Okay, well everyone said "keep to the pace I'm going" and it was my inclination anyway, so that's what I'm doing. Look, I'm posting again in December!! Happy Christmas! Hopefully you're well. Covid has hit our house but it's blessedly mild and only one person since we're all vaccinated. What times we live in...
Anyway, if you want to give me a Merry Christmas, please consider check out my books on amazon on my patreon account. Look for Sarah Jaune
Thank you so much to Arnel for beta'ing!
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The Space Between | ||||||
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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: 584 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: 353464; Chapter Total: 1486 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: |
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Isabella Crabbe stared hard at the man reporting to her about the bombing in London. “You’re absolutely sure nothing in the Ministry was harmed?” “As sure as we can be,” he confirmed in his rough voice which always sounded like vocal cords being scraped across sandpaper. “We only have the one source, but he reported things were back to normal by the next day and the Healer was back to healing the bitches.” Isabella closed her eyes and shook her head. She had no idea how anyone was able to heal the women or the babies but in order for her plan to succeed, she needed that healing stopped. She wanted the world at its knees and she wanted them to pay, all of them to pay, for what had happened to her son. It wasn’t enough to simply kill their children, although that had its own form of satisfaction. No, she wanted to strip from them the one thing they all prized above everything else. She wanted them to suffer the fate of having children who could never perform magic. Soon, very soon enough, she’d be able to say the magical community was dying. She had agents working in every country, giving every woman they could the potion. It was easy, so easy, to make sure they all received it, too. It was as simple as getting someone into the local pub or magical restaurant. It was as easy as setting up a stand selling drinks in a local market. The potion was colorless, odorless, and tasteless and best of all it was damn near free to make, which was good because she was blowing through Donald Baker’s hidden assets and had taken to kidnapping wealthy old men, taking all their money, and then killing them. As long as she didn’t pick someone from the first world, it went over well. Everyone assumed it was a mob hit or something else related. No, Donald Baker’s killing had been too high profile, although she did enjoy the image of the eldest Potter brat stabbing him through the neck with a tree branch. It seemed a fitting way for the pedophile prick to go. His bratty daughters hadn’t needed the money, anyway. They’d been taken in by the Potters and one had even married the oldest Potter bastard, taking on that sickly baby she’d foisted on him. But it all started with that welp they’d named Alex. Alex was supposed to be her first major victim, and instead somehow the bitch Healer Weasley had figured out how to cure them. Isabella herself didn’t have a clue how to heal them and she’d invented the damn potion! Granted, she hadn’t tried to heal anyone, so it might be as simple as that. She needed to get the Healer Weasley as so far everyone she’d stolen to examine after their healing showed no signs of how they had been healed. They had no memories of it, so she had nothing to go on. But Weasley was wily and she hadn’t once been exposed where she could be taken. She’d also ensured her children were just as well protected, as was her husband. She could go after one of the other Weasleys and she still might, but currently the whole family was on hyper alert, waiting for an attack. She’d had a shot at the drunk brat, had had a plan in place to get him the next time he went drinking, but he’d vanished off the radar and she hadn’t been able to get him. “What do you want us to do?” Isabella glanced over at the man. “It was good enough to ruin their day, even if we didn’t crack the Ministry. I didn’t expect we would with a Muggle bomb, but it was worth trying to cause them pain and chaos. Can you get more out of the source at the Ministry?” “The idiot thinks we’re mates and he’s meeting me again next week at a pub. I’ll see what I can get then.” She nodded and waved him off. It was good enough, at least for now. Her plan for the youngest Potter was in place. She knew exactly when and how she was going to snatch the precious Lily Potter and yes, her aunt would just heal her, but it would still be too late to save her from a fate worse than death. She would make sure of that. She still hadn’t selected the male for which she’d foist the Potter bitch on, but she would make sure he was sufficiently malicious. Potter would pay. ~*~ Harry studied his grandson, a few days after his first birthday, and marveled again that such an amazing little boy could be in his life. Alex grinned his drooly grin as he carried a toy dragon and toddled over to Harry, holding it out to him. “What are you showing Granddad?” Harry asked him as he held out his hands to the little boy and hauled him up on his lap to study the plastic dragon. Alex showed it to him and then promptly stuck it in his mouth to begin teething on it. Harry cuddled him in close, running his hand over Alex’s dark hair before kissing his brow. Olivia and Amelia, who were keenly aware of what was going on when it came to their cousin or to their granddad, came running to him. They were several months older than Alex and it showed in how well they could move in comparison to Alex. “Uhh!” Amelia demanded of him. “I’m going to have a lap full,” Harry laughed as he hauled both girls up onto his other leg. When he thought about the horror of what he’d dealt with in the last week, with the explosion above the Ministry, and how many children had died, he knew he was more than a blessed man. He had these children here with him, safe and whole, and nothing on earth could make up for the ones who were lost. “It’s time for cake!” Emma, who was now four, shrieked happily. The twins quickly scrambled off of him, but Harry stood with Alex and carried him into the kitchen. Everyone was there, including Polly and Teeny, to celebrate Alex’s big day. It was a day that Harry had doubted would happen. When he’d first seen his grandson, he’d thought for certain they would be burying him very soon. With that in mind, just as soon as Alex was in his high chair, he went over to Nat and pulled her in for a long hug, kissing the top of her head. “Thank you for my grandson.” “You’re welcome,” she said as she hugged him back. They both joined in as the sounds of Happy Birthday filled the air. Everyone had made it, including Rose and Andrew, and a very pale Louis who was into his second week of detoxing. He was still quite ill and hadn’t made it into work, but he was at least on his feet and able to interact. As the cake was passed around, something with no sugar in it so that Nat could join in, Harry took a bite and thanked Merlin that everyone was getting better at making them taste better. At least Alex seemed to enjoy it. “How are things at the Ministry?” Bill asked him quietly and Harry jumped, not realizing his brother-in-law had moved up next to him. Some Auror he was… “It’s getting back to normal. Nat was able to finish with the other healings and she’s moved on to even more patients. We have thousands on the list and we’re prioritizing who is sickest and who is furthest along. Some women and babies handle the poison better, but of course we want them all to be healed quickly. Bill nodded as he glanced around the room. “She’s going to try for another one of our kids. I just have that feeling in my gut, but I don’t know who or when. We’ll know, of course. Nat will tell us just as soon as it happens, but I’m still very worried. It could be another rape situation for any of them.” Finally, Harry heard the anger simmering behind his brother’s words, not just the anxiety and fear. “I wish I could stop it.” “I know you do,” Bill sighed. “Part of me wants to be mad at you for not stopping her already, because it’s supposed to be your job, but if she isn’t in England then there really isn’t a damn thing you’re going to do about it. You’ve arrested people who are poisoning women, only to find out they only saw a middleman, who isn’t actually a real person because they were in disguise and so on and so on. I get it, Harry, I really do. But it doesn’t stop me from wanting to scream and demand why you can’t just fix this.” Bill then clapped him on the shoulder, “but then I remember that you’re not a superhero and you aren’t going to be able to fix everything. I know you’re trying and you’re doing the best that you can.” “She’s going to have to make a mistake,” Harry said flatly and knew without a shadow of a doubt it was the truth. It was foretold that he’d be able to beat Voldemort and Voldemort had walked into every single trap he’d needed to in order for Harry to have a chance at killing him. And Harry never ever forgot that he didn’t kill Voldemort because of skill, but because of the sick bastard’s own hubris. “I’m good, but I’m not that good. She has to slip up.” “She will at some point,” Bill said without the confidence to back it up. The truth was, she’d gone this long, it was decades now, and she hadn’t made a mistake. They didn’t know what it was going to take to bring her down. “Granddad, Papa,” Emma said as she ran over to them. “Mummy says it’s time for presents and you need to come so you can find out what you bought Alex.” Her little face screwed up in confusion. “Why wouldn’t you know what you gave Alex?” Bill glanced over to Harry, who shrugged. Clearly neither of them knew what their wives had wrapped for their first grandson. “It’s complicated Emmy-bug,” Bill said as he scooped her up. “You’ll understand when you get married.” Harry left the party to head straight back to work, along with Teddy and Al. Until they had more information on the bombing, everyone was on full alert and he’d had to pull in others to cover for Teddy so they could be at the party. It was something he did for all of his Aurors, of course. He prized family and wanted all of them to have the chance to watch their children grow up. This time just happened to be his turn. “I never thought we’d go back to making the recruits help with the work,” Harry sighed as he and his sons stood quietly on the lift. Teddy nudged him with his shoulder. “Don’t forget, old man, you had me out just as soon as I had the basics down. My ability to disguise myself was used almost right away.” That was true, although truth be told he saw Teddy as having more ability than Al, even though he was the same age as when he’s started to stick Teddy in the field. “You felt older, if that makes sense.” “No,” both Teddy and Al said at the same time. Harry shrugged. “You’ll have to wait until your kids are aging. I think my oldest verses my youngest. Lily is basically the same age I was when I faced down Voldemort and killed him and yet I can’t, for the life of me, even picture asking Lily to do anything like that.” “Lily is not a good example,” Al pointed out. “She wouldn’t do any of those things even if she was fifty.” Al had a point there. “True,” Harry mused. The lift came to a halt and they exited into the bustle of the Auror department. Auror Gregory came straight over with a pile of reports as Teddy and Al veered off to head to their various assignments. “We have the papers prepared for the next round of women to be healed. It’s been approved by the Minister’s office and we are ready to send them out, worldwide.” “Did you get the word out about how the poison is likely being spread?” Harry asked as he glanced over the revised rules for getting healing. He hated to do it this way but frankly they couldn’t risk anymore lives, especially not Nat’s. As it was, most of his family was in perpetual hiding. Molly and Lucy had both stopped working, which was fine for Molly as she had a husband, but Lucy was back to living with her parents under the Fidelius Charm. Molly’s husband had taken a job he could do from home, which was a blessing. The other girls all had multiple Portkeys on them at all times, just in case they were snatched. It was a nightmare on a grand scale. “We have sent out the releases to all the governments,” Gregory confirmed. “We’ve had some contact us for feedback and with questions. I’ve explained what I know, but of course that’s not as much as anyone would like.” “Believe me, I wish we had more,” Harry sighed in frustration. They had one potions master working on it. One. They didn’t have anyone else until Rose was qualified. She was the only one in all of England going for it, and she had a while until she was done with schooling. The only helpful thing they’d learned from the potions master was that the potion was likely odorless and tasteless before it was consumed, but in the body it started to morph into what it would eventually become, which was the brown sludge. “All we can say is don’t trust anything you’re given to drink. I know that’s going to put the pubs in a bad spot, but we can’t say for sure that the alcohol doesn’t render it inert until we have a sample of it to test.” That was where the rest of the world came into play. They needed a sample of the potion in its original form to be able to determine how it was being hidden. If they could find it, they could experiment on it. “Hopefully we find a sample soon,” Gregory said echoing Harry’s exact thoughts. ~*~ James ran his finger along his wife’s brow, down her jawline and to her chin. Five years ago, he could have never imagined that she would be his, that he would be able to touch her, and that they would be living this life. Five years ago, he hadn’t even considered being a husband or a father. Five years ago, he’d been a selfish prat trying hard to grow up so he could be worthy of the girl in his arms. The living room fire crackled as the sun set a few days after Alex’s birthday. Their boy was already asleep in his bed, too tired from a game with the dogs. Steve the wonder dog was now fully grown and fully trained. He would be heading to his new home to work with his new master in a matter of days and then they would have another puppy, just as soon as the next litter was born. For the amount of hours Caroline had put into training the dog, the pay was lousy, but it was still a large chunk nonetheless. They didn’t need the money, as he had gained a fat bonus from the Quidditch team due to his performance, but it was still nice. He’d asked her what she wanted to do with it and she’d said to stick it in the bank. He’d suggested a few things, but she said she’d splurge on a nice dress for Rose’s wedding when the time came. The time was coming fast, too. They only had until June and it was already March. He’d need a tux, but his aunt had informed him that he and all the other men would be able to rent them. It seemed a little unfair that men could rent their fancy outfits but a woman had to buy one new. “You’re preoccupied,” Caroline commented. “Stupid things, too,” he admitted with a grin as he pressed a light kiss to her temple. “I was thinking about renting a suit for Rose’s wedding and how you have to buy a dress.” “You could buy a tux, but honestly I’m not sure when you’d need to wear it again. I can wear a fancy dress to other occasions, rather than dress robes.” He hadn’t thought of it that way. “True. Well, I don’t have to worry about it until May.” “Right,” she agreed, snuggling further into his arms. “Louis looked better tonight.” They’d had Louis over for dinner that night, which had involved James going to Victoire and Teddy’s house to get him, bring him back, and then take him back once they were done with dinner. They’d served no alcohol, of course, but even so Louis’ eyes kept drifting over to where they kept the wine. “He couldn’t have looked much worse. He looked like death warmed over at Alex’s birthday last weekend. But it was good.” “I was thinking,” Caroline said as she smoothed her hand along his shirt, over his stomach. “I was thinking,” she repeated slowly, “that maybe we should get rid of all the alcohol we have until he’s through the worst of it.” James didn’t drink often, mostly because any kind of drunkenness set Caroline off into a tailspin, but he did enjoy a glass of wine now and again. But tonight, while Caroline was putting Alex was asleep, Louis had told him what had sent him over the edge. He’d told James he could tell his wife, but James hadn’t wanted to. He didn’t want to upset her. “He told me why he was drinking.” She sat up and stared at him. “Really?” James nodded as he studied her blue eyes. “He said I could tell you, but I don’t really want to. I think… I think you’re better off not knowing, except to say he’s not a danger to anyone but himself.” Caroline cocked her head to the side, her blonde hair sliding over one shoulder. “Alright,” she agreed quietly. “I trust you. If there comes a point where you think I can hear it, then I want to know, but I trust you.” She lay back down and he was grateful she’d taken it this well. She’d come a long, long way in just a few years. They lay silently for another few minutes before Caroline said, “I needed to take the potion for birth control today, but I didn’t.” “Oh.” They’d discussed it a few times, but they said they’d wait for when Alex was a full year. “I do have a month-long potion, though,” she said quietly. “Audrey brought it over during Alex’s party. I just haven’t taken it yet.” Alex was getting to a great stage now. He was sleeping well through the night and he was starting to play well. They were into a great groove with everything. On the other hand, the thought of his wife’s body changing a growing a baby was not unpleasant. It was, quite frankly, the exact opposite. “In the end, the bulk of it will fall on you,” he said thoughtfully. “Plus, we will be getting a new puppy soon. I’m happy with how things are, I’m happy waiting, but if this is what you want, then I can be happy with that, as well. It’s your choice.” He felt her shake her head. “If you don’t want it”” “I didn’t say that,” he interjected, reaching for her hand. “I’d be very, very happy to get you pregnant right now, but pregnancy and newborns… it’s a lot. You’re in a good place, but only you know if that’s what you want to do. You tell me because most of it will be on you.” She hesitated only a moment. “I want another baby now.” He didn’t ask her if she was sure, because he could hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes. He bent down to kiss her and slowly deepened it until they were both breathless. “Well,” he said as he broke away long enough to scoop her up. “I think I am up for the challenge.” ~*~ If someone had told Ginny when she was sixteen that she’d happily be a grandmother, watching her grandchildren, she’d have said they were off their nut. She’d sworn she would have kept up working up until she was too old and creaky to move, but life hadn’t turned out in the way she’d wanted. She’d never expected to marry at sixteen and she’d never expected to be on lockdown, yet again, worse than when Voldemort was active. Their only saving grace is that they had Natalie. Nat could see concealments, disguises, curses, and any other manner of nefarious thing that might be used to get to them. Of course, Nat couldn’t do a single thing about those concealments, disguises, curses, or other manner of nefarious thing, but tell someone. But that was a minor problem that was easily overcome. What wasn’t so easily overcome was how isolated all of them had become in the last few years. Ginny used to have friends she would see on occasion. She wasn’t at risk for being kidnapped and magically impregnated. She’d taken the yearlong birth control potion, as had every single married female member of their family save for Victoire and Caroline who were both still breastfeeding and could only take the month long potion. There was no way to induce ovulation in someone who had taken it. No wait, that wasn’t completely accurate. Victoire had become pregnant with Emma while on the potion. She had no idea about Dominique, but Dom was with her girlfriend and so there was no chance of pregnancy accidentally. She kept expecting Dom to say they were getting married since they’d been together since Hogwarts but so far they hadn’t made that commitment yet. It was possible she wanted to avoid the insanity which was going to necessarily surround Rose’s wedding to Andrew. That was going to be a mess, no doubt. But what else could she do? They had to have the public ceremony at Andrew’s estate in the country, which was going to be safer as the Aurors could go in and perform all the protections they wanted without tipping off the Muggles. Andrew would simply have his staff sent home for the hours it would take. Still, it wouldn’t be enough. “So, we really can’t go to a shop?” Lily asked glumly as they waited for Al to bring all the dresses Fleur had selected from all the various Muggle shops. Al would give them a once-over to make sure they were fine and then when he arrived, Nat would take a look at them before they even brought them in the house. She didn’t have a clue how Crabbe would be able to get at Muggle dresses from Muggle shops but they weren’t taking any chances. She’d wanted Harry to do this, but he was at work, which was a regular situation now since the bombing. Ginny had put her foot down about Nat healing women more than three days a week, overriding Nat’s protestations that she could do more and work on wands in the evening. Ginny had initially been ignored, but all of that had changed last week after Nat went in for healings five days in a row. Nat had come home so tired and worn thin on that fifth day that Teddy had escorted her home. They’d no sooner made it into the door before Nat keeled over in a faint. They’d called Audrey, who had rushed over and realized Nat’s blood sugar was dangerously low. It had taken food and some coaxing and then the whole next day in bed to get her back on her feet. Now, blessedly, Ginny had her way and Nat went in to heal Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only unless there was a one-off emergency. But of course, that was neither here nor there as far as their current predicament. Lily had been home from school less than a day and most of that time had been spent with Scorpius. She didn’t blame her daughter or Scorpius for wanting that time, especially since Scorpius would have to work all week long and there wouldn’t be a lot of time for them until the evenings. But it was Sunday and they had major decisions to make concerning the fashions to be worn at the wedding. Fleur had deemed every single dress she’d selected to be appropriate for the Muggle side of the wedding in June, which meant the girls could select from them whichever they liked. “Al is here,” Nat said as she rose. “I’ll go help him,” Scorpius said as he followed her to the door. “Wow.” Ginny glanced over the young man’s shoulder and winced. “That’s a lot of dresses.” “Some help, please!” Al called. Scorpius turned to Nat who smiled. “There’s only dresses, nothing else.” “Right, well, then here we go,” he laughed as he went to haul in what had to be a hundred dresses from the yard. Lily, being Lily, wanted to try on absolutely every single dress and then she wanted to show everyone the dress to get their feedback, which she was then apt to ignore based on how she felt about them. Natalie looked through all the dresses in her size, picked out three she liked the best, tried them on with just Ginny and Lily, and picked one from that. “It’s not terrible,” Nat said as she studied herself in the mirror. “You look lovely,” Ginny promised her, meaning it. Nat would sparkle in the gown. “I’m sure you’ll have many people asking you to dance.” Nat snorted and shook her head, grinning as Lily slipped into yet another dress, this one the palest of yellows. “Not with this one around.” Lily stuck out her tongue and then twirled in the dress. “You only want Al to dance with you, anyway, and Scorpius isn’t going to hand me off to anyone who isn’t family, so it doesn’t matter what I look like.” Ginny knew she had a point there. Of course, it was too dangerous for Lily to be with anyone who wasn’t family, but she knew they were going to have a very tricky time enforcing that. Ginny rather suspected Scorpius was going to propose this summer, but she also knew he would wait until after Rose’s wedding since that was consuming everything right then. They would have another year until Lily was done with school, at any rate, but Ginny was alright with her daughter marrying immediately. The fact of the matter was she was having a hard time not simply ordering Al to marry Nat just so neither of them could be trapped into a marriage with someone else if they were captured by Crabbe. Fury licked in flames in her stomach as she remembered no other society in the world, at least that she knew of, had the regressive laws that England did towards marriage and purity. She’d been talking with Hermione about making the yearlong birth control potion standard medical care for the women since so many were being poisoned, but the Wizengamot had deemed it unnecessary since they had a cure for the poison, even if the cure was an almost nineteen-year-old girl which they didn’t even know about. “Mama?” Lily asked hesitantly, and Ginny shook off her ire, knowing Lily had picked up on it. Sera had sidled over to Lily, sticking his head under hand to start soothing her. “I’m just mad about all the security procedures,” Ginny admitted. It was the truth, but not the whole truth. “I wish I could have taken you shopping without having to go through all this fuss.” Lily studied her for a moment and then nodded. It wasn’t the absolute truth, since Ginny hated shopping, but she did wish they could have a normal life without the risk to their safety. She knew exactly how her own mother had felt during the war, and Molly Weasley had been forced to send Ron, Harry, and Hermione off on their own to hunt down Voldemort’s soul. “Let me do up your zip,” Nat said as she moved around Lily to get it. “Then you can go wow Scorpius some more.” Lily ran down the steps, came back up, changed into something else by the time Nat was changed again and this time Ginny followed her daughter down as she showed off a midnight blue dress. She immediately caught the confusion in Al’s eyes when he spotted Nat in her jeans and jumper. “Where’s your dress?” “Up there,” Nat told him pointing upstairs. “You picked one already?” he asked slowly and she nodded. “But you aren’t going to show us?” Ginny could hear the actual hurt in his voice and wished she could explain to her son exactly what to say to make this girl go run up and try it on for him. “It’s just a dress,” Nat said, not looking at him as she picked up Ducky off the sofa and sat down to stroke the cat. “It’s just me in a dress.” “Come on, Nat,” Lily tried to cajole her, but she stopped as she studied Nat. “Alright, then, you’re stuck with me trying everything on, then.” Scorpius looked a little dazed at all the outfits. “Just as long as I don’t have to pick a favorite, because almost every one has been my favorite.” “Which ones didn’t you like?” Lily paused, studying him. “That neon pink one with the ruffly things,” he said, making vague gestures at his sleeve to indicate the tule. “Oh, yeah,” Lily giggled as she skipped towards the stairs. “That one was terrible.” Ginny sighed and went back up the stairs to unzip this dress. She should have insisted Fleur come for this. ~*~ The Easter holidays had come and gone too fast for Harry, who had barely any time with Lily, although she’d still somehow managed to talk him into three dresses in the short amount of time they did have together. “You are a sucker,” Ginny had groused at him. Yes, he was, but it wasn’t like he had more than one child trying to get a bunch of clothing out of him. His sons were all out in the world paying their own bills and Nat, whom he had insisted on buying her dress, as well, hadn’t even seemed to want the one she’d chosen. “I could have paid for it,” Nat said as the three of them ate dinner the night that Lily went back to school. It was quiet in the house again, since Scorpius wasn’t there, either. He’d spent every free minute of the last week with them. Harry understood completely Scorpius’ devotion, even if it meant Harry was no longer going to be the first man in Lily’s life. It was how it was supposed to be, he knew, even though it wrenched at his heart. So, he’d paid for three dresses for Lily and one for Nat. “Nonsense,” Harry said as he cut into his steak. “You’re not getting a lot of wands made because you’re working for free at the Ministry. The very least we can do is buy a dress for you.” Nat hesitated a minute and then said, “Well, I appreciate it.” “We know you do,” Ginny promised and the meal proceeded on quietly as it was wont to do when it was just the three of them. When Al and Nat were still in school and it had been just the two of them, things had also been quiet, Harry knew. He and Ginny had no problem speaking about almost anything in front of Nat. She often had insightful thoughts to add to a conversation, but just now it was quiet born of missing Lily, who was a chatty ball of energy, plus the sheer number of women and babies, sometimes orphaned babies, coming through the Ministry every other day. Harry would have wanted Nat to heal more often, because they had that many requests for Healing, but the day she’d passed out had been a scary one. She hadn’t had a low blood sugar in years, not with the special diet Audrey had put her on. She’d been so stable it was difficult to remember just how sick and fragile her body had been for a few years. But her episode brought it all back in stark relief and Harry knew Ginny was right to insist she only heal three days a week and take breaks in between. They would be back at it tomorrow with at least fifty patients, he didn’t know how many, but she could typically get through fifty in a day. Fifty women a day, times three days a week, times fifty-two weeks in a year was pushing eight thousand people and it was still no where near enough. It just wasn’t. Crabbe was working triple-overtime trying to poison the whole world, which Harry figured was exactly her plan. They would be lucky if they ever made it through everyone. “I’m going to turn in early,” Nat said as soon as they’d cleaned up from dinner. It wasn’t even eight o’clock but Harry couldn’t blame her. They started early the next morning. “Good night,” Harry and Ginny said together as they watched her trudge up the stairs. When they heard the door to her room close, Harry glanced over to his wife and saw the same concerns he had written all over her face. “She’s not the happy girl she used to be,” Ginny sighed as she hung up the towel she’d used to dry her hands. “I just don’t know what it’ll take.” “Do you think it’s her situation with Al?” Harry wondered. Ginny shook her head, surprising him. “No, I don’t think it is. I think it’s all the isolation and all the sick people. She’s pined after Al for a long, long time and that’s never been the thing that pushed her over the edge. But she left school where she had a decent amount of freedom and her friends around her constantly, to come back here and be either stuck in this house or at the Ministry caring for people who are closing in on death. She’s sent how many babies straight over to St. Mungo’s to be hooked up to feeding tubes since she started this?” “It’s typically at least one a day, but often more,” Harry admitted. The hospital had been forced to open up a wing just for the infants and they’d brought on more staff from Germany, France, and Switzerland to help with the overload of patients. He contemplated what that had to be doing to someone who was only nineteen and he realized that of course Ginny was right. “What can we do about it?” “I think we should insist that Al and Scorpius eat here at least a few times a week,” Ginny said after a moment’s thought. “I can also see if Rose can come some more, but of course once she’s married that will die off as it should. But we could have a night where all of them could have dinner together and you and I aren’t here. Then she’d have her friends, at least for a little bit. She spends so much of her days here by herself.” “She goes over to Teddy and Victoire’s house,” Harry pointed out. “She’s also babysat Alex more than once.” Ginny inclined her head in clear agreement but walked over to put her arms around his waist. “While babies are wonderful, they’re no substitute for an adult interaction. You have to remember what it was like when James and Al were little, and even after Lily came along. I was so starved to talk to an adult that I was practically vibrating from it.” Harry did clearly remember just how much Ginny had missed out on while raising their kids. “You’re right. And even when she’s at the Ministry, surrounded by people, she’s under the cloak as though she isn’t even there.” “Yes, that’s it exactly,” Ginny agreed. “I just wish we could give her more normalcy, but with her limitations on magical protection, she’s practically begging to have someone attack her.” Harry wished it were as simple as being able to say that no one knew what Nat could do, but of course that was no guarantee. “I will speak with Al tomorrow at work and make sure he knows he’s to come to dinner more often. I think he wants to, but I also think he gets home from training and wants to go straight to sleep.” “You didn’t have that when you were a trainee,” Ginny pointed out with a grin. He shook his head, grimacing. “By that point I was so used to being hungry, exhausted, and overworked that training, what little they did, felt easy and simple. They just assumed since I’d killed Voldemort I must know what I’m doing. What a load of rubbish that was. I had to learn everything the hard way.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I do push my trainees hard, but I push them because I want them to stay alive and make sure they know everything they need to know. I don’t want them to have to learn everything in the field.” “It’s a good way of working it,” Ginny assured him. “But maybe simply grab him and bring him with you after work. Then he can’t forget. I’ll send Scorpius an owl and maybe speak to Rose about them coming over once a week.” “I think that’s the best we can do,” Harry said as he pressed his lips to the crown of her head. She had a few silver threads woven into the red, but it only added to her appeal to him. Grinning, he pulled her in tighter. “Let’s get ourselves off to bed and to sleep early. Us old folks need all the rest we can get.” Ginny poked him in the side. “Speak for yourself.” “Alright I’m speaking for myself,” he agreed. “But I think you’re babysitting tomorrow so Victoire can work.” “Yes,” Ginny agreed. With the staffing shortages and all the babies, Victoire was helping out more when she could arrange childcare. She then yawned. “Alright,” Harry said guiding her to the stairs. “Let’s get to bed.” |
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