A/N Hi Guys. This is my first Harry Potter fic!!! Yay! The first chapter is pretty wordy because it has to explain everything that's happened so please bear with me...it will get better!!!
Chapter 1
It was ten years since the end of the Great War. The magical world had been left in relative peace. Lives were rebuilt, those lost in the fight were mourned and remembered, life moved on. For Harry and Ginny Potter, it was something that would remain in the forefront of their minds, no matter how much time had passed. The horrors they experienced left a footprint deep in their hearts that healed slower than any normal wound, magical or muggle. However, they moved on with their lives as they had too and soon they had more to think about. They continued with their education, all of Harry's year repeating their seventh year along with him for their education had been so disrupted and all of them took their NEWTs the summer after the war, along with Ginny's year. With nothing else to worry about, Harry focused on his work and, with a small amount of help from Hermione, managed to gain two "Outstandings" and three "Exceeds Expectations".
He was immediately accepted into training to become an auror and excelled among his classmates. He became the youngest auror in Ministry of Magic history. Ginny also did well in her final year but was accepted into the Holyhead Harpies professional Quidditch team and her academics took a back seat. With both their lives going well, Harry and Ginny's love for each other continued to blossom and, five years after they left Hogwarts they got engaged and were married in the snowy winter at The Burrow.
It was easily the happiest day of both of their lives. The snowflakes fluttered around them, settling in their hair. Ginny looked stunning in a strapless white dress that made her vivid red hair even more prominent. Hermione led her down the aisle, the perfect Maid of Honour, in a flowing lilac dress, her wavy hair half pinned to her head, half cascading like a waterfall. Harry and his best man, Ron, stood by the wooden altar, in pristine suits, having been inspected to the point of abuse by Mrs Weasley. Soft music drifted, as though from nowhere, and bouquets of flowers hovered around the room. All of their family and friends were there. Everything was perfect. The love that they had harboured for all the years since they had met was finally able to fulfil its potential and everything was set right in their worlds. They were bound in the strongest way possible and lived blissfully, their lives revolving around each other.
Together, they had three children. When their first child was born, a beautiful boy with the same brown eyes as his mother, they found it difficult to find a name for him. It was so hard to sum up the great character and personality that already shone through his young face, in a single name. Ginny eventually suggested naming him after Harry's father, James. They tried it for size and found it fitted perfectly. It was traditional and yet, still conveyed the cheeky side that glimmered on the tiny boy's chubby cheeks. Harry had always wanted to give his children a part of the man who had been as close to a father as he had ever had and so young James' middle name became Sirius.
James Sirius Potter was a particularly happy baby with chubby cheeks and small dimples. He hardly ever cried and slept through the night from the age of 3 weeks old. To his parents, he was a blessing. Bill and Fleur had recently had a baby girl, named Dominique, who was reported to be an absolute terror. Harry and Ginny were just thankful that they did not have to endure the sleepless nights and constant howling that had been described.
Just over a year after James was born, Albus Severus Potter was welcomed into the family. He had the same jet black hair and green eyes as his father and was a quiet and peaceful child. No matter how many times the now-staggering James prodded or poked him, he never uttered a sound in protest. He was not as happy as James, often whimpering or wailing softly, but there was never a racket in the Potter household.
That all changed two years later when Lily Luna arrived. The spitting image of her mother, she was an impatient child and was prone to howling constantly until whatever she wanted was provided. The peaceful nights were constantly interrupted by Lily's loud needs and all the members of the Potter family became increasingly irritable as they got less and less sleep. One evening when Lily was four months old, the quiet, untouched night was ripped apart by a loud wail. Harry groaned and rolled over. He had been working long hours at the ministry recently due to a crackdown on wand theft and had been getting less than three hours sleep a night. He managed to peel his eyelids open and saw Ginny, snoring softly, her flame red hair splayed across the pillow. Lily's constant demands had made her into a zombie and Harry could not find it in his heart to wake her. He rolled over, already on the very edge of sleep and, for the first time in her short life, he let Lily cry herself out. It was perhaps the worst mistake he had ever made.