James turned around to see a tall girl with long, dark, brown hair running towards him through the hall. She slowed to a walk a few feet from him and smiled.
“It is James, right?” She asked.
He nodded and waited awkwardly as she stared at him.
“Um, is there something you wanted?” He finally asked her shyly.
“Oh, right, yeah. I just wanted to sort of, well, welcome you to Hogwarts and to Gryffindor, you know…” her voice gently trailed off and James smiled. He noticed her red and gold tie and remembered that she had sat a few seats down from him at the Gryffindor table earlier.
“Thanks,” He replied. He could tell that others were nervous around him (and he had heard all the whispering in the Great Hall earlier). It was something he had been prepared for and something that didn’t make him nervous the way he thought it would, but rather made him laugh inside.
“Right, well, actually, I wanted to introduce myself there. My name is Shawna Appleton and I’m a fifth year.”
James smiled again and took her outstretched hand. “James Potter, first year.”
Shawna smiled back at the small boy. “Yeah, I knew that.”
James heard her take a breath in and ease up a little.
They stood in the shadow of the hall for another long, silent pause. James waited and watched Shawna shuffle her feet.
“Was there anything else?” He asked quietly.
“Uh, well, sort of. I…I was just wondering if you were, maybe, possibly, planning on trying out for the house team?”
James blinked a couple times and let the question sink in. He was surprised, he had to admit. He had been waiting for some other more daunting question, something about his father, perhaps, or Voldemort or the war, which were the normal causes for such nervousness in others. But not this. He let out a bigger chuckle and Shawna looked up at him, her eyes pleading in a manner that would equal a much younger student lost amongst the changing staircases and winding halls of the castle.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that I thought you would ask me something else,” he said.
Shawna looked embarrassed for a minute, but recovered quickly.
“Oh, I’m sorry to disappoint you then. It’s just that the rumor in the castle is that you’ve gained your father’s talent for flying. I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but if it is we could really use the help. It’s not exactly been the most promising lineup the past few years.”
James blushed a little bit. He did have a certain affinity for flying that his uncle Ron had told him was akin to his father’s, but he had no idea how anyone else would have heard about that. It was just his first night in the castle after all.
“Who said that? I mean, I like flying and all, but I don’t know if I’m really any good,” he said modestly.
“It’s all over the castle,” Shawna said, gaining confidence. “Ravenclaw was really hoping you would end up in their house because they could use the help even more than we could, but then, we all knew you were a Gryffindor through and through.”
This made James smile even more and something warm curled up inside his stomach. When the sorting hat had called his name all he could think about was how badly he didn’t want to be in Slytherin, and how proud his family would be if he followed in their footsteps as a Gryffindor. He knew his aunt Hermione was delighted by the shriek that escaped her from the professor’s table and he could just imagine the hug his mum would give him. He shook himself back to the moment and wondered if it was really possible to be part of the team.
“I didn’t think first years could be on their house teams…I mean, I know my dad was, but I thought that was a special circumstance.” James crossed his fingers hoping he had brought up something she already knew and wouldn’t affect her opinion.
“James, the special circumstance meant that your dad was an incredible player. If you’ve got his talent than the circumstances are equally special now.” James felt relief and let his shoulders down slightly. “Look,” Shawna finished, “You don’t have to make a decision right this second. I’ll keep you posted when the try-out day comes. I just, well, I was hoping you would think about it. Think about it seriously.”
James nodded and Shawna smiled at him. She gave him a low wave with her left hand and quickly scuffled towards the common room door.
As her footsteps disappeared into the evening castle air James looked down at his robes, his red and gold tie smooth in the pale lighting. He adjusted his hat and brushed down his hair, which never obeyed him anyway, then straightened his tie slightly. He felt big and strong. He felt powerful and excited, all of his feelings stirring inside of him once more. His mum had been right; everything was going to be just fine.
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Harry looked into Ginny’s eyes and let out a sigh, only this time the sigh was uplifting and excited, not frightened and cautious like all the ones he’d let out before.
“Harry, I’m confused. What are you going to do? How do you mean our world going to find out about this?”
Harry looked at Ginny and clasped her hand.
“Hogwarts,” he said as he looked at her hand in his.
Ginny raised a perplexed eyebrow for a minute until his hint sunk in.
“You’re going to be a professor, you mean to say?” Harry nodded. “And you’re going to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, I would also assume?” Harry added a grin to his nod. “You’re replacing Remus? And I can only imagine that James already knows about this as well?”
Harry couldn’t help but grin as he nodded once more. He had limited the time that he spent with his son to be extra careful, but when he was asked by Headmistress McGonagall to be the new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts he knew he would have to ask James’ permission first. After all, he couldn’t imagine just wandering into the classroom one morning, seeing James’ expression and having to explain to everyone else at the same time about his sudden and incredible reappearance. Harry suspected that James would be the first one to encourage him to accept the position, but then James had been pleading with his father for quite some time to come back so that they could be one big family again ever since the last Death Eater was officially captured. Now James would have his wish and they were going to be a family. Not to mention James would have a few bragging rights that other kids wouldn’t…
Ginny nuzzled into Harry’s side. “I should have known.”
“How do you mean?” Harry asked as he brushed her hair with his fingertips.
“Well, who else could follow such a wonderful professor? I heard it through the grapevine…Hermione of course. She wasn’t supposed to know, but Remus let her in on the secret so that he could say good-bye properly before all of the hustle and bustle about it arose. She promised to act surprised when the announcement was made…but I’m sure she won’t have any trouble acting surprised when you show up.” Harry chuckled making Ginny bounce on his chest for a moment and then she looked up at him. “You really will make a brilliant teacher, you know.”
“Well thank you,” Harry said as he puffed out his chest a little bit.
Ginny looked back down and played with the hem of his jumper.
“You know, I actually thought about that quite a few times. I wondered what our life would have been like if everything had been normal, if you were still alive, I mean. I always thought you would have made an excellent teacher, and if you were at Hogwarts there would be no other subject but DADA that would suit.”
“It’s true,” Harry added nonchalantly with a smile. “You know, I dreamed about that too…I wondered if the day would ever come that I would even have the option of some sort of ‘normal’ job, and I thought a lot about what that might be.”
“Did you think about becoming a teacher?” Ginny asked as she cuddled closer.
“Yeah, actually…I did…”
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The stars were deep and radiant against the silky, black sky. Harry gazed out a tiny hole in the boarded window and then back down to the ink-stained parchment in his hand. “Dear Ginny” was all he had seemed to manage in the past hour because his mind kept wandering over all the things he wanted to tell her and all the things he wished he could say. He knew that the letter would never reach her, heck, she didn’t even know he was alive, but he had a yearning to write it nonetheless.
Remus moved behind him and Harry turned to catch a glance of his partner.
“Beautiful night, eh Harry?” Remus asked as he began to open a jar of pumpkin juice that Dora had made for him and Harry.
“Yeah, it really is.” Harry looked back out the tiny hole and sighed. “I wish I could be out there, though. Sometimes I get so tired of having to always hide away in these stale rooms, the dank caves and empty, abandoned buildings.”
Remus looked up at the back of Harry and noticed how thin his friend had become recently. This life was not an easy one. He hated hiding just as much as Harry did, but at least he could go home to a wife and hearth when the time allowed. Harry was stuck in the shadows without relief.
“Someday, Harry. Someday this will all be over and then you’ll be able to run around under the stars as much as your heart desires.” Remus gave a fake smile and optimism to try and cheer his friend up before returning to the food before him.
Harry turned back around and caught Remus’ face and studied the expression for a moment.
“Remus?” Harry asked as Remus untied a small handkerchief containing some spiced bread.
Remus glanced up again for a second to catch Harry’s eyes and assure him that he was listening. “Yeah?”
“Do you think we’ll really see the end of this?”
Remus stopped untying the cloth, but didn’t lift his eyes. Harry watched him, but his fingers never moved. His shoulders were firm in their position propped up from the table and his hair was long in his eyes.
“Yeah…I do, Harry. I honestly do.”
Harry turned back towards the starlit view and swallowed.
“What would I do with myself, Remus? I don’t even know."
“What do you mean? There would be plenty to keep the great Harry Potter occupied.”
Harry scoffed at the note
“Autographs and interviews, you mean to say? Nothing of importance or purpose. Really, Remus. What would I do with my life?”
Remus glanced at Harry’s back again and then began to slide a small dab of apple butter on one of the thin slices of bread.
“There’s a lot you could do, Harry. You are a very talented wizard. Didn’t you talk about becoming an auror? You would certainly be qualified to do that.”
Harry barely nodded. Remus noted his non-response and set the knife onto the napkin that had covered the bread.
“I suppose after all of this who wants to chase more dark wizards around? Or perhaps there won’t be anymore left to get, eh?”
“There’ll always be dark wizards…” Harry said slightly.
“Yeah, I suppose there will be, but you could let someone else have a go at them for a change, right? Perhaps find something else that entertains you? Who says you really have to work, anyway? There’s plenty else you could do, take some time off, maybe? Rest, even?”
Remus watched Harry as the young wizard’s shoulders lowered and his head sunk away from the tiny viewing hole. Harry’s form became more and more fragile every time Remus looked at him, it seemed. He stepped away from the tiny dinner he had been preparing for himself and walked behind Harry. With a gentle hand on Harry’s shoulder he asked,
“What would you like to do, son? If none of this had happened, what do you think you would have done with yourself?”
Harry didn’t lift his eyes and after a few moments of silence he replied,
“I would have married Ginny, started a family with her.” Remus felt his heart pump unsteadily and sadness crept over once more. “I would have taught my children everything I knew, all about magic and evil & good. I would have taught James to fly and played Quidditch with him every Sunday. Perhaps Ginny and I would have had a little girl, but I wouldn’t have known quite what to teach her other than the fact that she would be the most beautiful girl in the universe…next to her mother, of course.”
“Harry…” Remus said softly, not really knowing how to comfort his friend.
“I would really love to teach them everything, you know? In fact, I’d like to teach all sorts of wizarding children the things I wish I would have known. I’d like to help them, give them the sort of knowledge that no one else will give. I even thought about teaching at Hogwarts. I could teach all the students the complicated spells and incantations you’re not supposed to ever learn in school, but are the ones you really ever need. I could even make Dumbledore’s Army a permanent fixture for anyone more interested in learning defense spells.”
Remus noticed that as Harry was talking his shoulders had lifted and his posture had become upright. There was energy in his words, energy in his body.
“Well, there you are, Harry. That sounds really wonderful, actually, and I think you would make a fine professor.”
Harry looked up at Remus and for a moment Remus saw an enchanted glow in Harry’s eyes, one that used to glow constantly, but it was overtaken by the familiar gray that had consumed them lately and Harry stood up from his chair.
“It’ll never happen. The world thinks I’m dead and if I don’t become that way in reality, I can’t imagine how they would ever take me back to teach their children. They’d be too frightened and confused to consider the possibility.”
“Rubbish, Harry. Pure rubbish. When, and I stress when, this is all over, you’re going to arrive back into our world a hero and nothing less. Everyone will be flocking to send their children to Hogwarts to be taught by the famous Harry Potter, there won’t be room enough left! There’ll be books written about you, everyone will want to know your story and hear every word you have to say. You’ll be begged by every school in the world to come and teach for them and you’ll get to choose between the finest of them all! You’ll have to scrape and scrounge for the slightest bit of alone time you can find you’ll be so busy!” Remus took in a scoffing breath. “You can say what you want, but the truth lies far from your words.”
Harry was taken aback by the outburst, but humbled by the strength of his friend’s statement. Harry didn’t try to pity himself, but it certainly became that way at times. It was moments like this he regretted speaking such ignorance and felt the twinge of guilt when one needs to apologize for something.
“I’m sorry, Remus…you’re right. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, son, just believe it.”
Harry smiled at his friend then glanced at the remaining slice of spiced bread on the tiny table.
“One left for me, then?” He said moving towards it.
Remus motioned towards it eagerly, grabbed his own piece and shoved it in his mouth.
“Make sure to use lots of butter,” he said with a full mouth, “Dora doesn’t exactly have a knack for baking.”
Harry laughed at the scrunched face on Remus and picked up the knife to top the piece off.
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Suddenly there was a chiming within Harry’s pocket and he reached for a small, golden pocket watch he had been given by Professor McGonagall when he accepted the teaching position. “So you’ll never be late,” she had told him with a smirk. He ran his rough fingers over the dragon on the front, two swords crossed beneath it and flipped it open to check the time.
“Midnight already?” He said aloud.
He blinked a few times and realized that both he and Ginny must have fallen asleep because the sky outside was thick with night and Ginny was cuddled closely into his arm, deep in dream. Unwilling to wake her, he scooped her up in his arms and collected her robe from the floor. He draped it carefully over her, held her tight and with a loud pop disapparted from the burrow.
The sunrise came too early and too brightly, Ginny thought as she pulled the covers up over her head. A few seconds later the covers came flying off, her eyes wide and searching around.
“Where am I?” She whispered to herself, but it only took her a moment to realize that she was soft in her bed, the warm sunlight blazing in through her bedroom window. Was it all a dream? She rubbed her eyes, still puffy from a night of crying. Did that mean it wasn’t a dream?
“Harry?” She said into the morning air, her voice a bit hoarse.
Ginny pulled the covers off to find her pink pajamas twisted about her legs and the buttons on her top clumsily placed in the wrong holes. She didn’t bother adjusting, however, as she wandered into the hall and looked around for any sight of her long lost love.
“Harry?” She called again, this time loudly. “Harry, are you here?”
She peered down one end of the hall towards James’ room, but walked towards the kitchen instead.
“Morning!” Harry chimed brightly, suddenly popping into view.
Ginny screamed and jumped back.
“Harry! What in Merlin’s name! You nearly…is that…” her voice trailed out.
“Breakfast? Most certainly is. I was hoping you wouldn’t wake up before I got it to you.”
Ginny stared at the tray in Harry’s hand decked with eggs and bacon, cinnamon cakes, cherry rolls and a great big glass of ice, cold pumpkin juice. Her eyes widened even further and her mouth salivated with the aroma.
“Oh, Harry, thank you so much! This is so thoughtful!”
“Here, why don’t you take this into the sitting room and we’ll have breakfast by the fire. I’ll go grab a tray for myself and meet you in there.” Harry handed the tray over and dashed back into the kitchen, nearly tripping over his over-sized socks on the way.
Ginny walked carefully towards the fireplace, trying to balance so that the cup wouldn’t spill all over the floor and managed to lower to her knees to set it down just in time for Harry to follow her in. He flicked his wand in the direction of the mantle and a large fire puffed into place. Ginny felt all giddy and young inside and plopped down Indian style right in front of the warmth. Harry joined her side and the two flashed child-like smiles before digging into the pile of food in front of them.
“This is so delicious, Harry! I’d almost forgotten what a great chef you are!”
“Fank you,” Harry muffled, a forkful of eggs in his mouth. He chewed quickly and swallowed the heap down. “I wanted to do something nice for you, let today be just about the two of us because very soon that won’t be possible.”
Ginny smiled through a mouthful of cinnamon cake. She swallowed just in time to reply,
“What do you have in mind?”
“Well, it might sound silly to you, but I thought perhaps after breakfast, and after showers, and since we can’t really just wander around outside the neighborhood, I was thinking we could put together a puzzle, or maybe play a game of exploding snaps. You know, the simple things, things we used to enjoy doing together.”
Ginny smiled and set down her fork.
“You know, you were my absolute best friend. Before we dated we were friends, and when we fell in love that friendship only became stronger. I enjoyed spending time with you, Harry. Things like this, days like today. A game of exploding snaps or perhaps some wizard’s chess. You’ve always been a good friend, you will always be one.”
Harry looked at Ginny and noticed how beautiful her hair was, sort of ratted and tangled about, but still shining in the sunlight.
“I want to say that we can start over, but for some reason it almost feels like it never ended,” Harry said, leaning in towards Ginny.
“I don’t think it ever really did, Harry. Love like this never really ends, no matter the circumstances.”
Ginny leaned in towards Harry and their lips met. She felt a chill crawl up her spine and her hands became tingly and warm. His lips tasted like breakfast and she smiled wide, thinking about all the months in hiding together when they smelled anything but eggs and bacon. Those times were long behind them now, but powerful memories all the same.
The couple finished their breakfast, taking their time to savor every moment, then Harry took the dishes to wash while Ginny hopped in the shower. He turned on the water and let it begin to fill the sink while he made sure all the breakfast ingredients were put away and the counters wiped down. During his years in hiding he was rarely allowed to use magic to clean up after himself for fear that it might just be the one breaker to be heard or seen and give his location away, and this morning he acted on habit.
Harry grabbed a towel and began to wipe the counters down, setting the dirty pots and pans in the sink as he reached them. As his hand started over the stovetops he noticed a picture frame hanging just against the wall and hidden behind a few hanging spoons and jars of spices. He pulled it off the wall and admired it for a moment.
Inside the frame was Ginny, dressed in a blue jumper and holding a little baby girl in her arms. Ron was sitting next to her holding James, who was pointing to the little infant in his mother’s arms and all were laughing. On her shoulder was a pin that said in flashing pink letters, PROUD AUNT, and Ron was wearing a bright green shirt that said in swirling pink ink, DAD’S GOT A NEW BABY GIRL! Ron leaned in and kissed his daughter on the head and gave Ginny a big kiss on the cheek. Harry’s heart panged.
He remembered when both of Ron’s girls had been born and how badly he wanted to hold them. Ginny had been there with Hermione both times and James always asked when he could have a little baby sister of his own. Ginny tried to reply cordially, but inside he knew she was thinking she never would be able to give him one.
“He loves those girls,” Ginny said behind Harry, startling him. “I thought he was going to burst when Molly was born. Just look at him.”
Ginny walked right behind Harry and touched the corner of the frame. Harry took another look at his beaming friend then to Ginny.
“Are you sorry we never got to have more children, Gin?” He asked unexpectedly.
Ginny looked down quickly, then right into his eyes.
“Sometimes, but I can’t imagine what it would have been like surviving with more than one, Harry. It was hard enough with just James.”
“Yeah, I know. I just, I wondered about it sometimes. When Ron and Hermione had the girls I daydreamed about having little girls of my own. Perhaps another boy, I don’t know. I just always imagined a bigger family for myself…for us.”
Ginny turned the water off in the sink and dipped her hands in to start cleaning the dirty pots and dishes.
“I forget that you were there for things like that. It’s a little strange, a little creepy even.”
Harry chuckled and walked over to her, picking up a towel to dry the dishes she finished washing.
“I’m sure it is.” He laughed again. He quieted, however, and Ginny knew he wanted to ask her something important. “Gin, I also wanted to spend the day figuring out the future. I mean, I think we both know what we want, but I want to do this right and I know that it’s going to get difficult in a few weeks when all of this goes public. I want to sort out my life with you before anything else.”
The next few weeks passed without event, since the couple found most of their time was around the small house that Ginny had lived in without Harry for so long. They squandered away each day with games and conversation, discussing every topic that could ever be thought about and catching up for far too much lost time.
Ginny explained all about working with George at the shop after Fred died and showed Harry some of the latest Wizard Wheezes, which he enjoyed very much. She told him all about the new shops that had been built and laughed that she just pretended to not know George’s birthday gift to James had been free merchandise from the Hogsmeade store for life as long as he promised to use it all at school. That made Harry laugh as well and he thought that he would have loved that birthday gift himself.
Harry also did his share of jabbering, telling courageous stories of his adventures which left Ginny breathless and enthralled.
“I suppose I can’t blame you for being away, Harry,” she said once after he told her one particularly thrilling story involving a dragon and seventeen armed Death Eaters.
“It certainly wasn’t all like that, Gin,” he added, telling her about the many times he would have to just wander around a tiny room or cave, unable to leave or even let a single drop of light in for fear of being seen. “Most of the time I would just sit and think about you, really. I’d think about what I would have done with my life if all of this had ended with Voldemort, where I would be, where we would be.
Ginny never tired of hearing that he thought about her often when he was away, because she did the same. She thought about Harry every day, every minute of every day, it seemed, and it eased the memory that he was doing the same about her.
One morning, two days before Harry was to start teaching at Hogwarts, the post came with a blaring headline atop the newspaper. WHO WILL FILL LUPIN’S SHOES?
“Harry, I’m sure it’s nothing to be bothered about,” Ginny said as she knitted away at a sweater for James, noticing Harry’s interest in the article.
“No, listen, Gin,” he said. He cleared his throat and began to read aloud.
“Well, they’re in for quite the rally, eh?” Ginny giggled, still concentrated on her knitting.
“I didn’t realize it was such a point of interest for the community, Gin. This is what I was afraid of, though, and the reason I wanted to spend so much time with you now.” He looked eagerly at Ginny and she set down her knitting needles. “I want to try and sort our future out now, because I know this is going to be quite the stir and take a lot of time to calm down once this all comes out."
Ginny looked at Harry and nodded.
“Well, we really haven’t talked so much about it, have we? I guess we’ve just been so busy catching up we really haven’t done much of anything productive.” She chuckled slightly at the comment, thinking about their most recent attempt at building a house of cards, only she had slipped in an exploding deck from George’s shop that had left Harry’s eyebrows singed and frayed. “Perhaps now is a good time?” She asked.
Harry nodded and moved over to the sofa to join her. Ginny lifted her feet for Harry to slide under then set them down comfortably in his lap.
“Well, I suppose the first order of business would be this marriage of ours.” Harry started.
“Order of business? Really just jumping into it, are you?” Ginny said, half giggling and surprised at his approach. She had supposed he would ease into the conversation a little differently, perhaps discussing something a bit more light and simple, but it was obvious he found the topic urgent and was wasting no time sorting it all out.
“Well, am I wrong to believe that you do want to still be married?” Harry urged.
“Of course, Harry,” Ginny said with a playful smile. She seemed to be taking this conversation a little less seriously than him. “But I don’t think our marriage was ever really written in the ministry’s records, if you recall…sort of secret, the whole thing.”
“Yeah, I thought about that,” he said, “but I don’t know how much that is going to matter. I mean, everyone knows about us now and although it was never written in the ministry’s books we have the certificate to prove it.”
Ginny smiled again and thought about Charles Dashing, the official that had married them. Harry had managed to send him a fake letter about some official ministry business near the forest he and Ginny were planning to go to, and then intercepted him, blindfolded him, and took him deep into the woods (the same woods he had proposed to Ginny in) where he explained that the couple wanted to be married and it had to be top secret, hence all the chaos and lies.
Dashing was a short, plump man who was eager to please and even more eager to marry Harry Potter to the mystery woman beside him, thinking about how much money he could get for this story, something Harry knew when he chose him to be the one to come. Harry knew he would be easy to trick and quick to perform the ceremony, and even easier to make forget.
As soon as he signed the wizarding certificate of marriage, Harry took Dashing back to the place they’d met outside the forest, apologized and performed a difficult forgetfulness charm, completely erasing any memory of ever meeting the young wizard. Harry and Ginny apparated back into the woods to a perfect little cabin for their first night as a married couple, the certificate proving their vows tucked neatly away.
“And that will still be valid, right? Even though, well, you were sort of erased from society?”
“If that’s the case, we’ll just have to get married again.” He smiled and Ginny’s eyes lit up although she tried to hide it.
“Yeah, that might be a hassle, though, so something really tiny, of course…” She spoke in a searching tone and Harry could tell just what she really wanted.
“I was actually thinking that it might be nice to have a real ceremony with, well, anyone there besides us and an old ministry official that doesn’t even remember it. You know, friends, family, you in a beautiful white robe…”
“You mean it, Harry?” She asked her eyes glowing.
“Yeah, Gin, I definitely mean it."
Suddenly Ginny withdrew.
“Right, well, if this old certificate doesn’t hold up, we’ll figure all of that out, you know. But we have time because we’re just going to bank on everything working out, I mean, that’s just so much simpler…”
“Or, we could just plan on it anyway. Do it proper since we never really have.”
Ginny waited a minute to survey Harry’s eyes and sort out if he was really genuine. Harry watched back and let the tiniest smile play across his lips.
“I do mean it,” he said, reading her mind.
“Oh, Harry. That would be so wonderful. I mean, I don’t want it to be a hassle, but, that really would be wonderful.”
“Marrying you is never a hassle, no matter what the circumstances are.”
He leaned in a kissed her, a moment she savored before opening her eyes again and sitting back against the arm of the sofa.
“So onto the second order of business?” She asked gently, teasing him.
“Right. I was also thinking about where we’re going to live. I’m assuming we’re going to stay here, right? We could move, but it would be complicated and there would surely be a lot of hassle from crowds. I think if we stayed here, at least for a while, it would be much smarter, much easier on all of us.”
“Of course,” Ginny replied taking extra care to not let on that she had actually been hoping to get into a different house to truly start a new life with Harry and James. “It would definitely be the smartest way to go.”
“Well, that’s settled as well.” Harry took a deep, thoughtful breath. “Lastly, and something that we’ve sort of talked about already, I guess, but, well, I mean…” Harry’s cheeks flushed just a little bit, something Ginny hadn’t seen in years. He almost looked embarrassed.
“Harry? Are you all right? What is it?”
Harry slid his hand through his messy, black hair and immediately Ginny knew he was nervous.
“Well, it’s just that, well, this is really far into the future, probably, I just, I didn’t know if, well…it’s just that we talked about it before, when James was just a little baby, and it’s not that I want it now, or that it’s even really important to me, but I was…well, you know…I just, I was wondering what your thoughts were…”
“Goodness, Harry, on with it.” Ginny sat upright and leaned in.
“We’re talking about our future together, right? I mean, we’re sorting out this relationship of ours and where we want to take it?”
“I thought so, is that not-?”
“No, no, it is. I just, well…” he took in a deep breath, “I was just wondering if you’d ever, well, if you’d ever want a bigger family.”
Ginny let out a sigh of relief and sat back in her old, lazy position. She had definitely thought about that, wondered about it every day that she had been with him these past few weeks. Would there be a little black-haired girl that would take over their house someday? Perhaps more than one? More boys, even? She knew it was something they had wanted when they were younger, but now she didn’t know if he was still up for the challenge. Hesitantly she shrugged and replied.
“It’s something I used to know that I wanted, and it’s not something I would be opposed to now, I just, I love you and I love James, and whatever happens I will be more than content.”
“Does that mean yes or no?” Harry responded too quickly.
“Well, I guess that it could mean yes. I’m just saying that I would be really happy if we had more children, but I would be happy if it was just the three of us as well. Why? What do you want?” She pushed her palms together to hide her shaking fingers. She was nervous about his reply, though she needn’t be.
“Well, I always wanted a big family. I couldn’t ask for anything more than I have right here, but maybe in the years to come there’ll be more to be grateful for? I don’t know, but maybe. I just, I think I would really love that.”
Ginny smiled and took her legs off his lap. She switched her feet with the position her back had been and curled into Harry’s side, wrapping her arms around his. She lifted her lips to meet his for a moment and smiled a warm, gentle smile, whispering, “I would really love that, too.”
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James awoke that Sunday morning to a dark, gray sky. He stretched his arms and legs and let out a hefty yawn just as his friend, Terrace Martinez, came swooping in.
“James! Morning! Would you like a chocolate frog?” He said as he shoved a candy box in James’ now upright face. “Had a bit of a lye in, yeah? Tonight’s the night, though, don’t know how you could sleep so well! Everyone else has been up talking, wondering…it’s all the buzz!”
James wiped his eyes wearily.
“What’s tonight? What are you talking about?"
“What am I talking about? Only the biggest mystery this school has seen in years! Professor Lupin’s farewell banquet is tonight!”
Suddenly James’ eyes popped open.
“That’s tonight?” He asked loudly.
“Of course! What have you been doing this past month? Hasn’t it been bothering you?”
“Well, I suppose it has, I just-“
“I bet it’s some famous auror or maybe it’s a celebrity, though we know how that goes, right?"
James nodded, but was distant in thought. This meant…how could he of forgotten? How was that possible? He’d been counting the days, thinking all about how he would react, what he would do or say when he was able to hug his father in front of everyone else for the first time he could remember.
Terrace was energetic and excited. “Everyone has a theory, a lot of rumors, of course. Someone said their uncle’s best friend’s broom-repairman heard it was Johnson O’Shannigan, but Lucy O’Doule said that she heard from a very reliable source that it was a woman, so I don’t know.”
James was baffled by his friend’s jabbering, made even more confused by the candy stuffed in his mouth.
“I didn’t realize this was really the ordeal that it is. I mean, I know we’re all curious about this, but I just didn’t think everyone would get quite so worked up.” James said softly.
“It’s all over the papers; the Daily Prophet has been writing about it every day since they found out that Lupin was resigning. My cousin writes the sports scores and he said it’s all over the office with bets of who it will be. Quite a few galleons in it now.”
James swallowed and blinked a few times while Terrace returned the same blank look.
“Welp, I’ll let you get dressed,” he said suddenly as he stood up quickly. “I’ll be downstairs when you come down and we can talk about this more, everyone else is down there, too. See you in a few minutes!”
James just watched blankly as Terrace nearly skipped out of the room before pulling back his covers and rising out of bed. He rubbed his eyes again and ran his fingers through his thick, messy head of hair. This is really quite the ordeal, isn’t it? He thought as fear began to creep in. What if people didn’t accept him? Surely they would…but just what if they didn’t? What if they got angry? Or what if his dad wasn’t happy and everything went wrong?
James shook his head and slipped on a pair of comfortable jeans and a sweater Ginny had knit him before he left. It was too late to worry about these things, he conceded, what was done was already done and no matter what, the infamous, thought-to-be-dead-but-very-much-alive Harry Potter was going to walk into the Great Hall at 7pm that evening and he could do nothing but hold his breath and wait.