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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: 123072; Chapter Total: 4020 Author's Notes: Thanks to FriendofMolly for the title, and for all her help. |
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There are busy years in the life of a family that do not have any striking things happen. 2008 started out like that for the Potters. James was a reasonably good student, up to where he should be for his age. The “home” schooling and almost one on one attention had all the children being taught in and around the New Burrow advancing very rapidly. Rose and Al were another case. Rose was already reading and could write her own name, not well, but she could write it. Jean and the other people who taught Al said it was sometimes hard to tell just how much he knew. He seemed to be able to read as well as Rose even though he was over half a year younger. He did not have the coordination to be able to write. He tried, and you could see the concentration on his face, but his muscles just would not allow him to make readable letters. It was also hard to tell just how much he could understand. His spoken vocabulary was large for a year and a half old child, and Jean and Ginny both said “He understands a lot more than you would think one so young should understand.” Both Al and Rose were a little shy, however. Al was very bright for his age but not very big. Ginny would sometimes take James with her when she went to interview Quidditch players. James never tired of seeing people fly, and he always basked in the attention he was getting. Ginny found out that even with the men players having a small child with her sometimes broke the ice, and she could get a much better feeling for the personalities of a player. Quidditch sort of bored Al, and he really preferred staying with Rose and Jean. He was such an easy child for Jean to have around that she did not mind. Al always obeyed Jean; he had discovered that his parents and brother were stuck with him, but Jean and Rose were not his immediate family, so if he was going to spend time with them he had better be real good. The first part of April, Harry was called into a meeting with Kingsley Shacklebolt. Minerva McGonagall was there. After polite greetings Kingsley said “The board of directors of Hogwarts has unanimously nominated you for a position on their board. We would really like to have you on the board. We have a several real challenges ahead of us the next few years.” “Is there a problem?” asked Harry. “Our biggest problem is success and growth,” said Minerva. “We have had periods in the past when Hogwarts had a significant number of foreign students, and we have begun to have more and more applying. So far we have been able to fit them the traditional house structure, but we could easily have a whole house of nothing but foreign students if we opened up the enrollment a little more. There’s another problem we have even less control over. It seems like since the Battle of Hogwarts a reasonably large number of people have moved back to Britain, bringing small children with them. In addition a larger than usual number of our former students has married and has begun to have larger than normal families. From 1950 until the Battle of Hogwarts the average number of children in a household headed by a witch or wizard was never over 2 and frequently as low as 1. The only reason we were able to maintain the size of our population was the number of witches or wizards marrying a Muggle and producing a witch or wizard, plus a steady number of Muggle born. Harry, your generation seems to be producing more children. Right after the Muggle World War II there was a baby boom, a large number of children being born to those veterans of the war wanting to get back to a normal life. There seems to be something like that happening to us now. Older couples who put off having children because of the troubles having a child or two or even three, more than the normal number of marriages and more than the normal number of children. Those children are starting to appear at Hogwarts, and for the next fifteen years or so we will have to be dealing with our own little baby boom.” “I can’t say too much,” said Harry, “except to take responsibility for my part in the baby boom. Ginny is expecting our third. Teddy Lupin, my godson, starts in a year and a half, Freddy Weasley the following year, and from then on you are going to have, ” Harry had to stop and do a little calculating, “Eighteen or more years with a Weasley or Potter or both, twelve total plus Teddy at last count.” “Merlin, help us! Eighteen years of Weasleys and Potters. That’s a challenge all by itself,” said Minerva rolling her eyes in mock horror. “We also have the challenge of introducing some of our witches and wizards to modern technology. Some of them have never even seen an electric light, have no idea how to turn an electric light on.” “Like my mother-in-law before we built the New Burrow,” said Harry. “We need a building, some distance away from Hogwarts, where we can introduce out students to modern technology, including the Wizarding World Wide Web,” said Minerva. “We have to get out of the nineteenth century and into the twenty-first, just like you have been doing with the Auror department.” “With three children who are going to be going to Hogwarts, plus Teddy, I have a stake in having it the best school possible. I’ll be on the board,” said Harry. “And help advocate for the necessary changes,” said Minerva. “And even get Cindy to help publicize the changes,” said Harry. “Thank you,” said Minerva. “This year is the 10th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts,” said Kingsley. “We did not do anything special for the fifth anniversary, but if we do not periodically celebrate our victory over Riddle we will forget how much we sacrificed to defeat Tom Riddle and his fanatics. “We’ve talked about holding a moderate size public celebration at Hogwarts every five years. We are also talking about adding markers or some type of memorial at some places in the castle, something so people will not forget what happened.” “I expect you are going to want me to say something,” said Harry. “Every five years,” said Kingsley. “Every five years,” repeated Minerva. “We have some personnel issues we have to talk about,” Minerva said. “We are replacing Binns as History of Magic teacher.” “It’s about time,” Harry said. “Most of the classes are going to be taught by one of Horace Slughorn’s grandsons, Henry Slughorn,” Minerva said. “He is also going to be assistant head of Slytherin. Horace is getting old and tired, and he is looking forward to retiring in a few years. “I have an assistant for Henry. Willie Nutting will be teaching Modern History. Since she is 145 she is going to be teaching the history of the last 125 years, the years she has lived through. “We have an assistant for Horace, teaching some of the middle Potions classes, Julia C. Kettleburn. “We have an assistant for Poppy, a new healer out of St. Mungo’s, Genevieve Swan. This is going to allow Poppy to take over as head of Hufflepuff house. Pomona will stay on as assistant head, but with her expanding family being head of house is just too much. “Within the next couple of years we are going to want two teachers for most of our classes.” Harry and the rest of the board members looked over the information Minerva had on each of the candidates, and spent some time talking about them, before approving everything. The middle of April Teddy turned ten. A year and a half before he went to Hogwarts. Ginny said to Harry, “I nursed Teddy! Is he really that old?” Harry responded “You are pregnant with our third child.” “I was really dumb thinking I could be a mother and play for the Harpies and help you fight dark wizards,” said Ginny. “Writing a column for the Daily Prophet is hard when you are also home schooling children. I feel like Jean is doing far more to teach Al than I am. Jean is not ready for someone as busy as James. He can be a challenge to teach.” “Al is a different kind of challenge,” said Harry. “He wants to know all about everything. He was asking about my job and what I did the other day. He really likes coming down to the Potion Room when I am making mapping paper.” Ginny looked at Harry and said, “Did I tell you I went to the midwife today? Everything is going well, and we are having our Lily Luna this time.” “That is just fantastic!” said Harry. “I’m just worried about what my Mum said,” said Ginny. “What if we have a wild emotional red head?” “I like wild emotional red heads,” said Harry. “I married one.” “I think I was a difficult child to raise,” said Ginny. “Mum calls it payback, ‘may you have a child like you were.’” May second, two thousand and eight, was a Friday. Hogwarts was set up very similar to how it was set up nine years earlier at the first year anniversary. Of course this year there was enough distance that the pain evident in so many people that first year was not near as evident. This was not a command performance, no awards were being given out, and witches and wizards like Andromeda who had a very hard time still remembering those dark days and their losses just did not come. Harry and Ginny came with their two and a half children, as did Ron and Hermione with their one and a half. Harry and Ginny thought over half of the weekend was taken up with finding out who was married to whom, and how many children they had. Most of the class had gotten married and had not just a child but children, two or three, a few with more. Harry and Ginny spent almost the entire time in the main hall, greeting a huge number of people. If you dug below the surface you could tell there were still people recovering. In every class there were a few people like who had not made it, and along with all the victories there were still sad stories. Gawain Robards met Harry briefly at the Anniversary, and asked if he could meet with Harry. Harry said that of course, they could meet, and they set up a time the next week to get together. The next week Harry welcomed Gawain into Gawain’s old office, now Harry’s office. It had changed quite a bit, with a few of Harry’s maps on the walls, and a computer with two magical screens and a conventional screen, tied into the World Wide Web and the Wizards World Wide Web as well. One of the magical maps was of England, and it showed where every Auror was. Harry touched the map with his wand and suddenly there were a number of other dots. “These are the undercover Aurors” said Harry. “I can enlarge the map to see in detail just about anything,” said Harry. “There are limits to how much detail, depending on how well I know the area.” Finally Harry asked, “What brings you here, Gawain.” “Harry, I’m bored,” said Gawain. “My children love me, but they do not want me around all that much. My wife says she married me for better or for worse, but not for lunch every day. I don’t want my old job back. I’m happy not to have the responsibilities of heading the department. At the same time I want to do something. Do you think there is a part time job for an over the hill old Auror in this department?” “You are hardly an old over the hill Auror, Gawain,” said Harry. “Let me try to find a place for you.” A week later Harry had Gawain back and said, “How would you like to teach new Aurors? That way you would not have to work full time, or be on call all the time.” “What would I teach?” asked Gawain. “What would you like to teach?” asked Harry. “Anything,” said Gawain, “but if I can help new Aurors learn how to work together, that would be good. It could include how to make the laws work for you. Perhaps,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “how to do the right thing even if it means operating a little close to the edge of the law.” Gawain had managed to have the Aurors do the right things while the awful laws from the years before the Battle of Hogwarts were changed, and knew when you had to use your judgment and not rely on the word of the law. Harry pondered a moment. “Some of our younger Aurors are a little too full of themselves. Learning a little humility and judgment at the wand of an old pro cannot hurt. “We start the last full week in August,” said Harry, “and are off September first so Aurors can take their children to the Hogwarts Express.” “You have a few years before you have to worry about that, Harry,” said Gawain. “My godson Teddy Lupin starts Hogwarts this year, Gawain,” said Harry. For many years Gawain was one of the key teachers of new Aurors, with a couple of weeks off around Christmas and most of the summer off. The first week of June was the normal meeting of the International Confederation of Witches and Wizards. Harry and Hermione needed to go over a week early to work on issues, and Ginny, Jean Granger, and the three children went along. Harry had to spend some time on the phone or conversing with his staff with the mirrors most days, but he had a full working day each day with the Confederation. Ginny and Jean took the children on tours of the whole Swiss valley. James was bored on some of these trips, but Rose and Albus were fascinated. The first nice Saturday in July the family was again at the Pond. Harry and Ginny thought that among their friends and acquaintances there was always a new baby somewhere. Jacob Stanford had been born that February, the third of Sidney and Kim Stanford’s children. Kim was keeping up her Auror certification but really not working at all as a Auror, just working hard as a mother with Ruth, five, Abraham, almost three, and Jacob, plus of course her daughter Elisa who was nine and quite grown up for a nine year old, having helped her mother with the younger children since Abraham was born. Kim told Harry, “Once Jacob is weaned I am going to start helping Sidney teach, if Minerva will have me. I help him a little already. We think I will teach the early grades, but probably starting second year. Sidney still wants to teach the first years and get a feeling for them.” Harry replied, “We need the extra help. I do not know many families with just one child.” “Harry” said Ginny, “Did I tell you who else is having another baby in August.” “Who?” asked Harry? “Donna,” said Ginny. “Donna Lionheart?” said Harry. “Well Donna never did do anything half way,” said Ginny, sort of laughing. “That’s probably what made her such a good Quidditch player. I guess now that she is a mother she is going to have a respectable sized family. She loves being a mother, and is determined not to be like her mother but just to enjoy this time of her life.” “What happened to the lady that cursed at her teammates?” asked Harry. “That’s my line, Harry!” Ginny said laughing again, remembering the first time she said it. The longer they were married the more common experiences they had to look back on and refer to. It was a very comfortable feeling. “Are we an old married couple?” asked Ginny. “Not yet!” said Harry, “Not an old married couple, but we’ll get there. For better or for worse, forever. As long as we are both living we’re stuck with each other.” “Good,” said Ginny as they squeezed each other’s hands. Just about that time Lily Luna decided it was time to announce her presence. “This one’s more like James,” said Ginny. “There’s nothing tentative about her. OH!” as the baby hit her bladder. “I have to go to the loo, again! The things I put up with to have your babies.” “Like it’s all MY fault?” said Harry. “Absolutely! I get the glory and you get the blame,” said Ginny as she grinned at Harry and went off to the loo, again Harry loved these moments. Most of life was work, or sleep, breakfast with the family. Dinner was always interesting. Teddy was very interested in what Harry was doing. He had decided that he wanted to be an Auror like his mother and his godfather. He had always been a reasonably good student, but when he was told you needed good grades to be an Auror he had been working even harder at it. Al wanted to sit where he could listen to Teddy and Harry, and occasionally asked questions. Al was always asking questions!” Harry loved to read to his boys, to fly on the brooms with them. He took them for walks, sometimes with Al in a stroller of some kind, usually but not always with Ginny. They had a two person stroller for longer walks. When they were going outside “safe” magical space there was still an Auror guard. There were still dark wizards out that would sacrifice anything if they could be the one that had killed the famous Harry Potter. Two-Thousand and Eight had started out to be a very good year for the Potters. Eventually Dudley and Belinda appeared. They usually worked Saturday mornings, but tried to do something fun together Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. They occasionally went to church Sunday mornings, but usually slept in. “Occasionally we go to lunch with my mum and dad,” said Dudley. “Dad’s in terrible shape. He misses work occasionally, and goes home early some days. He refuses to go to the doctor.” “Belinda, can you examine Vernon with your wand without him knowing about it?” asked Harry. “I have, Harry,” said Belinda. “I do it every time we get together. Every time his heart is weaker and his blood has less oxygen. We’re going to lose him in the next few years, maybe by the end of the year.” Wednesday, August sixth, in the afternoon Ginny and Hermione left the children at the New Burrow with the Grandmothers while they went out shopping for birthday presents for Albus. Both Jean and Hermione thought that Albus would like Beginning to Read Books, and both mentioned that one of his favorites was ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ by Dr. Seuss. Jean had heard Rose and Al talking, Al saying, “Real eat green eggs and ham?” Rose said, “My dad never eat green eggs and ham.” Al said, “Mum, make green eggs and ham. Mum n dad n Albus eat them. James eats them! Funny, eating green eggs and ham.” “The Dr. Seuss beginning to read books are better than any ones our world has,” said Hermione. “We are just going to have to go to a Muggle book store and buy some.” They ended up with about 20 books from that series, not all by Dr. Seuss but all with the same easy to read format and great illustrations and copy. Ginny said, “I think Friday I will go up to Al’s bedroom and read Green Eggs and Ham and then have the house elves make them for breakfast.” Thursday night a big thunderstorm came through, and both Ginny and Hermione started having labor pains. They were both due in about two weeks, and the labor was not hard, so they did not think much of it. Friday morning Ginny got up just a little early and went upstairs to Al’s bedroom. “Happy Birthday, Albus Severus,” she said. “You’re two years old! The birthday party with the cousins is Sunday, but I have a present from us.” Ginny showed Al the Green Eggs and Ham book. “My book?” asked Al. “Your very own book,” said Ginny. “Read it right now?” asked Al. “Do you want to read it to me?” asked Ginny. “Yes,” said Al, and he started at the start. “I am Sam. Sam-I-am.” Albus went through the whole book. Ginny thought that either Al could read or he had the entire book memorized, or maybe a little of both. They then went down to breakfast. Harry had been warned, and said to Al, “Do you like green eggs and ham?” Al said, “Yes I like them, Sam-I-am.” James looked at the green colored eggs and green colored ham and said, “Yeetch, gross, green eggs? Green ham? From that stupid book?” When nothing else was offered he reluctantly ate them, although not without making lots of faces. Mid-morning all the children were at the New Burrow again and Ginny told her mother, “My labor pains are getting closer and closer together. I’d better go to St. Mungo’s, just in case. Molly said, “I’d rather not have a grandchild born in our kitchen, or anywhere in the house, thank you.” So Ginny left her sons with her mother and went to St. Mungo’s. |
| Reviews 59 |
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