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Birth of the Potter Children | ||||||
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Category: Post-DH/AB Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Ron Weasley Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, General, Romance Warnings: Death, Intimate Sexual Situations, Violence Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 59 Summary: Third in the Almost Happily Ever After series, starting at the end of the hunt for the remaining supporters of Tom Riddle and the end of Ginny's Quidditch career. Hitcount: Story Total: 77677; Chapter Total: 2707 Author's Notes: I should be back to posting regularly, after a brief break. Jet |
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It was Tuesday, January 3, 2005. Harry, Gawain, and Arthur Weasley were in Kingsley Shacklebolt’s office talking about the upcoming months. “We know the fate of almost all the people who went missing during the reign of Tom Riddle,” Arthur said. “It was a stroke of genius to use the tapestry with the family trees at Harry’s house to find out if people were alive or dead. We have rescued almost all the people who are still alive. There are a number of people we cannot find, but because of the tapestry we know they are dead. Many of them we may never be able to find.” “Is the Middy family the one group of people that are still missing?” asked Kingsley. Harry answered, “Yes, and we do not have any good leads. The missing people are mostly shown as working. We have had a house elf working on the tapestry for months, tracing family lines back and forth. Most of the English Wizarding families are related, if you go far enough back. It has just taken a lot of tracing back and forth to find people.” “I see Al VanLente wants you to do more mapping in the Caribbean,” Kingsley said. “It is a combination of mapping and a vacation,” Harry said. “This year we seem to be taking quite a few people. Ginny and I are taking James, and Jim and Sue Shook are coming along as guards, and taking their daughter Sheryl, who is a month older than James. We are bringing Mitzi, of course, and Dobedo. Kreacher wants Fritz, Mitzi’s mate, to come as well.” “Fritz, the Finance elf?” asked Kingsley. “You know him?” asked Harry. “House elf finance is getting to be very complex, Harry,” Kingsley said. “We know him at the Ministry.” Harry let the subject drop. He did not want to get into a long discussion about the Potter/Weasley elves and finances. Monday January 17 Harry and the entourage took the closet network from Grimmauld Place to the Ministry and from there over to France and up the coast to where it connected with the North American network. One advantage of the closet network was the ability to take things like rolling suitcases along, or, in Ginny’s case, a pram. The pram had James in it, plus a lot of shrunken luggage. Pushing it Ginny did not need Mitzi holding on to her. Tuesday morning Ginny and Sue went over to buy new bathing suits. Both of their figures had changed since having children. In addition they were both still nursing. One suit style had separate tops and bottoms, but the tops were more than just bra’s. They had cloth that went down to where the swim suite bottom was. “It’s called a Tankini,” the sales person said. Ginny examined the garment, and tried one on. She felt something in the spells she was given, and looked more closely at it. There was some small writing on the inside. “Sue, see this,” Ginny said, as she pointed at the writing. “That sure looks like Middy writing,” Sue said. “Where do these Tankini things come from?” asked Ginny. “From an American company,” the sales lady said. “Where are they made?” Ginny asked. The lady looked at the garments and at the boxes they came in. “I think Pakistan,” she said. Ginny and Sue each bought one of the swim suits, and brought them back to the house where everyone was staying. The whole group was in one house, set apart from the main complex, with four bedrooms and its own kitchen and living room. “Harry, when we were given the instructions on how to do the levitation spells for these bras something reminded me of the way the Middy’s make bras. Then I saw this writing, and the style just reminds me of the Middy family. They are made in Pakistan. Could this be a lead to find the Middy family?” “Maybe, but you would be better talking to Joey and Laura La’Lanna than me. I don’t know much about bras.” “I cannot imagine why not,” Ginny said, grinning. She called Laura, and they had a long talk about bras and levitation spells and other things Harry knew little about. “Laura and Joey are going to be here in a couple of days,” Ginny said. “We have a spare bedroom, so they are coming with their four year old twins Mary and Maggie, and two year old Mark. Laura did say she was pregnant again!” It was Thursday before Joey and Laura La’Lanna could get away, but Friday morning they were at the shop selling swim wear. Between the three women you could get just about every size of bra. Sue took a smaller size, Ginny was reasonably busty, and Laura was big. All the suits in the shop could adjust to a range of sizes with magic, so the three women had a good excuse to look at all the swimwear. The one brand said “Middy” all over it. Harry and Jim looked in wonder as Joey and the three women talked about levitation spells, all the subtle ways a bra could change your appearance, and how the spells and fabric, working together, made a difference. Finally Joey said, “If we can find out where these were made I am almost sure we will find my family.” Harry contacted the International Auror’s Association, and it was agreed that after the vacation Harry and Joey were going to follow the trail of the swim wear back to Pakistan and from there to wherever it lead. Meanwhile the four couples finished out their vacation. Harry did map the island, and took some time to map a couple of other islands as well. He kept feeling that there was a major evil presence in the Caribbean, and was very glad there was an Auror couple close to them. The North American Ministry even sent over another Auror couple to fly alongside Harry whenever he was mapping. Taking a vacation with a baby was not quite the same thing as taking a vacation with just the two of them. Harry and Ginny did have some time to talk about how their life had changed. For a few years they would be tied up with little children, especially if they had more children. Ginny was gradually becoming resigned to having to focus on a limited number of things at a time. Quidditch was over, she was not going to be an Auror, so she would be focusing on being a mother of small children for a few years. “Harry,” Ginny said after they were at the resort a couple of days, “I just feel bigger and slower than before I was hurt and got pregnant.” “I still think you are the most beautiful witch in the world,” said Harry. “There is a little more of you, but it is nicely distributed.” “I don’t have a flat stomach anymore!” said Ginny. “I’m not shaped the way I was before I had James. That is why I wanted to get a couple of those Tankini things. They cover your tummy.” “You look like a cute young mother, and you are one,” said Harry. “James is worth it! You’re a fantastic mother.” “I love being a mother,” said Ginny. “I love nursing James, and when I think that he is part you and part me he is even easier to love. It’s just that I have to give up something for everything I get, sort of. It’s never going to be quite like my childhood dreams, is it, doing everything at the same time?” “No” said Harry. “The priest at St. Mungo’s and Merlin’s talked about a bible passage, that there is a time for everything. Sometimes you are building and sometimes you have to tear down. There is a time for war, for fighting, and a time for peace. I guess this is our time for having a family.” Ginny said, “A time for me to be a little fat mum. Boggarts!” Harry smirked, and said, “A time for you to be very curvy, which your husband likes!” Ginny stretched, and smirked, and proceeded to show all her curvy parts to Harry. Since they were alone, and James had just started a nap, they took advantage of the vacation time to act like a young, married couple. Monday February 21 Harry came home from work and asked Ginny, “Do you remember me saying that Cho Chang was not working so hard, and that something had happened Christmas Eve?” “Maybe? Sort of?” Ginny responded. “Cho got married last Saturday,” Harry said. “She’s pregnant, became pregnant between the engagement and the wedding.” “Some couples don’t WAIT until their Wedding Night!” Ginny said. “You don’t expect our children to wait?” asked Harry. “That’s different,” said Ginny. “Of course I want OUR children to wait.” Harry gave Ginny a funny look; he didn’t see any difference. Ginny didn’t say anything more. For Ginny the next few months were all “mummy” months. She was able to write a weekly column on Quidditch, focusing mostly on the Harpies. Once Quidditch season started she ramped up to two columns and a piece Sunday reporting on all the scores. Ginny was also part of the large group of mostly women who took part in the parenting and home schooling of the children at and around the New Burrow. Harry called together a meeting of the International Auror’s Association shortly after everybody got back from the vacation. He let everyone know that they finally had a lead on finding the Middy family. Harry and Joey Middy laid out all the information they had from the vacation. Al Van Lente held a private conference with a couple of Aurors from North American and Asia, and then the three of them met with Harry and Joey. Al said, “This is Joey’s show, Harry. We do not want you involved.” “Why?” asked Harry. “All you need to do is to put Joey officially on leave, so he can plausibly be working for his family in trying to find out where these bras are made. We will have undercover people close at hand or working with him. “You are too easy to recognize. Besides, Asia is a dangerous place for you to be.” “Why is Asia any more dangerous than any other area?” asked Harry. “I will tell you later,” Al said, as he dismissed Harry. Harry felt like he was back in his student days, when Dumbledore did not tell him everything. Al finally came out of the meeting with Joey. Harry cornered Al and said, “I don’t like people keeping important information about my safety from me! What is going on?” “Come with me to the Prophesy department,” Al said. Harry sullenly followed Al. He was getting real tired of being the subject of prophesies. Al had Steven and Valerie Bushman, and Nausicaa Scheria, all meet with Harry. Al said, “Please tell Harry about the prophesies that are keeping me from sending him to Asia.” Valerie said, “There are, as you know, two bad wizards that we are very concerned about. There are a lot of prophesies that say with these two, or their successors, are killed or gotten rid of, there will be a new era for magical people. They are both very bad people heading a network of very bad people and beings. Both use Dementors. “Harry, you are a sworn enemy of the Dementors, and of using them in any way. I agree with you that we should not use them. They are headquartered in Asia, in the Himalayan Mountains. They want you dead, no matter the cost, since you are destined to father the next ruler, the ruler who has a chance to overthrow for good the close relationship some individuals have with Dementors.” “So I just stay away from that part of the world?” Harry asked. “For as long as you can,” Valerie said. “Am I going to have to go over at some time?” Harry asked. “I think it is far more likely that your son and his soulmate will have to go over,” Valerie said. “James?” Harry asked. “We do not think so,” said Valerie. “Perhaps you’ll have another son.” “Just what are this son and his, his soulmate? Just what are they supposed to do?” “Take the two ancient wands, the two Elder wands, and defeat the Lord of the Dementors,” Valerie said. “And where will my son get this Elder wand?” Harry asked. “From you, that is what these prophesies say,” Valerie said. “You’re taking about, Dumbledore’s wand?” Harry asked? Valerie nodded. “NO BLOODY WAY!” Harry yelled. “I do not see how anyone would expect me to give a child, an adult child, any of my children that cursed wand! No way.” No one said anything else. “Soulmate?” Harry asked. “Like a close couple, golden threads on the Tapestry, even before they are married. A couple before they are a couple, sort of,” Valerie said. “You are sure of these?” Harry asked. “Reasonably sure,” Valerie said. “That’s why we really don’t want you to test the prophets by going into danger you should avoid.” Harry felt very unsatisfied and unsettled leaving that meeting. Harry was involved in the Wizengamot, in mapping various spaces, and other things in addition to his major responsibilities as 2nd in command of the Auror department. About twice a month Harry accompanied Hermione and Jean to church, where he continued to ask Jack Lewis questions. By the end of April he had pretty much finished with the CS Lewis books, leaving him with more questions than answers. He was gradually going through the bible, book by book working with Jack Lewis. Harry spent a couple of days a month February, March, and April in Switzerland helping with some mapping there. They were finding some hidden spaces there. They did not know how to get into the hidden spaces, but there was some indication the “the wizard that was to come” was involved. There was also a prophesy about “the gods coming back,” but no one could make any sense out of that or be sure of the timing or even if it was valid. The middle of April Harry came home after work and told Ginny, “Joey did it! He rescued all of the family that was held captive in the Himalayan Mountains. It sounds like he had quite an adventure!” Ginny could read Harry pretty well, and she asked, “Are you sorry you were not there with Joey?” Harry sighed, and said, “I guess, a little. I just feel useless dealing with paperwork and personnel issues, although I know it is important.” “I’m glad you are not in danger, Harry,” Ginny said. “I want you around for a long time, raising our children with me.” “Children?” Harry asked. “Am I missing something?” “Not yet,” Ginny said. “I’m still nursing James. After James is weaned we will have to talk about another one.” Harry put on a crooked grin, and said, “I didn’t think talking, was what made babies.” He gave Ginny a big kiss, which was promptly returned. In May Harry gave a speech at the anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts. The week after the anniversary Gawain Robards came into Harry’s office and said “I’ve been asked by my adopted children to see if I can get you to come to a party we are giving for them as the last of them graduates from Hogwarts. “I did not know you had any adopted children, Gawain” said Harry. “You never talk about your family.” “It was painful to talk about,” said Gawain. “Painful and difficult, and there were good reasons not to say anything. I just got used to keeping that part of my life private.” Harry tried to be open to what Gawain was trying to say without prying. “I hope it’s not as painful now,” said Harry. “My wife and I had three children, two girls and a boy. The oldest two joined the Auror department and died fighting in the first war against Riddle. Our youngest moved to North America, got married, and we have a couple of grandchildren. Because of the troubles she did not ever want to come back to England, and she has not. My wife has seen the grandchildren a couple of times a year, but I am lucky to see them every other year. Maybe when I retire I can spend some time with them, but it is too late to really establish a good relationship with them.” “You adopted children?” asked Harry. “After the Battle of Hogwarts we found an old camp, attached to Hogwarts, where the Death Eaters had taken 97 of the Muggle born children. Snape kept the Death Eaters from killing the children, citing the secrecy act. The Hogwarts house elves made sure the children had enough to eat, although otherwise it was a little rough. After the battle we found out that of the 97 children 17 had lost all their parents over the last year. My wife and I took in five, two that graduated last year and 3 that are graduating this year. We did not want to say anything about it because we did not want any of the Death Eaters that may have been out there to find out.” “What happened to the other children who lost parents?” asked Harry. “Other witches and wizards took them in,” said Gawain. “Some of them had other family, but a lot ended up with people not closely related to them. Having the last three graduate from Hogwarts is a little like a victory celebration to my wife and me. It’s almost like we are going to end up with more family instead of less.” Harry agreed to come to Gawain’s party, and Ginny came along, to the delight of all five of the adopted children and the spouses or intended of three of them. His respect for Gawain had grown each year as he had worked for him. Al VanLente’s dismissive remarks about Gawain had turned out to be quite wide of the mark when you knew the entire history of what had gone on. By the end of May everybody was sure Hermione was pregnant again, but there was no announcement. It was obvious to most of the Weasley/Potter family that Hermione was terrified of making an announcement after losing her first pregnancy. The end of June all the children were home from Hogwarts, and the pond was again becoming a center of activity during good weather. The weather was good the last Saturday in June, the Harpies had an acceptable season but not good enough to have them playing in any post season games, and Harry and Ginny were free. By the middle of the morning Harry and Ginny were at the pond, as were most of the children who lived at or around the New Burrow property. The first surprised was a young couple that reminded Harry and Ginny of themselves around the time of the Battle of Hogwarts, young but somehow grown up. They booth did a double take, Harry saying “Who is that young couple holding hands. They look like the Appleleaf children, but those two are not children.” Ginny said, “They’re not acting like brother and sister, that’s for sure!” The couple came over. Tom Appleleaf said, “Hello Mr. & Mrs. Potter.” Cinnamon said, “Is that James? He sure is getting big!” Ginny said, “I might say the same thing about you two. You’re sure not the little children we met after the Battle of Hogwarts.” “You’ve seen us grow up,” said Tom. “We’re both 17, with one more year of Hogwarts left.” Harry asked, “What are you going to do after Hogwarts?” Both Tom and Cinnamon looked at each other, and then said at the same time, “We’d like to teach.” Tom said, “We both want to go to Wizarding College, maybe in Switzerland. When we’re done we hope to be able to teach somewhere.” About this time another couple came up, Dick and Corriander Appleleaf. “Hello Mr. & Mrs. Potter,” said Dick. “I see you’re talking to the love birds.” At this Tom and Cinnamon, who were holding hands, gave each other a little kiss, and Dick and Corriander rolled their eyes. Harry and Ginny laughed. “Last one in the lake is dragon poop,” said Dick and he took off toward the pond. Corriander followed, and then Tom and Cinnamon followed at a slower pace, holding hands and smiling at each other. The rest of the Appleleaf family followed, George and Rosemary and 4 more children, Harry, 13 and Cardamon, 12 and finally the two George and Rosemary had together, Jonathan, 6 and Gala, 4. About this time Tom and Cinnamon got out of the water to greet his father and her mother and the rest of the family. Ginny looked at the couple and said “They look way too young to be in love like that.” She looked at Harry and said “I wonder how their parents are handling it?” “And just how old were you when you married me?” asked Harry. “But they’re just children,” said Ginny. “They have a year of school left.” Ginny looked at Tom and Cinnamon again, then at Harry in amazement and maybe a little horror, and said, “Was I really that young?” “Younger,” said Harry. “How old were you when you yessed me into marrying you?” “I was almost 17,” said Ginny. “Just a short 3 months shy of 17,” said Harry. “They sure seemed like the longest 3 months ever waiting for you, waiting for us to be married and … well … waiting for the wedding night,” said Ginny looking a little embarrassed. “And how old were you when we had our marvelous spring before Dumbledore was killed?” asked Harry. Ginny looked at Harry in astonishment. “Fifteen?” she said. Harry grinned and said, “The same age as Dick and Corriander.” Ginny looked at the Appleleaf family some more. Harry said, “And how old was I when I rescued you from the Chamber of Secrets?” Ginny looked at Harry with a quizzical look on her face. “I was 12, the same age as Cardamon and a year younger than the Appleleafs’ son Harry. You were a year younger, only 11,” said Harry. “Harry,” said Ginny in horror, “we were only children!” “We were students at Hogwarts, Ginny,” said Harry. “Of course we were children.” “Oh Harry,” said Ginny. “We had to grow up so fast. I hope our children can be children a lot longer than we were.” “You’re sorry you got married on your 17th birthday?” asked Harry. “If we have a daughter I hope she is not as horny as I was,” said Ginny. “From what McGonagall says it’s a family trait.” “It must be traits you are passing on to all the witches you know. Everybody seems to be having babies,” said Harry. “Could we invite the Lionheart family?” asked Ginny, thinking of witches having babies. “It would be fun to have them here.” Harry agreed, and Ginny called Donna, who readily agreed and said they would be there within the hour. The Prewett family arrived, Patrick and Mary Sue, their children Joan Joy, 4 , and Fabian, just 2, and Mary Sue’s parents Damian & Genevieve McDivvott. Mary Sue was very pregnant, due in about 6 weeks. The Hudson family came next, Cindy Base Hudson and Henry Hudson with Richard Hudson, 5, and Robert Hudson, 3. There was a play area for children under 5, and the children all went into that area. Frank Longbottom, 6 1/2 came with his parents and siblings Alice 5 and Dolly, 3. When he knew Frank was there. Teddy, 7, came flying out of the New Burrow to play with him. The Longbottom Mansion, the Lovegood house, and the Baker’s Street were not on the Potter property, but were reasonably close and were considered part of the “village” of people who used the pond and shared the area. Shortly after Teddy came out Fred Weasley, 6, came out, and shortly after that Grandmother Molly followed with Roxanne, 4. When Fred and Angelica’s children had found out that their cousins would be over playing around the pond they wanted to be there, and since WWW was going to be open Molly agreed to let the children stay over. The Stanford’s’ showed up, Sidney and Kim with her daughter Elisa Williamson, 6 1/2 and their daughter Ruth, 2. Kim was pregnant again, due in August. The Stanford family was living in another of the new houses that had sprung up on the Potter property, making the area a regular small village, one with lots of children. Grainer and Grunt had been retained by Harry to maintain the pond and the area around it, and as part of maintaining it maintaining the castle like-play structure-climbing thing. It had grown over the years; Harry was not very good at turning down the children as they came up with ways to expand the structure. It now was a rather large structure. On what could have been the main entrance there was a sign, “Hogwarts Castle.” There were two rather tall towers, one labeled “Gryffindor,” and the other one labeled “Ravenclaw.” The children’s play area had a label on it, “Hufflepuff,” which caused a few people some consternation. Harry was told there was a way to get under one of the lower decks, with a label, “Slytherin.” There were charms on the towers so if you fell off you floated down to the ground. The problem was that falling off the towers had become a favorite activity of the older children, and there were a lot of mock battles and other fooling around, resulting in, despite the charms, lots of minor injuries, but nothing major. All of the younger witches and wizards in Ottery St. Catchpole knew of the castle like-play structure-climbing thing, and young witches and wizards were always coming over to play on it. Today Teddy, Frank, Elisa, Jonathan, Fred and Richard all were running around. When Bill and Fleur showed up with their children Victoria immediately ran into the play structure, and Alice Longbottom followed her. When Percy and Audrey showed up Molly did not want to be left out, so she joined the crowd up on the towers, a little more cautiously than the rest of the children. The whole Lionheart family showed up, Bill and Donna with Tabitha, 11, and Erica, not yet 1. Tom and Melissa Lionheart came with them, along with Mark, 4 and Matthew, 2. The little children went into the small child play area, and Donna held on to Erica, but Tabitha stood next to her parents unsure of what to do. Ginny called Harry Appleleaf and Cardamon Appleleaf over, telling them that Tabitha was going to Hogwarts next year, and asked if they could tell her more about Hogwarts. Talking to a slightly younger child who was just getting ready to go to Hogwarts was always fun for a slightly older child. The older child could become the all knowing expert in starting to use a wand and all the fun and magical places at Hogwarts, and Tabitha stuck to the Appleleaf children like glue for the rest of the day. Harry was playing with the younger children with the biggest smile, letting them climb into his lap, putting them on play structures, just enjoying being with the 2 to 4 year old crowd. Bill Lionheart was with Harry, and it was touching seeing those two men play with the little children. Ginny and Donna sat next to each other with their first biological children in their laps. Ginny looked at all the parents, and all the children, and said to Harry, “This is what we were fighting for! This is so good!” “And they lived Happily Ever After,” said Harry. “Well, at least some of the time.” “Most of the time, Harry,” said a wistful looking Ginny. “It’s most of the time, at least for me. I think I’m pretty happy.” Looking at James she said, “This was always part of my dream, part of my Happily Ever After.” “Mine too,” said a grinning Harry. “I feel somehow complete when I am with you and James, like this is what life should be.” Ginny was talking to Donna, and said, “They will be in the same class at Hogwarts.” “Do you think they will be friends?” Donna asked. Ginny looked at her son James and Donna’s daughter Erica and said, “What if, when they grow up, they become a couple, give us grandchildren?” Ginny realized at that moment she had really crossed over from being a young adult to being a grown up mother. Thinking of her son marrying, thinking of grandchildren, Oh my, what a grown up thing to do! |
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