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SIYE Time:22:26 on 28th March 2024
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The Space Between
By YelloWitchGrl

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Category: Post-Hogwarts, Post-DH/AB, Post-DH/PM
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Fluff, General, Humor, Tragedy
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Mental Abuse, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Rape, Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse
Rating: R
Reviews: 559
Summary: Harry and Ginny's lives have finally evened out. They've faced trauma, and loss, more than most have, but they've fought hard to find a normal.

If only things could stay that way... Old enemies find new ways to seek revenge.

This story is the sequel to Bound. It would be extremely helpful if you read that first.

Warnings are to be safe. It's probably overkill. Please message me if you have any questions or concerns.
Hitcount: Story Total: 352184; Chapter Total: 3607
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope your day is going really well, but if you're hiding in your room reading fanfiction because of obnoxious relatives well that's a thing.

Thank you Arnel for beta'ing.

If you haven't yet checked it out, you want to look into my book Duplicity by Sarah Jaune. You can find it up for pre-order on most platforms.

Leave a review and tell me what you think. I like presents on Christmas too ;)




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“I am so tired of school,” Al groaned in exhaustion as he, Nat, and Scorpius stretched out on the grass just outside the kitchen door of his house. They’d been home only one day and it was not nearly enough time for the exam fug to wear off. Scorpius hadn’t even bothered to go home, and Al wasn’t sorry at all. Scorpius’ parents hadn’t been at the train station and Al’s mum had smoothed the whole thing over. Scorpius had looked equal parts elated and deflated at the absence of his mother but Ginny had simply told him to load up and make sure to help Lily with her trunk.

Scorpius had shot Al’s mum a grateful look and had done what she’d said. Yesterday had been a good day to get home, as the weather was absolutely beautiful for staring up at the sky as big, fluffy clouds lazily drifted through the sky.

It was just the four of them at home with Ginny. James was, at that moment, in a Muggle office somewhere taking a driving test for their car. It was a little pointless since the car drove itself, but his dad wanted it to be legal for some reason.

“It’ll sink in soon,” Nat yawned. “Anyway, we’ll be at the beach by the weekend and that will help.”

“True,” Al agreed as he yawned again and stretched. He knew that the forest around them had been burned, but if he hadn’t been told about it, he wouldn’t have been able to tell. Neville had done some kind of magic on the new trees they’d planted and in the short time between their visits, first when the storm had hit Hogwarts, and now the trees were back to fully grown. Well, they were mostly fully grown. But the forest was back. When Scorpius didn’t say anything, Al glanced over to him. “You okay, mate?”

“Fine,” Scorpius said shortly. He kept his eyes closed as the sun poured down on them. “Just tired.”

“We’re all tired,” Nat agreed as the back door opened and Lily strolled out to plop down in the grass between Nat and Scorpius.

She didn’t stretch out, but started to pluck grass blades which she began to plait together.

“What’s up with you?” Al wondered as he watched his sister.

“Nothing,” Lily told them in a tone that convinced none of them.

That finally caught Scorpius’ attention, it would seem, as he sat up to study her. Al couldn’t work up the energy. He was too exhausted.

“Is something wrong?” Scorpius asked her again.

Lily kept weaving and braiding, even silently moving Scorpius’ hands to hold parts of whatever she was making without bothering to see if he wanted to help or not. It was so like Lily it made him grin.

“I’m worried about Dad,” Lily said finally. “He looks terrible.”

“He does?” Al wondered, not having noticed.

“He kind of does, yeah,” Nat agreed with a sigh. “I noticed last night when he got home.”

He hadn’t arrived back at the house until almost eleven o’clock and he’d looked like he’d slept at the office the night before. Come to that, Al didn’t know for certain that he hadn’t.

He glanced over to his sister to see she was making a basket and she had Scorpius holding it for her. He’d have questioned if Scorpius wanted to hold it or not, but it was such a Lily thing to do that he didn’t bother. “I think Dad’s okay. He’s had worse in life.”

“Yes, but he wasn’t quite as old when he was doing that bit with Voldemort,” Lily pointed out with a small pout. “He’s getting on in years.”

“I mean, come on, Lils,” Al said with a laugh. “Dumbledore was something like a hundred and fifteen years old when he died and he was still fighting against evil. What is Dad anyway? Forty?”

“Almost forty-two,” Lily informed him quietly. “That’s not young.”

“That’s not exactly a hundred, either,” he reminded her evenly. “We could still have a baby sibling if they put their minds to it.”

Lily did smile then. “I’d try to talk them into it, but it’s lovely being an aunt. Emma is napping right now.”

It might have been Emma’s nap that explained Lily’s presence outside with them more than worry over their father. Ever since that morning, Lily had been at the toddler’s side. She and Nat had both had a good time with her, not even letting Al hold Emma once. “Are you going to share Emma at all this summer?”

“I might,” Lily said simply and then she beamed at him and he saw the worry slip off her face. “She’s so cute!”

She was really cute. She also liked all of them, having remembered them from their stay just a few weeks back.

“Your dad is tough,” Scorpius said finally, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. “He can handle it. Plus, he has your mum. She’s not going to let anything happen to him.”

Lily looked up from her work to study Scorpius and Al saw her face relax even more. “It’s true. Mum is looking out for him.”

“I say we just behave ourselves and not cause any trouble for your parents,” Nat suggested, “and then we won’t add to the stress. We can do that easily enough. Mrs. Potter has a list of chores for us, and we’ll get that done after lunch, and then we have the rest of the day to ourselves.”

It was a solid plan, Al decided. They were going to the beach house soon anyway. Nothing was ever wrong when they were at the beach house, even if they overflowed the place with teenagers. His mum just rolled with it. Also, this time Gran was coming with them for the weeks they were there. He always liked it when she came along. She made the best sweets, including ones that Nat could eat with that sugar that wasn’t really sugar. “How old is Gran?”

“She turns seventy-two this year,” Lily told him. “She was born in 1950.”

“Wow,” Al said in amazement.

“That’s still not over a hundred,” Nat said with a laugh. “I really like that about the wizarding world. I like that you get longer to enjoy the family in your life.” Then her face fell as she realized what she’d said. “I guess my parents won’t get that.”

Al reached out to squeeze her hand. “You’ll have us.”

Nat nodded and Lily plucked up her woven basket, holding it up to the light. Al blinked in surprise at the intricate patterns she’d woven into the thing in just a matter of moments. “I am brilliant,” Lily told them with a giggle. “I’m going to give this to Teeny. I bet she’ll really like it.”

And with that she was up and back into the house to seek out the tiny house-elf.

“She’s a bit like a fairy,” Scorpius observed as they watched her go. “Except without all the bad parts about fairies.”

Al could only nod in agreement.

~*~

James stared at his grandmother and tried very hard not to shift back and forth from one foot to the other. “Gran…”

“But what exactly are you wearing?” Molly Weasley demanded of him as she forced him to stand in front of her in the kitchen of the beach house.

James glanced down at his Muggle clothes and shrugged. “They’re just jeans and trainers, Gran.”

“But those trousers are ripped, James!” Molly explained slowly as though he was a bit dim. She fingered her wand and James had to force himself not to cry out to stop her. “If I could just mend–”

“It’s the style!” James protested in exasperation.

“Leave it, Mum,” Ginny called out from the other room. “I bought them that way, even though they look stupid.”

“Mum!” James fought not to roll his eyes. “I need to fit in with the other Muggle boys. If I don’t blend in, we might have trouble.”

Ginny strode into the kitchen and gave him a once over. “Be thankful he doesn’t have the trousers down below his butt cheeks, Mum.”

Gran’s face turned a very interesting shade of puce as she began to splutter in outrage.

James had seen the boys do that, but there was no way he was going to. It looked stupid. It made it difficult to walk, and his mother would kill him. Come to that, he was certain his grandmother would kill him, as well.

Plus, all of his magical friends and family would never let him live it down, so he wore normal jeans with a belt and had an untucked black shirt hanging down over it to cover it up.

He tuned out his grandmother’s outraged speech about young people these days and thought about his evening ahead of him. He was going out on a group date with Caroline and a few of her friends. He wasn’t technically going alone, of course. Teddy would be shadowing them the whole time in disguise to make sure they were safe, but Teddy was cool and he was doing this as a favor to James, which James was going to be certain to repay someday.

He was a bit nervous about the evening, but he was also looking forward to it. He could drive, now, so he was taking the car to pick Caroline up. That was new, as well, but it hadn’t taken him much to learn to drive their vehicle. The thing practically drove itself and he’d been able to pass the Muggle test without any trouble the day after they came back from school. He was going to use the Floo to get back to their house and drive from there, since it was much closer than from the coast. “Mum,” he said when Gran’s tirade paused so she could catch her breath, “I have to go.”

“Right, right,” Ginny sighed as she pulled out some Muggle money from a drawer. “Teddy is meeting you at the house so if he’s not there, wait for him.”

She’d already explained that four times, but James didn’t point it out to her. No sense making her angry now. “Alright,” he agreed as he kissed his gran on the cheek and gave him mum a quick hug. He made his escape before they could say anything else.

Teddy was waiting for him and soon enough they were on their way to get Caroline from her grandparents’ house. The moment she climbed into the car, she turned to say hello to Teddy, who was lounging in the back seat, enjoying the evening. “Thanks for this, Teddy! I really wanted to go.”

“No problem,” Teddy said as James backed the car out of the drive. Or rather, he let the car back itself out. “No Rufus tonight?”

“I’m trying to be normal,” she admitted reluctantly. “I wanted to bring him, but he draws so much attention. I’m going to try to tough it out without him.”

James was curious how it would go, but he didn’t say anything. It was her choice to make. He thought she’d do better with the dog but if she wanted to try to go without him, that was up to her.

He took over control of the car and followed Caroline’s directions to the noisy restaurant where they were meeting her friends.

James glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw Teddy had changed his appearance to be that of a pimply, specky, skinny teenager with dishwater blond hair. He was his usual height, but now the clothes bagged on him making him look even worse. “Wow.”

“I can just play at an arcade game all night without anyone taking a second glance at me,” Teddy told him. “That’s the goal, anyway.”

Caroline laughed and shook her head. “If only people knew what you really looked like.”

Teddy was a big man, at four inches over six feet and nearly fifteen stone. He had thick brown hair, and hazel eyes when he wasn’t changing it around, James knew, but it was not uncommon for him to be sporting other colored eyes, simply because he’d forget to change them back. Now, however, he had to be only nine stone. No one was going to mistake him for the big, tough Auror he was during the day.

“This is it,” Caroline told him and he parked the car in the back of the lot so no one would see Teddy getting out of the car.

“I’ll walk a little behind you,” he explained as James pocketed the keys.

James glanced to Caroline to see if she wanted to take his hand. Sometimes she did. And sometimes she didn’t. This time she did, as she reached out a hand to take his in hers. He could feel the slight tremble. As much as Caroline wanted them to go out with her cheer friends, she was nervous, as well. The girls were all bringing their boyfriends which meant boys Caroline didn’t know or trust. “You’re alright,” he reminded her quietly. “I’m here and so is Teddy.”

She forced a smile and glanced up at him. “I’m alright,” she agreed and they led the way into the crowded restaurant. The building was large and full of tables off to one side, and electronic games on the other side. They paused in the door and Teddy walked in behind them to go find a machine close to the door. “I don’t see… oh, there,” she said as she pointed across the room towards a group of six teenagers sitting at a large table.

“Let’s go, then,” James said as he tugged gently to get her moving. He recognized one of them as Libby. She was a bubbly brunette with blue eyes and a wide, toothy smile. She’d introduced herself to him the first time he’d gone to one of the cheer competitions. “Hey,” he said as he pulled out a chair for Caroline at the end of the table across from Libby so that she wouldn’t have to sit next to the boy on that side. That was just asking for trouble. He held out his hand and introduced himself around to the guys. He learned their names were Ryan, Shane, and Aiden. Ryan, who was as tall as James, was blond with brown eyes almost the same color as James’ mothers, but without the same steady gaze his mother had. This bloke was all mischief, much like his Uncle George.

“It’s good of you to come,” Brit told him, tucking her auburn hair behind her ear. Her green eyes studied him carefully, scrutinizing him as her boyfriend, Shane, draped an arm around her shoulder. Shane was the one sitting next to James. Shane’s brown hair was cut short, and he had a stocky build much like Al’s. His blue eyes held the same interest as Bianca’s and James realized the group had been wondering about them. Interesting.

He turned to study the last couple, Brit and Aiden, who were sitting cattycorner to them. Brit’s chocolate skin matched her hair and eyes, but her face was so striking it was practically something out of a magazine. She had a cool stare as she assessed him, her chiseled features contemplative. Aiden, on the other hand, was just about as pale and freckly as it was possible to get. He could have almost been a Weasley with his mop of curly, red hair, except his eyes were green. His smile was wide and genuine without a single hint of reserve. He was also quite tall and muscular, like all the other boys at the table. In comparison, James was by far the skinniest.

He’d learned a bit about Muggle sports from Caroline, who’d learned from her teammates. Ryan played football for his school, but Shane and Aiden were both rugby players. He’d tried hard to learn the intricacies of that game but Caroline’s understanding was rudimentary and Grandad Weasley had promised to get him a book on Muggle sports as soon as he could find one.

“We’ve heard a bit about you,” Ryan said as he signaled for someone. “Drink?”

“Just water,” James told the waitress when she appeared and Caroline nodded.

In the magical world he could have bought ale, but here in the Muggle world he would stick to water.

“Yes,” Aiden said with a grin. “We hear you are captain of a sport at your school, but no one seems to know anything about it.”

He felt Caroline tense next to him but James stayed relaxed. He’d thought a lot about what he’d say about Hogwarts if he was asked. “It’s such a remote school, way up in Scotland,” James said as leaned back casually in his chair. “It was invented at the school,” he lied evenly. “We have four houses at the school in which we’re sorted. The four houses compete in the sport against each other. No one has heard of it because it’s a school tradition just for our school.”

He felt Caroline relax. “Thanks,” she told the waitress who dropped off their drinks. “Listen,” she said to the table with a small tremor. “I tried to explain rugby to my gran and I botched the whole thing and she still has no idea what it is or how it’s played. Sometimes you just have to see something played to really get it.”

They all laughed as the waitress came back with several baskets of chips and they placed an order. James sat back and relaxed, listening to the conversation and asking questions while deflecting the ones thrown his way when he couldn’t answer them honestly. Overall, it was nice and they all chatted about school and sports which were things James could relate to, even if they didn’t have the same subjects. It was a group of kids, just like him, hanging out.

Of course, he wasn’t a kid anymore. He was a man in the eyes of the wizarding world and that fact alone weighed on him. It was a comfortable weight; one he was slowly adjusting to. It helped him tremendously that he didn’t yet have to pay for bills or look after himself. It was a slow stretch into the role and he wasn’t trying to push for more. Next year would be soon enough. Next year he’d hopefully be picked up by a Quidditch team for their reserves. His mum had gone straight onto the Harpies’ team, skipping the reserves, but she’d been damn good, according to everything he’d heard and seen.

“So, you’re done next year, is that right?” Bianca asked curiously as she sipped at her drink. “Caroline said she graduates next year, but I dunno how that works exactly.”

“It’s advanced,” James said on a whim. “We get pushed through faster so we’re done in our seventh year, which is when we’re seventeen or eighteen. I’ll be eighteen by then.”

“I can’t wait to be an adult,” Libby sighed wistfully, leaning into Ryan’s arm. “Imagine when we can do whatever we want to without our parents telling us what to do.”

James’ lips twitched up as he thought about trying to get out of the beach house that afternoon. “I dunno about that. Today my gran was telling me off for the rips in my jeans. I think some things never stop. I know my older brother still gets told what to do, and he’s married.”

“He also has a daughter,” Caroline told them, speaking for the first time in a long time. “Emma is her name and she’s so cute. She’s a year old now.”

“Year and a half,” James said and wondered how the time had flown so fast. “We were watching her yesterday and she’s starting to talk.”

“I have a sister that age,” Shane told them around a mouthful of chips. “My mum’s remarried and had two more. She’s a bit of a pain now that she’s walking. My mum’s always asking me to watch her.”

James shrugged. “She doesn’t live with us so I don’t mind keeping an eye on her. Anyway, Mum is really the one in charge of everything. She’s stopped working to watch Emma for them.” It wasn’t the main reason his mum had quit the paper, but it was a factor.

“Emma’s mum is a doctor,” Caroline supplied with a rueful smile. “She works a lot.”

“What’s your brother do, then?” Brit wondered.

James had to scramble for the right word, but thankfully it came fast. “Police officer.”

“So, he shoots them and she sews them up?” Aiden laughed. “Match made in heaven.”

“Something like that,” James agreed and forced himself not to shudder at the thought of people being stitched together like clothing. “Anyway, what are your plans after school?”

It was easier to get them talking about themselves. None of them had major secrets to hide.

Shane was in the middle of a long story about his sister and her A Level exam when James noticed a shift. He wouldn’t be able to place what had happened, even after it was all over, but he felt something whisper over his awareness, almost like a breeze down the back of his neck. He glanced over towards where Teddy was playing the video game, to see if his godbrother had noticed anything, only to find Teddy was the source of the disturbance.

Unfortunately, Caroline noticed it at the same moment as James and she let out a frightened squeak.

Four large teenagers had surrounded Teddy and Teddy was having to act as though he was afraid.

Well damn.

“Relax,” James whispered into Caroline’s ear as he shifted an arm around her. “This is Teddy they’re dealing with. He can handle it.”

But while Caroline might be worried about Teddy, James knew her main focus wasn’t on Teddy. She was worried about being hurt. It didn’t matter that there was no way anyone was going to get to her here, she still had to fight the panic.

This was what Rufus was for and the dog did a seriously brilliant job at calming her down. Next time he’d suggest it.

Then the first punch was thrown. He had no idea how it had escalated but one moment Teddy was meekly refusing to hand over his money and the next all four had ganged up on him. James shot to his feet, as did the other blokes at the table, but he really needn’t have worried. Teddy had it well under control. Still, without his wand he was severely hampered.

James strode over and looked down at his godbrother as the manager waved frantically, his ear pressed to the phone, presumably calling for the police.

Before Teddy could answer the other boys from the table had jumped into the fight, pulling the others off Teddy. Fists flew and much foul language sailed around their heads. James grabbed one just as he was about to dive back in and pulled him off of Teddy, only to get an elbow to the gut for his trouble. But it was no worse than facing off with an opposing Beater from Slytherin and he only grunted. He’d have a bruise later, but his mum could fix it. He grappled with the guy, who outweighed him by a sizable amount, until they were both on the floor. James pulled his arm back and then sat on his back, pinning him to the ground.

He glanced to the rest of the fight and saw Ryan and Shane holding one of the blokes, while Aiden had another with Teddy following up and pinning the fourth.

He turned back to the table to see Caroline shaking life a leaf at the table while Libby tried to comfort her. James swore under his breath and waved at a big man standing at the edge of the group. “Hold him, will ya?” James asked in frustration.

Rufus would have helped this situation. A lot.

The second the old man had the teenager pinned, James was up and striding for Caroline. He didn’t pull her to him, which was his instinct. He wanted to with everything he had, but it had to be her choice. She chose it. She pushed into his arms, grabbing hold of him as her whole body shook. He wrapped her up and reminded her to breathe, assuring her she was fine and none of them were hurt.

He didn’t mention they’d be in for a lot of paperwork because of the fight.

It transpired that the group of four had been systematically picking their way through the place, robbing everyone they could get their hands on and demanding their pocket money.

Then they’d gone after Teddy. He’d appeared skinny to them. He’d appeared helpless. Appearances were very deceiving.

Sadly, James’ dad showed up, dressed in his Muggle finest as the police took statements from the people at the restaurant.

Of course, he’d shown up, James thought grimly. That was exactly what his dad did.

His dad went straight to them to check on them and told James just to be patient when James asked if they could leave. Caroline simply wanted to go home and James couldn’t blame her. It was just a stupid fight, one which wouldn’t have happened if the morons hadn’t picked on an Auror disguised as a helpless teenager. James was glad they’d been stopped, but this was going to set Caroline back months.

He felt her hand clench in his shirt. He glanced down to see her staring up at him. Almost as if she’d been reading his mind, she said, “I’m okay.”

He grinned, even though he didn’t think it reached his eyes. “I know you are.”

“No,” she said as she tugged a bit, bringing him down enough so she could gently kiss him. “I’m okay. I was startled and scared, but now that it’s over… I’m okay.”

James felt the knot in his stomach loosen, just a little. “I’m proud of you.”

“I’m proud of you, too,” she said with a small smile. “You don’t run from a fight.”

James had accidentally killed Caroline’s father for her. Fighting a few teenagers didn’t seem to be such a big deal. “Teddy didn’t really need my help,” James admitted, “but four on one just isn’t fair.”

It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t fixed. She was still going to backslide into fear. He’d seen that too many times to think otherwise. But at this moment, everything was okay.

It stayed okay all the way up until he was back at the beach house and his mum had him pull off his shirt to reveal his bruise. Then his gran exploded into a rant he tuned out ten seconds in.

“Mum, please,” Ginny sighed as she dabbed on the ointment to heal the bruise. “You’re sure Caroline is alright?”

“She was fine when I dropped her off,” James promised. “I wouldn’t have left if she wasn’t. Rufus helps.”

“How does Rufus do with Ducky?” Ginny wondered as both of them pretended not to hear Molly Weasley’s continued angry outburst.

James couldn’t help but laugh. “You know how Lily can basically walk all over everyone and they’re happy to let her do it? Lily’s cat learned it from her. She often uses the dog as her personal carrier.”

His mum chuckled. “Well, that’s good to know since they’ll be coming to stay soon.”

James couldn’t wait.

~*~

“The paperwork was a nightmare,” Harry told Ginny as he pulled off his Muggle tie and kicked off his shoes.

She watched her husband with amusement as he continued to tug off the vestments of the Muggle police he’d been impersonating. He was quite handsome in the Muggle suit. She grinned as she thought about what would happen once he finally managed to get it all off.

“What on earth are you smiling about?” Harry asked as he pulled at his cufflinks. “This was two hours of work!”

“I want you naked.”

He paused for a moment and then shook his head, laughing. “Well, I suppose that would make up for my terrible night. Still…”

“Teddy is fine, James is fine, and Caroline is fine,” Ginny reminded him. “It was just stupid teenagers who picked the wrong target.”

“He did look like a skinny git,” Harry admitted with a sigh as he stopped undressing to sit on the bed. He stared at his hands and shook his head. “Honestly, it was nice to have a normal problem with my child. It was nice to not have to worry about him being in danger. It was nice to not have to show up after he’s killed someone.”

“Harry…” Ginny scooted over on the bed and put an arm around his waist, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I hear my son has been part of a fight and my heart goes into my throat thinking he could be hurt or dead,” Harry told her quietly. Then he began to chuckle. “I get there and find out all he did was pull someone off of Teddy and restrain him. It was all so normal.”

“It is nice to have normal,” Ginny agreed as she felt him sigh. “I’ve been thinking about our childhood today. We were so poor! My clothes were all used and my things were all second-hand. I spent more on one pair of jeans for James than Mum spent on everything for my first year at Hogwarts.”

He pressed a gentle kiss against her temple. “It’s very different for us.”

“It is,” she agreed, “but we haven’t let it spoil the kids and I think that’s the most important part. Things aren’t the important part to them. We have this huge beach house and I feel so lucky to have this place to come to.”

“I can spoil you,” Harry said as he angled his mouth to her ear. She felt a shiver go down her spine. She let herself go and move through the moment. The next week they’d have a houseful of teenagers, but tonight it was still quiet, the house not bursting at the seams.

They’d had to magically expand the house so that there was a boy’s room with bunk beds and a girl’s room with the same. “You’re still wearing too many clothes.”

“Stupid reports,” Harry muttered as he started in on his buttons again.

~*~

“Thank you for inviting me,” Andrew told Al’s mum as he arrived through the Floo.

“We are happy to have you,” Ginny assured him as she told Al to show him up to his room. She had Emma on her hip as the baby babbled happily.

“This way,” Al said as he led him upstairs into the newly renovated house. When he’d asked his mum if Andrew could come stay a bit this summer, his mum had said she’d had to think about it. They’d barely been able to fit three boys in the room before and it was the same with the girls.

Now the rooms were bigger than their dorm rooms at Hogwarts with several bunkbeds. James and Louis had both claimed a top bunk towards the windows while Al and Scorpius had picked another bunk. Hugo had picked yet another bunk. It was obvious which beds were still open, as none of the boys had bothered to pick up their stuff or make their beds. “Pick whichever you like,” he told Andrew who was gaping around.

“This house is not this big,” Andrew told him with a laugh.

“It’s been magically expanded,” Al admitted. “My uncle did something with it a few weeks ago. The girls’ room is much the same with a bathroom off it for them. My gran is sleeping in a room down the hall, then my parents and there’s one more guest room downstairs.”

“This is so cool,” Andrew said as he dumped his stuff on the bunk under James’ bed. “Is everyone else here?”

“You’re the last,” Al said. “Caroline and Honor got here about an hour before you did. James had to pick them up in the car since they were bringing Rufus.”

“I am going to get my license soon,” Andrew told him. “I have a driver, but I still want to be able to drive. It’s a big deal in the Muggle world.”

Al had thought about it, but decided he could worry about it next summer. “Everyone is already out on the beach.”

“I’ll get changed,” Andrew said as he grabbed his suit and went for the bathroom out in the hall.

Al decided this was going to be the best summer they’d ever had.

They went down through the kitchen, passing his gran at the kitchen table shelling peas by hand, which she said was relaxing, and out the living room which faced out onto the sand, stopping only when his mother insisted on putting a sunscreen charm over the both of them, stepping over Rufus who was sprawled out in the open doorway with Ducky sleeping on top of the large dog. The cat’s fur had darkened from her pale yellow into a darker yellow, but she still had the appearance of a baby duck about her. If the dog even noticed the cat was there, he didn’t let on.

He never did.

“I’ll bring Emma out in a bit,” Ginny called out to them as they headed down to the beach. The beach wasn’t like other beaches, Al knew. Their beach was completely private and Muggles couldn’t find it, even though it was next to other Muggle houses. They had a wide swath of land in which they could walk and play without anyone being able to find them. Asking to let Andrew in was asking to widen the circle of people who could access their security, but Andrew needed time off like they did. He had so many responsibilities in the Muggle world.

“Hi!” Nat waved from her chair under an umbrella. “Everyone else is swimming.”

“Why aren’t you?” Al wondered.

“I was waiting for you two,” she told them as she put her book down in the chair and headed off into the cool, refreshing water with them.

They splashed around, laughed, played and had a good time. Twenty minutes later his mum came down with Emma, likely to let her dangle her feet in the water but James ran out of the water and took the giggling, happy baby from his mother.

“James…” Ginny said as James began to walk towards the small waves.

“Relax, Mum,” James told her as Emma waved bye-bye to Ginny. “I will watch her.”

“But, James…”

Al watched his brother turn back and heard his words clearly as they were carried on the breeze. “I would die for her, Mum. I’m not going to let her get hurt, okay?”

Al watched his mother waver. She hadn’t ever been overprotective with them, but with Emma it was a whole other matter. “Alright,” she said finally as she watched James go out until the water was up to his knees. He carefully lowered Emma’s feet until they skimmed the waved and she let out a squeal of delight as she kicked at the waves and tried to snatch them with her small hands.

Al studied them for a long time, watching his brother play with Emma as she delighted in the feel of the water. Finally, James hoisted her up onto his hip and waded out a bit more to talk to Caroline and Louis.

Ginny sat down in Nat’s abandoned chair and watched them.

“Aunt Ginny is nervous,” Rose commented to Al as she grabbed hold of his arm to steady herself as a waved knocked into them.

“She is,” Al agreed curiously. “I can’t tell if it’s because it’s James or because of something else.”

“It could be both,” Rose mused, “although James is fine. He’s good with people, always has been. It stands to reason he’d be good with a baby.”

Emma had her head on James’ shoulder as he talked and kept an eye on the waves. Rose was right, James was good with her. It was coming easier to James than it ever did to Al. “He has it so easy.”

Rose snorted and shook her head. “He has some things easy, Al. But let’s not forget that he was an insufferable git for most of his life. He had to get over that. You’ve always been nice. Would you really want to trade?”

Al supposed he wouldn’t. “You think Caroline will marry him?”

“I think it’s going to be an interesting story for them.”

Al couldn’t disagree.

~*~

Ginny sat bolt upright in her bed as sweat drenched her face and her heart pounded a heavy tattoo. She’d had the dream again! She’d been watching Harry carrying a baby that looked a lot like James, only with darker skin, towards Caroline while she sat on an indistinct couch. James was nowhere to be found.

Shaken, Ginny snuck out of the bed, leaving Harry asleep next to her, and made her way down to the kitchen for a glass of water only to pull up short at the sight of Caroline sitting in one of the window seats staring out towards the dark ocean, her dog sitting right next to her.

The girl turned and smiled ruefully at Ginny. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“I had a bad dream,” Ginny admitted, deciding not to tell her about it. She moved over to the other side of Rufus and slowly sat, scratching absently at the dog’s large, soft ears. “It’s one I’ve had before and it always scares me.”

“I have those,” Caroline told her quietly. “But they’re getting less now.”

“Good,” Ginny said in a soft voice. “Do you want to talk about why you can’t sleep?”

She waited in silence, waiting out what was probably extremely painful thoughts for this girl, well, she was almost a woman. She was the same age Ginny had been when she’d been pregnant with Hope. Sometimes it took a while for the courage to build to say the really difficult things.

“With the fight with those guys,” she said finally as she held onto Rufus’ fur. “I had a lot of fear but it went away quickly. I had this… this hope like maybe I’ll get better.”

Understanding flooded through Ginny. “You’re afraid you won’t be able to keep it up.”

“Yeah,” Caroline agreed as her troubled blue eyes met Ginny’s. “James… he… ugh,” she glanced away. “I’m talking to his mother.”

“Forget about that, sweetheart,” Ginny told her tenderly. “Remember I’m a woman and a mother and I want what’s best for you.”

“I’m not best for James.”

Ginny almost laughed. “Are you kidding me?! You’re the best thing for James!”

True shock spread over Caroline’s face. “You can’t be serious!”

“I couldn’t be more serious,” Ginny promised and this time she did laugh. “My son was a rotten git, mostly because of me, before you came into his life! He’s become a good man because of you. You’re the best person for him. You make him want to be a better person, a better man.”

Caroline fell silent again for a long time. “I didn’t expect you to say that.”

“I love my son with all my heart,” Ginny told her sincerely as she reached out to take Caroline’s hand so she’d meet her eyes. “I adore him, but I would not have expected to see today what I saw. My son, who is a grown man now, carrying his niece out into the waves to hold her, protect her, and keep her happy. I couldn’t help but watch in awe at the changes he’s made in himself. Teddy was always good with the little ones, but James was not. He was selfish and sometimes mean. I wouldn’t have trusted him to keep a goldfish alive, but I watched him today with Emma and I was in awe of how much he’s grown. You were the biggest part of that.”

Caroline licked at her lips and glanced out the window. “I want to grow, too. I don’t want to be damaged forever.”

“You won’t be,” Ginny promised quietly. “One day you’ll have a handle on everything.”

“You lived through some terrible things.”

She nodded slowly and considered it. It wasn’t the same kind of terrible as Caroline, but it had to still be pretty bad.

“How did you get out of your dark places?” the girl asked curiously.

“Well,” Ginny said slowly, thinking it through. “The crux of the matter was bad things happened. It didn’t make me bad, and it didn’t ruin me. I could have let it ruin me, but being that destroyed is a choice. It’s not something anyone else can do to you. You do it to yourself.”

“But I didn’t–”

Ginny shook her head and interrupted her. “No, I don’t mean that. You were victimized horribly by your father. You couldn’t stop that and none of it was your fault but you,” she said as she pointed to Caroline’s heart, “your essence and who you are… that can only be destroyed if you let it happen. You have to give that up. No matter what that monster did to you, he couldn’t touch your soul. You ultimately have control over your own soul. I chose not to let that be damaged for good. I chose to get better. People sometimes… well, sometimes they seem to not be able to take a step to heal themselves. I took the steps. Sometimes they were small steps and sometimes I was walking backwards, but I kept fighting.”

“Why?”

“Because life is worth fighting for. It’s never so bad as to not be fixable or worth living. You have to fight for it.”

Caroline considered her words for a long time. “I’m going to do that.”

“I know you will,” Ginny smiled. “We’ll be here to help you when it gets tough. You can do this.”

She felt a bit lighter in herself as she went back to bed. Whatever happened, they would handle it.
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