[Eleven yeas later]
It was a bright and sunny beginning to the new day which was always a good sign. After three days of horrendous rain, he’d almost forgotten what the sun looked like. But, as the birds sat chirping in the nearest tree and the brilliant light steadily crept into the darkened corners of the house, Harry thought that this would, indeed, be a good day.
With a scratching at the window, he stepped closer to allow the owl’s entrance. His morning paper had become quite essential to his everyday routine and although he had never preferred many of the things that the Ministry did in the past, things do change in eleven years time. Hell, things changed in six years time.
Everyone always knew that whoever would replace Fudge as Minister of Magic was going to be a better candidate for the position. Admittedly, Scrimgeour wasn’t Harry’s favorite person and he still thought there were others better qualified for the job, but he did manage to clean up things where Fudge lacked in every way. Now, though, it was a different story. He was very well pleased with who had been appointed as Minister of Magic almost five years ago to this very day, his father in law, Arthur Weasley.
Harry smiled as he read over an article about how the Ministry was continuing to make progress with Muggle relations and international affairs. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of some sort of news involving the Ministry and Muggle Affairs. Mr. Weasley just wouldn’t be the same without being involved with something related to Muggles.
He continued flipping idly through the pages of his Daily Prophet as he walked outside to laze about in the swing on their front porch.
Things were still amazingly quiet around the house for this time of morning, which was quite a surprise. Normally, he would hear the children running about the place or playing games in the backyard and despite the fact that Ginny swore she’d never turn into her mother, she was always up by 8:00 o’clock making breakfast. Gone were her days of sleeping in.
Not one day after Sirius and Lily were born did she have a chance to sleep any later. Her getting up at 8:00 o’clock usually meant that she had slept in…and after eleven years of the same routine, it had become a habit of being up this early.
Like clockwork, Harry heard pans being shuffled in the kitchen as she began preparations for their morning meal.
“Sirius? Lily?” he heard her call out across the house. “You’d better be up if you intend on eating breakfast soon!”
Harry tried desperately to suppress his laughter as he thought that, in some ways, she was very much like her mother, but he didn’t dare mention that to her. After all, if she had done anything over the years, she had definitely improved her infamous Bat Bogey Hexes and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was still quite afraid of them.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked as she draped herself over his shoulders, letting her hands trace down over his chest and rest on his abdomen.
He jumped slightly, surprised by her sudden appearance at his side and sighed with relief as he felt her hands on him.
“Why so jumpy? Has fourteen years as an Auror taught you nothing?” she laughed, kissing his cheek sweetly.
“It has indeed, love. But you’ve forgotten something,” he said, shifting his glance toward her.
“And what would that be, my darling?”
“I’m on holiday.”
A brief pause came, neither one of them saying anything, until they both let out a roar of laughter and he finally leaned his head back to kiss her tenderly.
She sighed happily and drew back from their kiss after a few moments.
“Good morning to you, too, Mr. I Get Up At the Crack of Dawn When on Holiday,” she joked as she walked around the swing toward him.
Harry scoffed at her, letting his paper bend slightly at the top so that he could see her properly.
“I do not get up at the crack of dawn- hey! I was reading that,” he said as she snatched The Daily Prophet from his hands.
“This,” Ginny said, waving his paper in front of him before laying it on the swing “is a distraction, good sir. Here I was wanting to wake up and have a good snog this morning,” she said as she sat down across his lap “when all of a sudden, I look over and guess who’s not there?”
Harry cringed as he watched her look down at her hands that were now folded together and lying in her lap.
“Er…I don’t know. Who were you expecting to see?” he asked with a hidden smirk.
Her head snapped in his direction and she gave him an indignant look just before making to get up and return to the kitchen.
“Tut, tut,” Harry clicked his tongue and reached out to stop her from leaving.
“Come now, Mrs. Potter. You and I both know that you were only expecting to see one particular man in your bed and you’d better not say Dean Thomas because if that’s who you were looking for, you certainly took on the wrong last name.”
“You know good and well I wouldn’t want him anywhere near me, in those regards,” she frowned.
“I know, love. So, you can wipe that cute little frown right off your face…because darling, I’m here to stay,” Harry said, grabbing her bum and scooting her even closer to him.
Ginny giggled as she reached out to grab onto his shoulders to keep her balance.
“Well, Mr. Potter, it’s a good thing you are…because in case you haven’t noticed these past thirteen years, I have no intentions of letting you go.”
“Good…we agree then,” he smirked as he felt her hands slowly slide up his shoulders. Ginny let her small fingers gently play with the ends of his hair as her thumbs traced his jaw line.
“So,” his voice came out more high pitched than usual. He cleared his throat and tried again, “So…you wanted a good snog this morning?”
Harry watched her drift closer to him and then his attention fell on her lips as she instinctively licked them.
“Mmhmm…I did…” Ginny nuzzled her nose against his.
“Did?” his eyes questioned as he met her gaze again.
“Mmm…I’m not so sure that I want a good snog anymore,” she said, letting her lips brush his lightly. She was teasing him, knowing that it was sure to send him around the bend at any moment.
His breathing was erratic, his voice was shaky and the beast in Harry’s chest, that had been awakened all those years ago by this very same ginger-haired girl, was roaring with impatience. He wanted to taste her lips, to feel his tongue search out hers.
“Merlin, woman!” Harry growled in desperation. “What do you want then?”
Ginny smiled as she grazed his soft lips again and then, without warning, she stilled her movements.
“I want a great one.” Before he knew it, Ginny had stolen his breath away. Her lips had crashed against his in a heated kiss as if they’d never kissed before.
Harry didn’t give her much time to control their actions as his tongue traced her lips and she opened her mouth, giving him entrance.
Whether it was fifteen years or fifty, he’d never tire of this or of her. She’d always be new, but familiar at the same time and he admired the fact that after almost thirteen years of marriage and having known her for even longer, he was still learning new things about her every day.
As the need for air overcame him, he slowly pulled away from her swollen lips and watched her head slip into the crook of his neck as their breathing found a steady rhythm together.
“How is it that you always do that to me?” Harry asked breathlessly.
“Do what to you?” she said smiling against his neck.
“Make me ache for every inch of you…for everything that you are.”
Ginny lifted her head slowly and saw the hunger in his green pools. Her heart fluttered with excitement as her features shown with want.
“I guess I just have a way with you.”
“Yeah,” he gave a small chuckle and sighed at her suggestion. “Did I ever tell you…” he reached up, brushing a few strands of her hair away “that there’s no one more perfect than you?”
Her heart giggled enthusiastically, “No…I think you forgot to mention that.”
“Oh,” he said far too serious for her taste.
“Harry…” she grabbed his face, willing his eyes to meet hers. “I love you. Always have and always will.”
She pulled him closer, kissing him again before he could get too carried away with his thoughts when an unpleasant noise interrupted their heated snogging.
“Mum!” they heard Lily’s voice call across the silent house.
Ginny sighed against his skin, “I knew this moment was too good to last.”
“It always is,” he agreed. She smiled regrettably at him before shifting to get up when Harry put a hand on her thigh.
“One more?” he said, kissing her neck.
She sighed sweetly as she felt his sweet lips trace up her neck, hitting a sensitive spot near her jaw line.
“Mmmm….one more,” Ginny could barely say before they were kissing again. That was, until a loud crash sounded from Sirius’s room.
“UGH! Those two are just asking for it!”
“Maybe I should get the kids…you just finish making breakfast.”
She chuckled once, “Deal…although, I think I’m getting the better end of the bargain.”
“Sirius and Lily are on their way down. Just wait until you hear what they’ve gotten themselves into this morning,” Harry said, entering the kitchen.
“Mummy’s going to be really upset with them,” Nathan said, following his father into the kitchen and looking up at him with big chocolate brown eyes, much like his mother’s.
Ginny was already furious with Sirius and Lily. The two of them had gotten into so much trouble over the past week, she was surprised that she hadn’t grounded them and taken everything out of their rooms except for a bed and clothes. But, as little Nathan walked across the room to give her a hug, she just couldn’t help but melt at the sight of his ginger hair falling messily into his eyes despite his attempts to push it back.
Since she’d given birth to him just over five years ago, he had been such a terrific blessing, a sort of peace and calming for both Harry and Ginny. They were so thankful for him”not that they weren’t thankful for all of their children, but Nathan…he was such a kind heart and nowhere near half the trouble that Sirius and Lily were.
Of course, Ginny blamed herself for that one. She had jinxed herself by saying that the twins would turn out exactly like Fred and George…and boy, how right she was.
“They woke Molly up,” Nathan’s small voice said.
“Oh, you’re getting so big,” she groaned, picking him up and allowing him to give her a big hug which she returned.
“So, they woke Molly up, aye?”
“Mmhmm…”
“Well, Mummy and Daddy will talk to them about it later, okay? Right now, it’s time for breakfast.” Ginny placed Nathan back firmly on his feet and watched him scamper away to the table.
Harry walked over to Ginny, carrying their daughter in his arms. Molly, who was just shy of nine months old, was a bouncing ball of joy that never ceased to smile. Her short, raven hair softly spilled over the top of her ears in small curls and her hazel eyes lit up with excitement at the sight of her mother.
“Good morning, my little sweetie,” she said, kissing Molly’s cheek and then her arm as she started to play with her a bit.
“Good morning…oh, wait. I’m not your little sweetie, I’m Mr. Gets Up at the Dawn of Crack,” he joked.
“Crack of Dawn, get it right,” she sniggered.
“Let’s just get at least halfway through breakfast before we have to start in on them again,” Ginny was thoroughly exhausted with the twins’ antics. Her nerves were completely shot and she thought that she could now understand why her mother was the way she is. Having to put up with Fred and George all that time, plus five other children didn’t make things easy on her.
“We? I thought I already did my part?”
“Oh, no sir you don’t. You’re not getting out of this one.”
“Only if I have to-” he started to say when she corrected him.
“You do.”
Harry sighed reluctantly and walked over to the table to get him and Molly ready for breakfast as Sirius and Lily finally joined the rest of the family.
After Ginny had managed to feed Molly and then eat a few bites for herself, she decided to, at long last, have a word with their two oldest children.
“Sirius…Lily…before you go out to play, your Father and I want to talk to you,” the twins looked at each other, knowing what was coming and swallowed the hard lumps in their throats.
“I want one of you,” Ginny continued, “to tell me what that ruckus upstairs was this morning.” She fixed them with a look very worthy of Mrs. Weasley and Harry had to hold back his laughter so that he wouldn’t get one of those looks especially made for him.
“We were just playing,” Lily said sweetly.
“Then why did you feel the need to yell out my name?”
“Er…Nathan took my toy.”
“I did not. You and Sirius were playing with that kit that you said Uncle Fred and Uncle George gave you,” Nathan spoke up, defending himself.
Ginny looked at Harry who did nothing but shrug. She turned her stern glare back to Sirius and Lily and clenched her jaw as she saw them both give a spiteful look to the small ginger-haired boy as if he’d just turned them in.
“What kit?” she asked stiffly.
Sirius was the first to cave under her fierce look, “Uncle Fred gave us their new Potent Potions Kit.”
Ginny’s eyes went wide with fury.
Oh, just wait until I see them, she thought. I’ll make them wish that they’d been fortunate enough to get one of my Bat Bogey Hexes.
“I can’t believe you two were even attempting to make a potion. Have your Father and I not told you time and time again to not do that? You haven’t even started Hogwarts yet!”
“Tell her the rest,” Harry said to them.
“There’s more?” she looked at him as he raised his brow and gave a nod.
“The cauldron accidentally fell off the table…and broke,” Lily admitted.
“That’s what you and Dad heard,” Sirius added.
“And how did that happen? Wait,” Ginny stopped herself “just tell me what you were both up to.”
“We just thought we could get a head start on our potions class,” Sirius said trying to sugarcoat the situation.
“Wrong answer, try again,” she said, cutting him off.
“It wasn’t our fault…Pig knocked the cauldron off the table,” Lily insisted.
Ginny folded her arms across her chest as her temper began to rise, “What’s Pig got to do with this?”
The two children shifted nervously under her glare, half expecting her voice to erupt in anger at any moment.
Harry’s voice broke through the silence, “Don’t blame this all on Pig. You two are the reason the poor owl lost control in the first place.”
“Lost control?!” came Ginny’s almost hysterical voice.
Harry sighed deeply as he watched Sirius and Lily hang their heads. They weren’t going to finish explaining what had happened, he knew that. So, he barreled on, telling Ginny what he knew.
“Apparently, Fred and George included a little book of practical joke potions in their kit. These two,” he eyed them carefully “decided to test their making of the Never-Ending Hiccup Potion”not on each other…nor on Nathan or Molly …but on Pig, instead.”
“WHAT?!” came an infuriated yell that definitely rivaled Mrs. Weasley’s and even Harry cringed from it.
“It seems that they gave him too much of the potion,” he went on. “When I came in and found them, he had already bounced all around the room from floor to ceiling taking out the cauldron along the way.”
“We didn’t mean to give him that much! It was an accident,” Sirius said with a high pitched voice. He was deathly afraid of the look that his mother was now giving him.
“Your Uncle Ron gave you that owl as a gift and all you two can do is use him as a test subject for your trick potions? You should both know better!” Ginny was far from upset with them now. It had all gone too far and she didn’t know how much more she’d be able to take.
“Well…is Pig okay?” she asked Harry.
“Once I did a couple of spells on him, he calmed right down…or at least back to his normal self,” he chuckled.
After pacing the room a bit, Ginny managed to pull herself together as much as she could and sat back down in her chair next to Harry. She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and sighed heavily.
“Your Father and I have told you two time and time again not to play with Uncle Fred’s and Uncle George’s inventions, especially at your age. For Merlin’s sake, you haven’t even gotten your letters from Hogwarts yet.
“I have found so many skiving snackboxes, ton-tongue toffees, whiz-bangs, and fake wands around this house that I’m surprised your uncles even have anything left in the store to sell,” Ginny huffed.
“We’re sorry, Mum,” Lily said with a quivering lip.
“We’ll be good…honest,” Sirius nodded quickly.
“If I find one more around this house, you’re going to wish I hadn’t. I’ll ground you for so long you won’t even attend your first year at Hogwarts, understood?” Ginny said clenching her teeth.
The twins nodded in silent agreement with her just before Harry spoke up.
“I suggest you two find all the wizard wheezes and bring them down to us before you get yourselves into more trouble. Once you’ve finished, you can go out and play.”
“Yes sir,” Sirius and Lily muttered before heading off to round everything up.
“Nathan, sweetie…why don’t you go on outside and play,” Ginny said with a resigning voice as he scooted out of his chair and made for the back door.
“Harry…” Ginny said, turning to him and leaning into his arms. “I’m just so tired.”
“Shh…” he whispered as he wrapped his arm around her, gently running his fingers through her hair and letting her rest for a moment with her head on his chest. She was listening to the steady rhythm of his heart beating and feeling every breath that he took.
Harry closed his eyes and soaked in the mere presence of her, the very thought of her being against him. He loved these moments. Nowadays, they seemed too few and far between, so when they got a chance to be like this, to just be, he cherished every moment of it.
“Tell me it’s going to get better,” she begged.
“It’s going to get better, I promise.”
“I mean…don’t get me wrong, I love the children,” Ginny pulled back slightly and looked at her husband as he opened his eyes, watching her. “With all my heart, I love them…but between Molly still being so young and the trouble that those two get into…I don’t know how much more I can take before I completely lose my nerve.” She hung her head shamefully and Harry felt a pang of guilt twist inside him. Here he’d been the one working the entire time that they were married and when she had the twins, she’d decided to resign from her post as Auror and stay home to raise the them.
“Do you, I mean…erm, do you ever regret not going back to work after Sirius and Lily were born?”
“NO…no, I don’t regret it at all,” she said, sitting up straight, willing him to understand that this was more than okay with her; it’s what they had both decided. “I don’t deny the fact that there were times when I wanted to go back to being an Auror; I really miss it sometimes. And even though I often wondered if staying home and raising the children was doing any good, I wouldn’t trade it for every Galleon in Gringotts.”
“Gin…don’t ever think that you raising the children has been anything but good for them. You’ve brought them all up so beautifully,” Harry caressed her cheek sweetly. “I’m just so sorry that I didn’t give you more of an opportunity to go back to work at the Ministry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. We made the decision, together, that I would stay home and raise them. Everything is fine and as it should be.” Leaning in, she kissed him lightly. “Let’s not talk about this anymore, okay? Let’s just enjoy a few more minutes of peace…”
Moments later, without missing a beat, a sound of rushing air filled the study and swept past the kitchen, followed by “Sirius!”
“I didn’t do it,” the young boy called. “You did.”
“Did not!”
“MUM!” Sirius and Lily yelled in a panicked voice.
Ginny’s head fell heavily against Harry’s chest and she painfully sobbed, “Make it stop. Please, make it stop.”
He leaned down and kissed her head, “Don’t worry; I’ll take care of whatever’s going on. You just sit here and enjoy the fact that Molly isn’t old enough to cause us this many problems.”
She chuckled lightly and mouthed “thank you” before he kissed her again and then walked down the hall to his study.
“Bloody hell,” he said as he entered the room, finding his two children staring wide-eyed back at him.
“Dad…help!” Lily squeaked in a hushed voice. Harry suddenly realized what they’d managed to do now. He and Ginny were now proud owners of an indoor swamp, thanks in part to his children…not to mention his brother-in-laws.
“Get yourselves straight up to your room, quietly. Don’t touch anything, just sit down until I come up and talk to you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” they both nodded nervously.
“And do NOT let on to your mother what you’ve done,” he added as he Apparated straight to their bedroom. He wasn’t about to let her find out that the children had deployed one of Fred and George’s portable swamps in the middle of the study. She’d surely have lost every wit about her if she knew.
Harry quickly gathered an overnight bag, placing a few of her clothes inside”just enough for a day or so”and then walked downstairs to find her still sitting at the table, bouncing Molly in her lap.
“Having fun?” he asked, having to calm himself down a bit.
“Oh, hey!” Ginny said as she looked back over her shoulder. “Yeah, we’re having a great time. When did you go upstairs? And why do you have my overnight bag?” Her questioning gaze traveled from the bag in his hands up to his eyes. He didn’t move, he couldn’t even say anything.
“Harry…” she said slowly. By this point, she’d stopped playing with Molly and simply held her, “What have they done?”
He swallowed roughly and answered her with a strained voice, “It’s nothing you need to be worried about. I’m going to take care of everything.” She watched him place her bag on the floor, next to her seat and reach out to take their daughter from her. “I want you to go back to the Burrow and enjoy a day or two away from here. You need some well deserved time away from the kids. I’ll handle everything here while you rest up and unwind, okay?”
“Harry? What are you not telling me?” She stood up and walked toward him as he took a few steps back.
“Nothing…nothing,” he kissed Molly, distractedly. “Go on to the Burrow, stay there. Do some shopping, spend time with your Mum and Hermione and we’ll all see you at your Dad’s anniversary dinner tomorrow night. Go on now…” he insisted, picking up her bag and handing it to her. He kissed her and then waved their daughter’s chubby arm at his wife, “Say bye to Mummy.”
Ginny gave Molly a quick kiss and then looked back at Harry before leaving. “So help me, if I find out that whatever they did was something disastrous, no one will be safe,” she glared inquisitively, then Disapparated from the kitchen.
Harry exhaled heavily and looked at Molly who was smiling back at him. He chuckled at her and shook his head.
“That was a close call, wasn’t it Mollykins?” She wasn’t old enough to say anything yet, but she giggled at him anyway. “Yeah, Daddy’s going to be in big trouble if he can’t get that swamp out of the study. Guess I’d better Floo your Uncle Fred and Uncle George, hadn’t I?” Molly laughed again and bounced in his arms.
Harry couldn’t help but laugh at the situation himself. Dear Merlin, I hope Fred and George can tell me how to fix this.
[The next morning]
“When’s Mummy coming home, Daddy?” Nathan asked as he sat at the table, waiting for his father to finish making breakfast. Molly was sitting in her high chair, laughing as she played with one of her toys.
“I told you yesterday, Nathan. Mummy went to visit Grandmum and Aunt Hermione. We’ll see her tonight when we have dinner with the family.” Harry was attempting to keep his cool as he tried to make breakfast but Nathan had been constantly asking about Ginny since she left and, admittedly, it was starting to wear on him a bit.
Despite the fact that Harry had to ground them yesterday, Sirius and Lily were doing a little better. After Flooing Fred and George to find out how to remove the portable swamp, he made his two mischievous children help him confiscate all of the Weasley Wizard Wheezes that he knew Ginny would not see fit for them to have at their age. It had been a long hard day, but they managed to get everything cleaned up and cleared out of the house before the day was over.
But now, Harry was tired. Taking care of four children was proving to be a lot harder than he had ever imagined. How in heaven’s name does Ginny do this every day? he thought. She definitely deserved to have time away from the children; he knew that she deserved even more than that.
Harry thought for a moment, beginning to form a plan in his mind and he smiled to himself at the idea that he’d just come up with. It has been a long time since we’ve spent more than five minutes by ourselves.
Suddenly, he heard a crackling noise followed by Nathan’s voice yelling, “Mummy!” as he scooted out of his chair and ran over to the fireplace.
Harry turned around to see his wife’s head floating in the grate as she began talking to their son.
“Hello Nathan, sweetie. Are you having fun with Daddy?” she said.
“Mmhmm,” Nathan nodded. “But, it sure does take him a long time to make breakfast,” he added with a whisper.
The air suddenly filled with Ginny’s laughter and Harry let out, “Hey! I heard that,” as he neared the fireplace where his son was kneeling.
“Go on back to the table and sit with Molly, Nate,” he said as he knelt down on the floor.
“Do I have to?” the small boy whined. “I want to talk to Mummy.”
“Yes, you have to. Your breakfast is ready and you need to eat it before it gets cold. You can talk to her later.”
With a disappointed look on his face, Nathan stood up and waved, “Bye, Mummy.”
“Bye, my love. I’ll talk to you soon,” Ginny said, watching her son walk back to the table before turning to Harry. “So, how are you? Do you regret sending me away yet?”
Harry gave her an indignant look, astonished that she would suggest that he couldn’t handle things around the house. “I’m just fine, thank you. And no, I don’t regret sending you away from the house; you deserve some rest. So, tell me, love…what’ve you been doing?”
“Oh, I talked with Mum for a bit yesterday morning. We had a nice lunch together and then I spent the rest of the day with Hermione. We just perused around Diagon Alley for a while, just chatting it up.”
“So, you’re having a good time then?” Harry asked with a small smile.
She smiled back hesitantly and then let it drop from her face, “Merlin, no! It’s been absolutely dreadful. I’m bored out of my mind…and I miss you and the kids far too much for my own good.”
He chuckled at her, “It won’t be much longer, I promise. We’ll see you at 6:00 for dinner.”
“I don’t see why I just can’t come home now. Six isn’t that far away,” she added with a determined air.
“Exactly; six isn’t that far away…so you can rest for a few more hours. Go for a swim or something. There’s no need for you to worry about things going on around here. I have everything under control.”
“Mmhmm,” Ginny raised an eyebrow. “So, did you get the swamp out of the study?”
“How did you- I mean, er…what are you talking about? What swamp? There’s no swamp,” he said, his voice an octave higher than normal.
“Don’t try to deny it, Harry James Potter. I know that’s what you were trying to hide from me yesterday.”
Harry sighed; she knew…and there was no saving the kids now.
“How did you find out?” he resigned.
“Fred and George popped over for a few minutes yesterday and they asked if you got the swamp removed without any problems.”
Harry cursed under his breath, “Those low down, nosy buggers.” He averted her eyes for a moment and then asked, “So…how did you take it?”
“Oh…” Ginny said dreamily “you know me. I decided to have little fun with them. After all, it was the least I could do to repay them for all of the grief that we’ve had to deal with.”
He stared at her head floating in the flames for a moment before they both burst out with laughter. He and Ginny didn’t stop until they were interrupted by a tapping at the window.
Harry turned around to see Hedwig, resting on the window pane as she waited for him to let her inside.
“That’s Hedwig with the post,” he said turning back. “I’d better let her in before she gets snippy.”
“Please let me come home, Harry,” his wife begged.
“No,” he simply replied.
“But…I miss you all…”
“I know you do, but you still need to take some time to yourself. We’ll see you at 6:00, okay?”
Ginny huffed, causing the flames to roar slightly, “Fine. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I love you.”
“Yeah…I love you too, even though sometimes you just annoy me.”
Harry stuck out his tongue playfully and she turned, giving him the same before her head disappeared and the flames died.
Walking across the kitchen, he opened the window as Hedwig fluttered in. He took the letters from her and stretched out his finger, letting her nip at him playfully.
“Thanks, Hedwig,” he said and she chirped in response. “I wonder what this is.”
“Did I get any mail, Daddy?” Nathan said with a mouth full of food.
“Not today, son. It looks like Sirius and Lily finally got their Hogwarts letters though,” he said, laying the two letters down on the table for the twins. He looked skeptically at a third letter that was sent”one that was addressed to both he and Ginny.
“But who’s that one for?”
“It’s for your Mum and me,” Harry frowned as he turned to call for Sirius and Lily.
“Sirius…Lily…your breakfast is getting cold.” He waited a moment, listening for them but heard only futile attempts at making their way down to breakfast. “Fine, then…” he added loudly “I’ll just send your Hogwarts letters back.”
It took them less than thirty seconds to come bounding down the stairs in excitement, pleading with their father to not send the letters back.
As they all sat down for their meal, Harry watched Sirius and Lily pour over their letters for what must’ve been the seventh time until he remembered the letter that had been sent to him and Ginny.
He waited to make sure that the children were busily occupied before opening the letter, immediately realizing who it was from.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Potter…
A/N: *wiggles brow*...ah...the letter. But who's the letter from? I know that's what's going through your mind. Don't deny it. :)
Drop me a line and tell me what you think about the chapter. Please. You know I appreciate reviews. And...you guys and gals have been so great for sticking with me and with this story. I love you all!! .................one more to go.