What If?

Chapter One

It started out as a normal day. Ginny was relaxing by the fire, drinking her coffee and eating some toast. Her husband, Harry, was upstairs getting ready to go to the Ministry for work. Harry is one of the best Auror's they ever had.

The house was quite, as it usually was, being that Harry and Ginny were the only ones living there, but not for long. Ginny gently stroked her large, eight month pregnant, belly. She was so happy when she found out that she was pregnant, she couldn't wait to be a mom. Just like Harry couldn't wait to be a dad.

Ginny was just finishing her coffee, when she heard a voice coming from the fire.

"Good morning, Ginny." It was Harry's boss, John Weiner. "Is Harry there?"

"Morning, John. Yes, he is," Ginny replied. She wondered what had happened that would have John calling Harry at home, rather than waiting for Harry to reach the Ministry. "I'll go get him for you."

Ginny pushed herself up off of the chair, and went upstairs to her and Harry's bedroom. Harry was just doing up the clasps on his robe when Ginny walked in.

"Hey, Ginny. What's up?" Harry asked when Ginny walked in.

"John Weiner wants to talk to you in the fireplace," Ginny explained.

Harry looked a little confused, but made his way downstairs to the sitting room, Ginny followed.

"Hello, Harry, I'm afraid I have some bad news." John said, as soon as Harry and Ginny entered the room.

"That's what I thought," Harry said, kneeling down in front of John's head in the fireplace. "What happened?"

"There have been ten unexplained murders in Cambridge, over the past two days. All of the victims have been a middle aged which or wizard. They are all believed to have been killed by the Killing Curse."

Harry seemed to be growing more and more tense as John spoke. Ginny just stood behind Harry, arms wrapped around her stomach, in basic shock at how horrible the things she was hearing was.

"Do we have any suspects?" Harry asked, stiffly.

"No, we have no clue to as who it may be. That's why I'm going to send you and Brad out there to check things out." Brad, is Harry's partner. He's a really nice guy, and a great Auror. Harry and Ginny had developed a friendship with him, and had had him over to dinner a few times.

"Alright," Harry said, standing up." Tell Brad that I'll meet him at his flat in five minutes."

They exchanged a few hurried good-byes, then Harry turned to Ginny.

"Looks like I'm going to have to leave for a little bit." He said sadly, wrapping his arms around Ginny from the side. Harry leaving wasn't something completely unusual, there had been a few times in the past where Harry would have to leave for a bit.

"How long, do you think?" Ginny asked in a small voice. She rested her head against his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head lightly. " I should be back tomorrow night."

Ginny nodded, "Okay."

Harry turned Ginny to face him. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm not due for another month, so there's nothing to really worry about."

Harry nodded simply, but still looked worried.

Ginny stretched up and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be fine. You should be worried about yourself. You're the one who's about to go after a crazy murdere." She tried to say this lightly, and not show the absolute terror she was feeling for her husband, but she didn't succeed completely.

Harry smiled at her gently. "Don't you even think about worrying over me. I'll be fine."

Ginny still wasn't convinced, as if she could not worry when Harry puts himself in that kind of danger, but she nodded, not trusting her voice enough to say anything.

"Alright, I have to go now, but I'll be back tomorrow night. Try not to worry so much, maybe see if Hermione will come over. You two haven't down anything together in a while."

"Sure." Harry kissed her good-bye. As they broke apart, Harry let his hand rest on Ginny's stomach, saying good-bye to his baby.

Ginny watched Harry from the front door, as Disapparated in the front lawn. Once he was gone Ginny turned back to house, closing the door behind her. She always hated it when Harry had to leave; it always made her feel extremely lonely and anxious.

Ginny wasn't really in the mood for company at the moment, so she decided she would have Hermione over tomorrow. Today, she decided, she would clean the house, the Muggle way. Ginny always did things the Muggle way when she wanted to distract herself.

By the end of the day Ginny had; washed the dishes, dusted and polished every wood surface in the house, vacuumed, and cleaned the two bathrooms. She was now exhausted and ready to go to bed.

Once she had changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth, Ginny laid down under the covers on her and Harry's bed, and fell asleep a short moment latter.

Ginny woke up at ten o'clock the next morning, which surprised her. She usually didn't get up that late, but at least she felt rested. She got out of bed and took a shower. When she got out of the shower she put on some maternity clothes and went downstairs, to her newly clean kitchen, and made some coffee and toast.

Once Ginny had finished her breakfast, she decided that she would go and see if Hermione would like to come over for the day. She said she would love to, and that she would be over in a minute. When Hermione had Apparated in the front yard, Ginny went out to meet her.

"Hey, Ginny!" Hermione said, greeting Ginny with a hug. "So, Harry's out on another mission?"

"Yeah," Ginny frowned. "Some mass murder in Cambridge."

Hermione frowned as well. She knew how uneasy Harry's being away made Ginny feel. "When is he supposed to be back?"

"Sometime tonight."

Hermione nodded, and the two women went off into the kitchen, where Ginny made tea. Once the tea was ready they moved into the sitting room to talk.

"So, are you and Harry ready for the baby yet?"

"Sort of," Ginny said, placing a hand on her belly. "We have the nursery painted and decorated. We just need to get a crib and a few other things. How about you? How's the wedding plans going?"

Ron had finally proposed to Hermione last month. Everyone was so happy, though not shocked, at the news of their engagement. Everyone had been expecting, and waiting, for this for a long time now.

"Um, everything seems to-" Hermione had begun, but a knock at the door cut her short. "You are expecting anyone else, Gin?"

"No," Ginny said, getting up from the couch. "No one but Harry, but he doesn't have to knock to get into his own house. It's probably just one of those annoying Muggle salesmen. I'll be right back."

Ginny went to the door, to tell the Muggle she didn't want to buy anything. But when she opened the door, and saw who was standing in front of her, her heart stopped and mind went blank. There, standing in front of her was a very worn and distressed looking Brad. Ginny could feel the room beginning to spin around her.

"Ginny," Brad said sounding distressed. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

No. No. NO! Ginny screamed inside her head. She didn't want to hear it. Whatever Brad was about to tell her, she didn't want to know.

When Ginny didn't say anything, Brad continued. "Ginny, Harry is missing. He disappeared in the woods we were tracking the murderer through. I'm sorry."

She just stood there, not saying a word. Somewhere in her mind she did realize that "missing" didn't necessarily mean "dead", but she also realized that it could. And that thought, that Harry actually might be gone, had placed such a sudden burden of grief on her, that her body didn't know how to react. She just continued to stand there, staring at Brad, wanting to break down and cry, but she couldn't.

"Ginny, what's going on?" Hermione's voice came from around the corner, she didn't reply. Hermione must have noticed Brad standing in the door way because Ginny just registered hearing a small gasp of "Oh no" from behind her.

Hermione was beside Ginny in a second, with an arm wrapped around her shoulder. "Brad, what Happened? Where is Harry?"

Ginny could tell that Hermione was trying to stay calm, but her own worry for one of her best friends, was unable to be kept out of her voice.

"Harry's missing," Brad replied, for the second time, his voice was very thick.