments while she was permitted them. If she had known how long peace would actually last, she might have tried to treasure it a little more. ****** “WAHHHHH!” Bloo dy hell, he’s a screamer. Mum was telling the truth about Weasley babies after all, Ginny thought, fighting the urge to put her pillow over her head and block out the noise. That was no longer an option. Wincing, Ginny pushed herself up until she was leaning against her headboard, eyes half-closed. “Harry,” she called wearily to him over the baby’s cries. “He’s hungry.” The camp bed propped by the door groaned and squeaked along with Harry as he rolled out of it slowly. He didn’t even bother putting his glasses on. Waving his hand as he shuffled across the floor, the lights brightened gently until Ginny could make out the bassinette when Harry leaned over it to retrieve the baby. “Okay, mate,” he mumbled, holding the wailing child close to his chest, rubbing his hand soothingly down the length of the baby’s back. “Shhh…It’s alright. Mummy’s nearby. I’m taking you to her.” Easing down onto the bed, he waited patiently while Ginny unfastened the last button on her nightshirt before effortlessly passing the Snitch to her, who latched onto his mother and immediately began suckling. It was a dance that the three of them had become intimately familiar with over the last four weeks. Since Ginny had still been so weak from the double whammy of a Caesarean and the poisoning, she needed Harry’s help with lifting the baby. Feedings during the day were easier; Harry could simply Apparate to the baby and bring him to Ginny if any of the trio were in different rooms. The nighttime feedings had proven trickier, though. Harry risked hurting himself if he couldn’t concentrate fully on his location so Apparition was out, and even with Monitoring Charms near his bed, it still took him a few minutes sometimes to arrive in Ginny’s room. Listening to her son’s cries when she didn’t even have the strength to rise to comfort him was a torture so painful, even Voldemort couldn’t have conceived of it. After two nights of this, the solution came to be Harry sharing the room with her on a rickety bed that was older than Ginny’s great Auntie Muriel. He woke up every two hours, along with Ginny and the baby, and he wouldn’t go back to his rickety bed until the Snitch was in his own. Harry never complained, not once. In fact, unless Ginny’s eyes deceived her during these late night times together, she swore she could see him smile more than frown. Even now that most of her health had returned to her, she didn’t know how to tell Harry he could go back to the comfort of his own bed. During the daytime, in the brief spells they weren’t busy caring for the baby or catching up on rest, there was hardly any time for words. Real words, to be more clear. She and Harry talked of things like the few editorials she had started writing or the different eateries Harry had visited in his global travels or the three page letter from her Mum detailing the benefits of letting the baby use a dummy. They chatted for hours about Quidditch and what to have for supper and how many nappies one baby could go through in one day. They had visitors all the time: From Nell and Bart’s daily visits, to their little Snow Owls wanting to meet the future member of their team, to their other friends in Hastom who all wanted a peek at the little baby the outside world was so eager to see. And as exhausting as his weekend visit had been, Harry and Ginny had both marveled over how sweet it was to look at young Teddy trying to teach the Snitch to change his nose into a pig snout. But the night was different. The night was when Ginny didn’t try as much to cover herself when she fed; she was too tired at that point to care, unlike the daytime when she always had a blanket on her shoulder. The night was when Harry wasn’t running all over the house, trying to keep it in some form of order and trying to break Ginny out of the mild post-partum blues she would get occasionally. At night, he was simply still with Ginny and the baby. Sometimes he dozed off for a time, but he never left their side until the feeding was complete. The night was when they were quietest; brief whispers of nothing more than a few words. There was no room in either their days or nights to discuss things like balconies or hospital stays or the ever-approaching end of their living arrangement or anything that resembled the past or the future. How was one supposed to think of anything other than the present when the present was warm and inviting in your arms while he nursed at your breast? As he drank his fill, Ginny took her son’s hand and examined it as close as she could in the soft light. Already he had changed greatly since she had first held him in the hospital. His brown eyes didn’t squint curiously at her anymore. Instead, they were wide and held her gaze easily. He had already outgrown some of his clothes and screamed bloody murder if Ginny tried to swaddle him now. And just that morning, his biggest change yet: his first smile, a gummy burst of sunshine that took Ginny’s breath away. Was it really possible for someone to transform so much in only eight weeks? “I can’t believe how much he’s grown,” Ginny heard herself say out loud. Harry picked up his head to glance at her. “I mean,” she struggled to say, “I know he’s the same baby I met at St. Mungo’s, but at the same time…” “He’s so much more now,” Harry finished. He gave a half-smile to the infant, the child completely absorbed in only his sustenance. “It’s like he’s starting to become a real person all of a sudden. You think of all the things he’s going to get to do someday and it freaks you out a bit because you say to yourself, ‘How is he ever going to be big enough to get on a broom or go to school? He’s going to be this small forever.’” Her emotions crept up on her and Ginny felt the start of tears in her heavy chest. “I actually think of all the things he won’t get to do.” “What do you mean?” Harry asked as he shifted carefully to face her on the bed. “He’ll never hurl Dungbombs at people with his Uncle Fred. He’ll never get a lesson in Defense from Remus. He’ll never get his picture taken by Colin. There are so many wonderful people that will only ever be names and faces to him.” Carefully, she reached up and caressed the baby’s soft lime-green locks. “I can’t stand it sometimes.” “I know,” Harry agreed. His gaze drifted back to the baby, pressed tightly against Ginny’s breast. Why didn’t it make her uncomfortable to have him witness something so intimate? “But you can’t let those thoughts linger. He’s…He’s going to have an amazing life, filled with family and friends and all sorts of people who love him. It hurts that there are people–amazing, brilliant people–that can’t be beside you to watch him grow, but that doesn’t mean they’re not here. Every single time he gets upset and reaches for a bite of chocolate, I know that’ll be Remus saying hello, and every frog he puts under someone’s pillow is an, ‘I love you,’ from Fred.” His green eyes turned to her tired brown ones solemnly. “The ones we love never truly leave us. A brilliant, complicated wizard told me that once, and I promise you that it’s true, Ginny.” “I believe you,” she said, sniffling quietly so as not to disturb the baby. “I don’t know why I keep dwelling on things like that. All the books and Nell and my mum and…well, every other woman with children I’ve talked to said that I should expect to be emotional and weepy for the first weeks. I just never figured it’d be like this.” “Blasted hormones,” Harry joked. “They really make a mess of things, don’t they? I can’t even imagine what they’re like on your end.” She bit back her laughter. “I’ve learned to just hang on when the swings start. I’m not crazy. I have been better the past couple of weeks, right?” “Yes, you have. But you’ve got a pretty stressful day tomorrow. Or today, I should say. Center of attention, the whole village watching as you become a citizen. I know I just wanted to get it over with.” Ginny averted her eyes and nodded. Harry was right, it was stressful to her to realize that her citizenship was upon her, but not for the reasons Harry imagined. Later today, her six month trial was over and her mandatory boarding with Harry ended with it. Later today, she would no longer be required by law to live with him. Later today, she’d begin the process of leaving Harry. Her stomach tightened at the mere thought. After six months together, it felt almost unnatural to think of waking up and not seeing him sit across the table reading The Daily Prophet or listening to him talk about his case files in between commercials on the wireless; to not feel his hands against her feet as he rubbed them gently or inhale the air in the bathroom after he had just gotten out of the shower. How could any sane witch be expected to give all that up? If she looked out her bedroom window, she’d see the framework of her new house. The plan as of now was to have Harry and Bart finish putting it together tomorrow afternoon, just before the town gathering to celebrate the citizenship of herself and her son. Every part of Ginny screamed that the first bit of magic she should do tomorrow was to burn the entire two-story structure down to the ground. After all, if she didn’t have a house, she and the Snitch could stay here… She wouldn’t, though. It wasn’t in her nature to be destructive to property. (Being destructive to herself, she had no qualms about.) But then again, it also wasn’t in her nature to be such a coward. That’s not how Weasleys were raised to be. And yet, with the prospect of separation from the simple domesticity she had managed to create with Harry upon her, she realized that’s exactly how she had been living her life for the past six months. Well, really for nearly four years now, she had been the coward of all cowards by pushing away Harry at every turn and forcing him from her mind through sheer will. Her colors should have been emerald and silver, not red and gold. Stroking her son’s cheek as his eyes drifted shut, mouth slacking against her nipple Ginny thought of all the things she wanted her little boy to grow to be: kind, smart, funny, athletic, caring, silly, but above all, brave. She did not want him to be a coward, which meant he should not be raised by one. There was only one surefire remedy that she knew of to cure cowardliness: Boldness. “What happened on the balcony, Harry?” Ginny asked him, grateful and surprised that her voice did not squeak like it had when she was eleven. His look of shock was almost comical. Perhaps there could have been a better time to tackle this subject other than a three am feeding. But boldness did not wait for what was convenient. “Tell me,” she prodded Harry, propping the baby over her shoulder to burp. “Whatever it is, just tell me. I want to know.” “W-Why?” Ginny kept her calm by concentrating on feeling her son’s heartbeat over hers. “Because if I leave this house tomorrow to live just a few minutes away, if I’m not sharing a roof with you anymore,” she said, “I’m terrified I’m going to keep finding excuses to run away from whatever we have and whatever we could become someday. It may be easier to run, less scary, but it doesn’t make it right. I’ll never regret running all those years ago because it gave me him.” The baby stirred and she paused to soothe him. She breathed in her son’s scent; it always made her feel so pure, so hopeful. “But running also taught me how easy it is to lose one’s self by something as gutless and petty as fear. I don’t want to live life afraid anymore, Harry. I don’t want my son to be afraid of anything in life. So if that means we need to come to terms with whatever happened to us that night or…hell, whatever happened to us over these last six months, then that’s what’s going to happen.” She pleaded with him silently, hoping against hope for another chance she didn’t feel she was entitled to. It took Harry a moment to recover, his eyes going back and forth between her and the Snitch. The surprise finally gave way to acceptance and he nodded. Taking a deep breath, he held his eyes on hers so there was no room for doubt. “You said,” Harry told her, “that we’re not just friends.” Now it was her turn to be shocked. “I said that?” “You did. Believe me, it’s not something I’m likely to forget.” Shaking her head in disbelief, Ginny sputtered, “But you…you started…I was reacting to something you-” “We danced at the ball, a slow dance,” Harry began with a small smile, laying a hand on her knee over the bedcovers. She felt his warmth straight through the fabric and it helped ground her a little. “Afterwards, you got this strange look on your face, like you had worked out an unsolvable riddle or something, and you asked me to talk on the balcony. The waiter…” Harry’s face darkened and his grip on her knee tightened for just a second. “The waiter gave you the Gillywater then, but you didn’t drink it, just took it with you. We went outside, and it took you a few tries to finally say what you wanted to.” “W-Which was?” “Verbatim, I can’t say. The sum of it all was that you had spent the past months convincing yourself that I didn’t want anything more from you than friendship and that you were happy with that. But you weren’t. Happy, that is. You wanted more from us and you wanted to know if I did, too.” It seemed impossible to believe. If Ginny wasn’t holding the baby, she would’ve pinched herself; she was sure she was in a dream. For all her talk of boldness, there was never a scenario she could ever imagine when she had made the move to change things. Never, not in her wildest dreams, did she believe she could have been capable of that. In her dreams, though, Harry didn’t have three-day old scruff along his jaw and he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt with a spit up stain on the left shoulder. So it must be real then, she thought in wonder. “Did you say anything…in return…or…?” Ever so slowly, Harry leaned forward until his nose was almost touching hers. Breathing became a feat she couldn’t master. After a short hesitation, he moved up and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I agreed with you wholeheartedly before I raced over to kiss you,” Harry said into her skin. He had kissed her?! There were scores of things the Thead could have erased from her memory: Riddle’s diary, Fred’s death, the time she walked in on Ron and Hermione playing Headmistress and Student. Why did it have to take away something as beautiful as Harry’s lips against hers? “We kissed?” Ginny asked breathlessly. Harry pulled back, though he stayed much closer to her than before. “Unfortunately, no. Kingsley Shacklebolt has possibly the worst timing in the history of both man and wizard.” She couldn’t help it. She started giggling at the absurdity of it. “The Minister of Magic interrupted our fairytale kiss under the moonlight?” “No, he sent a lackey,” Harry said with a laugh. “But yeah, I suppose it was just rotten luck on everyone’s parts.” A shadow crossed over Harry’s face and he pulled back a little more. “So, uh, I told you we’d talk, that I’d only be a few minutes, and I-I left you alone.” He swallowed deeply and focused on the Snitch’s back. “That’s when you drank it.” All she could say was, “Oh.” The totality of that night and its consequences finally hit her. In the span of what sounded like moments, she and Harry had gone from embarking on a path that had once seemed hopeless to navigate only to have it nearly snatched away by a misbegotten prank and then have it taken from then again when she awoke with no memory of the evening. If it had been a book, it would have been fiction. Science fiction. Too unbelievable to be reality. Yet she knew it was true. There were no words or pictures in her mind to support it, except for the resilient trust she had in Harry never to lie to her. “Now what happens?” Ginny asked, giving voice to the question running through her head. Their reconciliation had started passionately and stopped painfully. How did they start it again without getting hurt? What did he want from her now? Should she invite him into her bed? Should she cry into his shoulder at the injustice of it all? Should she run screaming for the hills? Should she try to kiss him? Should she…? Harry squeezed her knee once more, halting her thoughts. “We put the Snitch back to bed and get a few more hours rest. You both have a very big day when the sun comes up,” Harry said, reaching for the baby. Ginny clutched her son to her. “But shouldn’t we-?” “We have time,” Harry said simply, “for all the nonsense that we’ll have to slog through when we’re both more awake. He needs us at our semi-best to take care of him, not falling asleep into his nappies because we felt the need to try and hash everything out all at once. We have time to get to know each other all over again because even though I’m scared out of my mind for how this is all going to work out, I won’t let it rule me anymore. We have time because I know how you feel and you know how I feel. We have time because we have the rest of our lives to work out the rest of our lives.” This was joy, pure joy. Holding her son and being with the man she loved. Only one thing could make it better. Grasping the back of Harry’s neck, she tugged him close until their foreheads rested against each other. “Kiss me,” she whispered. “My breath is rancid,” he protested lightly. “I don’t give a shite.” Just as it looked as if Harry would give in, an unmistakable odor wafted up from the Snitch’s bottom. Grinning to himself, Harry shook his head. “Apparently, he does,” Harry said. “A big, runny pile of it from the smell coming off him.” Ginny groaned and kissed the baby’s head instead of Harry’s lips. “Either that, or he has his Uncle Ron’s impeccable timing.” Handing him over to Harry, she chuckled tiredly around a yawn. The combination of a newborn’s feeding schedule and the revelations of the night caught up to Ginny and she felt the urgent tug of slumber pull her down. “Go to sleep,” Harry instructed as he stood up carefully with the baby. “Big day, remember.” “And we have time.” Ginny stretched, unable to stop her body from settling back against the bed. “We have time.” She watched Harry walk out the door with her son, headed to the nursery. The baby started fussing against the mess in his diaper and Harry was whistling quietly, horribly off-key. It was a lovely image to fall asleep to. ****** Fourteen hours later, she wished she’d been able to keep her eyes open for a few more minutes. “Where is he?” Ginny asked Nell for the fortieth time. “He said he’d be here right at six o’clock, didn’t he? Is that what he said when Flooed from the Ministry? In Hastom by six at the latest?” “Yes, those were his words,” Nell said, too busy dancing lightly with the Snitch as the fiddlers played to look at Ginny. “Then why is it almost seven and he’s not here?” “Because he’s an Auror and they do not keep banker’s hours, dear.” “He’s on vacation, he’s not even supposed to be at work,” Ginny said, resuming her tight pacing in the corner of the crowded village square. The stars shone down on the revelers in Hastom, blanketed underneath all manner of Warming Charms from the night’s chill. Well-wishers stopped their eating and dancing every few moments to say hello to Ginny or coo over Brave Baby Weasley, as the Wizarding press had dubbed him in the numerous articles they wrote on him daily. Despite her mother’s assurances that the press would find a new target, they hadn’t seemed to tire of her son just yet, much to Ginny’s dismay. She was as gracious as she could be with the masses, but it was difficult. She hated taking her son out of the safety of the lake house. Out in the world, there were germs and unfamiliar dogs; Whiz-bangs that could fire off out of control, cobblestones to slip on, and people. So many people that she didn’t know everything about who wanted to see and touch her baby. Everyone that approached her seemed friendly. Ginny had even spoken with most of them before tonight without a second thought. Now, surrounded on all sides by faces, her mind was full of second and third and fourth thoughts. Is Mrs. Dorgan completely over that cold? Her nose still looks a bit red…The Bambridge sisters’ scarves are too long. What if the baby gets a piece caught in his mouth when they lean over to sneak a peek at him…How many Butterbeers has Senor Batista had tonight…For Merlin’s sakes, Chauncey Attwater hasn’t Charmed his hands clean all night! There was something confounding and suspicious about nearly everyone. Ginny knew it was irrational, a by-product of lack of sleep, overworked hormones, and the lingering trauma of her poisoning. The rational side of her brain just didn’t seem to be working at the moment. Bad luck Harry wasn’t here. He was good lately at bringing that rational side of her out. “It’s not a vacation, its personal leave,” Nell corrected, adjusting the tiny knit cap on her godson’s head. “He still had to go in for emergencies and I believe that the capture of a Russian necromancer who was plotting to revive Joseph Stalin qualified as an emergency. He’ll be here, don’t get your knickers in a twist.” Ginny groaned quietly as she glanced at her watch again. Bart had left them almost half an hour ago to try to find Harry amidst the crowd. “Please don’t make mention of my knickers in front of my son.” “It’s work, Ginny. None of us like it, but sometimes our jobs call us away from our personal lives. You know that. Doesn’t your editor want you in London tomorrow for a meeting about your first pieces for the Prophet?” “Yes, thank you very much for reminding me that I’m leaving my child for a few hours in the morning. That causes me no additional stress whatsoever. I really appreciate that.” Nell merely smiled at the infant, shifting him to the crook of her arm. “Someone’s mummy is a wee bit close to blowing her top, isn’t she?” The Snitch’s face lit up with a small smile at his godmother’s blitheness. “He smiled!” Nell gasped. “I didn’t know he could do that yet! That’s amazing!” Ginny’s lioness pride quelled her nerves slightly as she took back her child. “Yes, he can smile now,” she cooed to the baby, putting him back into the Muggle sling Hermione had sent her for a baby gift. “He has the most handsome smile in all the land.” “When did this start? Tell me all the details, don’t you dare leave out a thing.” “Well, it was just yesterday morning actually. He was lying on the changing mat in the living room while he got a fresh nappy, staring up at the ceiling and listening to Mummy humming him a lullaby.” She smiled down at him affectionately, absorbed in even the simplest move he made. “Then suddenly, he…he heard something and he smiled. I think my heart stopped beating for a few minutes. It was so unbelievable.” “What did he hear?” “Harry,” Ginny admitted, warming at the memory, “reading the article in Quidditch Quarterly about the modern history of Seeking.” The baby smiled again at Harry’s name, the roots of his hair turning jet black and clashing horribly with the cherry pink he sported with the rest of its length. “Trite load of rubbish, it was. They were completely wrong about the five greatest catches of the past five hundred years.” Ginny closed her eyes, relief coursing through her at the sound of Harry’s voice behind her. “See, told you I’d find him.” Bart slung an arm over Harry’s shoulder as the two men strode over to Nell and Ginny. “I am a man of honor and as such, I returned my friend to another friend, as requested, with all due haste.” Nell tugged her husband’s face down and kissed him full on the mouth. She licked her lips when she pulled back. “Hmm…Honey-glazed donuts. My favorite.” She winked at Harry. “Apparated right in front of the sweet stand, did you?” Bart hastily wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Being a man of honor gives you quite an appetite.” Her friends’ antics held no interest for Ginny. It seemed Harry felt the same way. They didn’t take their eyes off each other until the Nixon’s finally took the hint. “So, uh, we’ll see you both after the ceremony,” Nell told them before dragging her husband away. Harry looked divine in his Auror’s robes. Ginny had always thought so, even when he first joined. He had filled out considerably since he was eighteen years old. Hard, taut lines had replaced what were once lean edges of softness along his body. In comparison, she felt like a Flobberworm in her lavender jumper and skirt. It was the only thing that fit semi-decently. Her skin still sagged and puffed out all along her body in ways she hated; in ways that she thought made her look grotesque. Harry must not have agreed. He gazed at her as she were nothing but beautiful. “Hey,” he finally said, taking a step closer. Ginny matched his movements. “Hey yourself.” “I’m sorry about today. It truly was an emergency. We’ve been searching for Kholochev for nearly two years and he chose to surface this morning for some reason. Nell was with you, though? She helped with the Snitch?” “Yeah, we were fine. I just…” She shrugged to herself, feeling silly and nervous all at once. “When you weren’t there this morning, I thought for a few seconds that maybe you had…I don’t know, decided that it wasn’t-” “I wanted to be there, I swear on my parents’ graves I wanted to talk with you today,” Harry promised. “My work doesn’t always care what I want, though. Sometimes it pulls me away from the things in my life that are truly important to me.” He took another step and was standing right in front of her. “I know. And I’m glad that you take your work so seriously. You wouldn’t be you if you weren’t trying to protect the innocent.” Taking a chance, she brought her hand up to cup his cheek. “It just wasn’t easy not having you around today of all days. I…I really missed you.” He turned into her hand a little and brushed his lips against her palm, sending her heart racing for the hills. “Well, I missed you.” A tiny squawk from the sling pressed against Ginny’s chest grabbed their attention. Looking down at her son, Ginny smiled. “He missed you, too.” Harry took the hand that broke free from the sling and kissed it. “Yeah? Did you have a good day with your mum, mate?” “He wouldn’t let me leave his side all day, little devil. I even had to put his carrier in the bathroom while I took a shower.” “You love it. You know you do.” “I do.” She sighed looking down into the baby’s sweet face. “I have to go meet with Cuffe tomorrow morning. A business meeting, which means I can’t bring my boy with me. My stomach hurts just imaging it.” “Don’t worry. I’ll take excellent care of him. You won’t find a scratch or a ding on him, I promise.” “Won’t you have paperwork or briefings to do tomorrow because of the arrest?” “Someone else can handle it.” “I’m sure Nell wouldn’t mind-” “Someone else can handle it,” Harry repeated. It would have been a perfect time to say the words, the words she had kept locked inside her for all these years. Standing under the starlight in her new home with Harry and her son. What better way to complete the picture than taking that one last step? Ginny opened her mouth and prepared to give up that last part of herself that she had clung to for so long. A loud horn blared through the night, taking away the noise of the crowd and the peacefulness of their moment together, along with Ginny’s bout of bravery. The villagers moved closer to the small stage at the base of the ring statue that had so entranced Ginny since her arrival in Hastom. Tonight, she and her son would become a part of that mystery and beauty. “It goes by quickly,” Harry told her. “You don’t even need to say anything, just do what Sapien tells you to and it’s over with like that. Then you’ll both be citizens.” Ginny had more pressing concerns. “Then we’ll be able to talk.” Harry smiled and squeezed her hand. “Until the sun comes up and goes back down again if you want to.” “Will there be anything…else? Besides talking, I mean?” Ginny asked playfully. He gaped at her, mouth opening and closing before he smiled hugely and started laughing. Ginny blinked in surprise. She knew it was a silly thing to say, trying to be alluring when she currently had the sex appeal of a garden gnome, but she didn’t think he’d find it this amusing. “What’s so funny?” Harry caught his breath and pulled her close to kiss her forehead, wedging the baby tightly between them. “I think your memory is starting to come back.” “What do you-?” Sapien Stellner took to the center of the stage at that moment and Harry pulled away reluctantly, keeping an arm around her waist. “We’ll talk later. I promise,” he whispered. The councilman’s words blurred together until two of them were recognizable: Ginevra Weasley. With Harry’s urging, she made her way through the crowd of people with the Snitch tucked protectively to her as the villagers parted, finally reaching the steps that led her up onto the stage. Sapien smiled benevolently and took her hand to lead her to the center. The crowd watched in still silence. “In accordance with our customs, I now ask for a show of hands in favor of Prospect Weasley becoming Citizen Weasley on this night. As she carried and birthed her newborn son during her trial, under the law he becomes a citizen tonight if she does as well. With all of Hastom here, both living now and watching in the next life, please raise your hands if you are accepting of this prospect.” Many of the hands went up immediately. Some of them took their sweet time, but eventually every hand in the square was raised. A sigh of relief escaped Ginny, as did a few tears. She tried to catch Harry’s eye in the crowd, but she couldn’t find him. “We gather here tonight to witness a blessed event,” Sapien continued. “Our most scared event: Watching our home become home to another. Watching as our community, our family, accepts another. Watching as the fabric of our past and our future meet with the present. Tonight, we bestow upon Ginevra Weasley and her son the title of citizen.” Turning to address only her, Sapien spoke solemnly. “You have abided by our laws and proven yourself to be a young woman who exemplifies the traits that we desire of citizens of Hastom. In recognition of this, on behalf of the Council of Hastom, I extended to you and your child the honor of citizenship. Do you accept this?” “I do,” Ginny said. “Do promise to continually uphold those traits and values we hold dear?” “I do.” “Do you promise to do your level best to adhere to our laws and accept the consequences that come from breaking such laws?” “I do.” “Do you promise to hold close to your heart the secret of this place, entrusting it to only those whom you would trust with your own life?” “I do.” “Then please give me your hand.” Swallowing, she did just that. With the gentlest touch, Sapien touch his wand tip over Ginny’s palm until a sharp line of red blood appeared. The town elder looked down into the sling. “And now his.” Trembling slightly, Ginny lifted her son’s hand up to Sapien’s wand. Everything inside her wanted to run away, to keep her son away from the small pain that was to come. Even the tiniest pain seemed like far too much when it came to thinking of it being inflicted on him. Still, it was a necessary evil they’d both have to endure. Sapien was deft with the Snitch’s cut. It didn’t lessen how much his startled howl of pain cut through his mother. As Ginny cuddled her son close, hoping he didn’t hate her forever, Sapien turned to the statue and raised his wand to it. Slowly, the rings of the statue ceased their movement. Sapien murmured words only he could hear; with fluid ease, one of the huge colored rings detached from the hundreds of others and floated down towards Sapien’s waiting hands, shrinking down in size until it was no bigger than a teacup in Sapien’s grasp. He severed it cleanly in half and used his wand to create two rings in its place. He walked back and presented the rings to her. “These rings were once whole and they belonged to a man who was dear to my soul, Emmarius Chornin. The end of his life allowed Hastom to become your home. Someday, you will not be in this world any longer, and someone else will take this ring as theirs. It is our tradition. It is our way of life for over a millennium. Please place your blood and the blood of your child upon these rings, binding them to your magic.” Ginny wiped the quieting baby’s hand over the cool metal first before she did so with her own ring. Their wounds healed the instant the blood touched the rings. The metal glowed fierce red for a moment before settling into burgundy. Sapien nodded his thanks and went back to the statue, floating the rings back onto it. Ginny watched in awe as both rings grew the higher up they went until they settled back amongst the others. At Sapien’s command, the rings began moving once more. He turned back to her and took her face in his hands. “Welcome home, my dear,” Sapien told her quietly. With a kiss to both her cheeks, he presented her to the rest of Hastom. “It is my duty and my honor to present to you, Citizen Ginevra Molly Weasley, and her as yet unnamed son, whom we will officially call young Citizen Weasley until his moniker is chosen. Welcome them both.” The eruption of the crowd overwhelmed the baby. He cried out in protest and Ginny carefully maneuvered him out of the sling to hold over her heart. “Shh,” she tried to ease him. “They’re just saying hello. They just all want to say hello to you.” It was the only coherent thing she was able to say for the next couple of hours. The party began anew the second Ginny stepped down from the stage and from there, it seemed like everyone in the village came up to hug her and offer words of congratulations. They swelled around her until she felt breathless. The only thing keeping her tethered was Harry’s warm hand holding hers. He was waiting for her the instant her feet touched cobblestone. Through the flurry of well-wishes and compliments, of infectious music and warm foods, he was always with her. Bart was leading the remaining crowd through a dance called the Electric Slide later that night when Ginny, tired beyond words, laid her head on Harry’s shoulder. He rested his cheek against her hair. “Ready to go home?” “I’m the guest of honor. It’s rude,” she mumbled incoherently. “You’re almost unconscious at your own party. That’s even ruder.” He stood and lifted her into his arms. “Wait…the Snitch…where…?” “Nell has him. I’ll bring you home and pop back here for him.” She didn’t even feel their quick journey. One second, the party rang in her ears and the next she was being placed on her warm bed in the quiet of her bedroom. “I’ll be right back,” Harry whispered as her eyes drifted shut. It’s too cold, Ginny thought, tugging the blankets around her. Why is it so cold? It could have been minutes or hours, Ginny wasn’t sure. However long it was, Harry’s voice woke her from her dreamless sleep. Opening her eyes, she saw him hunched over the bassinette. “…and remember, it’s our little secret from your mother,” she heard him say. “We’ll give it to her tomorrow night. Until then, it’s just between the two of us, okay mate?” Harry lingered for a few moments, watching the baby hopefully fall asleep. It was something Ginny herself couldn’t get enough of doing, looking on as the baby breathed with every inch of his body and twitched his hands and feet about. She could watch her son sleep for hours and never be bored by it. Harry got his fill of the splendid sight and tiptoed away from the bassinette to his camp bed. Oh, that won’t do at all. “Here,” Ginny whispered to him. He stopped short at her words. With a weary smile, she patted the empty space next to her on the bed. “Are you sure?” Harry asked. Nodding against her pillow, she shifted slightly to make more room for him. He seemed a bit unsure still so she tried again. “I missed you.” “I was only gone for a little while.” The fatigue she felt numbed any reservations she had. “No,” she said. “You were gone much longer than that. Please…” He nodded in understanding and shucked off his shoes before climbing fully clothed in the bed beside her, keeping a foot or two of distance away from her. Nope. That still won’t do. With great care, she rolled over and pressed her back against his chest, tucking his arm around her. She sighed in satisfaction, taking in the warmth he gave her in a way no blankets or quilts ever could. “That’s better.” “Yeah, it is.” Tightening his hold, his breath stroked the back of her neck. “Ginny?” “Uh-huh?” “Do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?” “We have dinner every night,” she said simply. Sleep was beckoning to her and she had no energy for anything else. “I mean a nice dinner. A fancy dinner. With…with candles and music and maybe even a bit of dancing, if you don’t mind just moving around in a slow circle. Here at the house, while the baby’s asleep.” A fancy dinner. Candles. Music. Dancing. “You mean like a date?” Ginny felt him smile and he pulled her even closer. “Exactly like a date.” “I don’t have a nice dress to wear,” she argued sleepily. “Buy one tomorrow when you’re in London. Just say yes.” “Yes,” she finally answered, falling asleep to the breathing of Harry and the baby. ****** Alright, if everything goes according to plan, Ginny thought as she walked through the offices at lightning speed, I can get this meeting over within an hour or so, stop off at Madame Malkin’s for a new outfit, and be home by eleven o’clock. Harry has my milk if the baby needs to eat before then and if I need to, I’ll stop back at home right quick before I go shopping. I never understood how much easier Apparating makes life until I couldn’t do it. So lost in her plans for the day and the evening to come, Ginny didn’t notice the glances the people around her were throwing her way until she reached the reception area outside of Barnabas Cuffe’s office. I’m smiling like a third-year on her first trip to Madame Puddifoot’s. I must look like a loon. Speaking of, I have to send a note to Luna to thank her for… It was only by chance that her eyes caught the headline of that morning’s paper. Everything about her, including her huge grin, froze at the sight of the picture of the man posing on the front page, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief, ready to make any woman swoon and tug on her hair with desire. Except for Ginny. She didn’t swoon at those eyes. She didn’t feel giddiness or lust like any other witch when she saw those familiar blue eyes she used to look into as they stared down from above her, the sweaty blonde hair tickling against her face. Lionel Dresden’s eyes made her feel something entirely different. It was fear. But as the smile melted from her face, his eyes had nothing on the terror that quaked from deep inside her belly when she read the words over his picture: Lionel Dresden Reveals His Identity as Father of Brave Baby Boy Weasley! Exclusive Interview on Page Three! |
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