A/N: So this is a fluffy little Harry/Ginny oneshot I came up with after reading the Deathly Hallows epilogue...and YES, I liked it, so there. :
WARNING: CONTAINS DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS YET, STEER CLEAR.
It was unusually quiet in the large brick house that rested on the edge of Godric's Hollow that night, and Ginevra Potter did not quite know how to feel. Normally, the Potter home was filled with the constant sounds of laughing, joking, and arguments from James and Albus, but tonight was different. Both of the Potter boys had caught the Hogwarts Express earlier today, and she imagined that they were lounging in their dormitories right about now.
'Merlin, help their housemates' she thought with a small chuckle.
Of course, she had missed James desperately when it was he alone off to school, but having both of her mischievous sons gone at once put a longing ache in her stomach, as it would any other young mother.
'Oh, well, At least Lily's not left me yet.'
Her eyes wandered up at the magical clock above her. It was a gift from her mother that she had received right after James' birth, and was much like the one she herself had grown up with. Ginny's clock was only different in the aspect that it had only five hands instead of the many hands of the clock at The Burrow, which was now filled with the original seven Weasleys, plus husbands, wives and grandchildren. Albus and James' hands were now pointing up at 'school' while Harry's, Lily's, and her own were pointing to 'home,' though Lily's was dangerously close to 'bed'. Ginny took one last sip of tea, and the 'Prophet' article on a fascinating Muggle device called an iSod (or something of that sort) lay forgotten as she headed upstairs to put her daughter to bed.
As she made her way through the upstairs hallway, she briefly wondered what happened to her husband.
'Probably in his study or taking a shower'
Harry was always reading up on new spells and enchantments to capture wrong-doers in the wizarding world, and he did usually take a shower at night, so those were the two most likely places he could be. As she finally reached Lily's room, she could hear a whirring sound and her daughter's grunting coming from inside, so she gently cracked the door open and watched her daughter.
Lily was concentrating hard and her eyes moved back and forth over the tiny, winged, golden ball that was flying tauntingly above her head. She watched it a few more seconds then….
SNATCH
Lily looked down at the little ball and smiled, pleased with herself that she had captured the Snitch her Uncle George had gotten her for Christmas. Working in such a popular joke shop had gotten him in good with some very good Quidditch manufacturing companies, including Bowman's Snitches.
"Alright, Miss Holyhead Harpie, time for you to go to bed." Ginny said in that warm, yet stern motherly tone.
"Okay Mummy." Lily said sweetly as she put the Snitch back in its case. "But you know Uncle George says he's the Holeyhead Harpie in the family." She then handed the case to her mother, who stuck it on the top shelf of her closet, and hopped under her warm, crimson sheets. Ginny laughed at her daughter and followed the normal routine of tucking Lily in and kissing her on the cheek, and was about to turn and leave when the younger redhead's hand caught her own.
"Mummy, tell me a story."
Ginny smiled down at her little girl, as her unique and beautiful eyes pleaded up at her. True, Albus had been the only one of the three children to inherit Harry's emerald green eyes, but if you looked closely at Lily, specks of that same green could be seen floating around her light brown eyes.
"What kind of story would you like to hear?"
"One about you, when you were a little girl."
This startled Ginny. When she was a girl? What an odd request from her only daughter. After thinking on it a moment, Ginny decided to tell her daughter the best story she knew.
"Well, when I was a little girl, just about a year older than you, I went with my brothers and mum to Kings Cross to watch them leave for Hogwarts."
"Just like I did today!?" asked Lily excitedly.
Ginny chuckled. "Yes, love, just like you today. And like you, I was very sad that I couldn't go too."
Lily's face fell, a reminder that she was at home while her older brothers were off at Hogwarts having fun. Quickly seeing she was still upset over the day's prior events, Ginny continued with her story.
"Anyway, we were all standing there, me, Uncle Ron, Uncle Percy, Uncle George, Uncle Fred—he died before you were born, and your Grandmother Weasley, when an skinny, dark haired boy came up to us and asked your Grandmother how to get on to the platform. Now, I was only ten years old, mind you, but when I saw that boy that day, I knew that I was in love with him."
Lily's eyes widened and twinkled in the dim light of her room. Lily adored love stories and romance, which was probably why she was so excited about Teddy snogging Victoire earlier.
"The boy eventually became wonderful friends with your Uncle Ron, and came to stay with us that summer. I was ecstatic. He was so polite and wonderful and caring...but of course, I was terribly shy at that age. I would turn red from the roots of my hair to the tips of my toenails if he spoke to me."
Lily giggled.
"That year, when I started Hogwarts for the first time, the way I felt about the boy doubled when he saved my life."
"How did he—"
"That's another story completely that you're too young to hear." Ginny stated firmly. She highly doubted a story about being possessed by a dark wizard and fighting a basilisk was a good bedtime story for her daughter. Lily's mouth snapped shut for a moment, then…
"So then what happened?"
"Through the next 3 years, I became friends with the boy, but still had a crush on him. Then he began seeing another girl. I was devastated, but everyone told me to move on. I did, for a little while, but then in my 5th year something amazing happened."
"What? What happened, Mummy?"
Ginny beamed at her daughter. "He noticed me back."
Lily gasped excitedly. "Really?!"
"Yes. After a Quidditch game one night he kissed me in front of the entire Gryffindor house. I had never been happier, and neither had he. But this boy had dark things he had to do. He was afraid that I could be hurt if he stayed with me while doing those dark things, so we had to stop seeing each other."
"Oh no!" cried Lily, detecting the sadness in her mother's tone. "But then what happened? Did you ever see him again? Did he die? Mummy, please tell me! What happened to the boy?"
"He grew up and got married." Said a voice in the doorway, and both mother and daughter turned to see who had entered the room.
"And I do believe he had two troublesome little boys and a beautiful little Lily-Flower who should probably go to sleep now." Harry said as he took a seat next to Ginny on his daughter's bed. Lily yawned and smiled as she looked up at her father.
"I knew it was you, Daddy. Mummy could never love anyone else," and after being kissed by both of her parents, Lily Potter drifted off to sleep.
With a flick of her wand, the lamp with dancing Hippogriffs on it was turned off, and she and Harry left Lily's room. When they closed the door behind them, Ginny looked up at the man she had loved most of her life and kissed him tenderly.
"She's right, you know."
"Hmm?" Harry replied as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I could never love anyone else"
And with that being said, Mr. and Mrs. Potter walked hand in hand to their bedroom, thinking of the loving tale of 'The Boy Who Lived' and a certain redhead that taught him how.
