Dedication & Thanks: To my mom and beta reader, Happy Mother's Day!

Five Months

Chapter One: January

Harry sat on a bench on the ground floor of St. Mungo's. During the eight years of his wife's coma, Harry had spent more time in the hospital than one person would in their entire life. Needless to say, he no longer felt like this was a safe place to be.

If there was one good reason to come here it was Casey Adams, Harry's favourite Welcome Witch. Casey had befriended Harry during the eight years and had been very understanding of his situation, even going so far as to baby-sit Alroy for him when he needed to be alone with Ginny.

Of course, Ginny was back now, as healthier as ever. It had been almost two years since she woke up, after all. So Harry and Casey never really got a chance to see each other anymore. And neither could figure out if that was a good or bad thing.

It was nearing noon now, and Harry's back was beginning to hurt from sitting on the hard wooden bench for almost an hour. But, truth be told, it was his own fault. Healer Lynch, Ginny's new Midwitch, had told Harry that the check-up would take a while and to go to the hospital shop while he waited. But his reasons for not doing what the Healer said were simple. One: he didn't want to buy anything; two: both of Harry and Ginny's children were in St Mungo's for their own check-ups today, so if anyone needed Harry he'd be right there; and three: Harry really didn't like Healer Lynch.

Silently Casey walked over to where Harry was sitting in the crowded room. In her hands were two cups of coffee. She had known Harry for a very long time, and she liked to think that she knew him better than he knew himself, including what he needed. This, of course, was true.

Handing him a cup, she spoke. "How's the family?"

Harry startled when he heard Casey's voice, he wasn't expected anyone, least of all her, but he took the coffee gratefully. "Fine, everyone's fine."

"Good to hear." She smiled. Casey had heard about things going on with the Potters through their many family members who passed through the hospital, and she could always tell which stories were true. Unfortunately there were several true stories at the moment.

Things she'd heard consisted of Ginny's pregnancy, this was old news, true enough, but the fact that she was having twins had only been discovered last month. Then there was the writing of Harry and Ginny's first book. Both adults had quit their jobs as Aurors at the same time with the hopes of becoming children's authors. Now they were at a loss for words—literally.

Last, there was Harry's problem with Healer Lynch. This Casey had found out from Lynch herself. From what the Healer could tell, Harry considered the amount of years a Healer has been working to reflect on how experienced they are. And both of Ginny's past Midwitches had worked for over twenty years before they hired them, where as Lynch only had ten years under her belt. This was something Casey thought she could help Harry with.

She took a sip of her coffee slowly and quietly before turning to Harry. "So, how's Ginny?"

"Fine," he answered.

"Any complications?"

"No, she's just in for her monthly check-up."

Casey laughed softly. "No. I meant are there any complications with Healer Lynch. You still don't trust her, do you?"

Harry had gotten over being shocked by Casey's knowledge of things long ago; he now found it comforting that someone cared enough to learn what was happening in his life. "No, I don't."

She laughed again. "Harry, Lynette Lynch is one of my oldest and closest friends. So believe me when I say that she's more than qualified to take care of Ginny. And, if that still doesn't convince you, check her stats. She's dealt with more births than both your old Healers combined. And most of them were for twins."

A few moments passed without them speaking. Both knew Harry didn't have anything else he could argue about on the subject. Finally Casey decided to break the silence with a question that'd been nagging at her for a month now.

"Have you decided on the names yet?"

Harry smirked as he finished his drink. Setting the glass down beside him, he answered. "We've talked about it a little. But nothing is final."

"Did you find out the genders?"

"Yeah, last month. But that was only the magical prediction ultrasound. The real one should happen later this month."

"Well, MPU's are pretty accurate most of the time. I'll bet you anything that the results will be the same." Casey looked at her wrist watch. It was 12:15 now. "I have to get back to work. Do me a favour, though." She handed a gift bag to Harry. "Give this to Rachel, it's her birthday present."

"Why don't you just come to the party? We'd love to have you."

"I don't want to intrude. Besides, aren't all your parties for family only?"

"And friends and you're one of them." He smiled kindly at her. "The party's on the thirtieth at my house. It should start at around ten."

"All right, then. I'll see you there."

With that, Casey walked off to her work station, leaving Harry alone for another ten minutes before Alroy and Rachel arrived with another Healer.

"Everything okay, Davis?"

"Not a single thing wrong with them," replied Davis Thorn. Davis had been the Potters' paediatric Healer since Al was born and they had turned to him with Rachel as well. He and Harry and also become friends thanks to Mrs. Thorn, a kind-hearted woman who felt sorry for the Potters.

"Good to know." Harry took Rachel from the Healer's arms.

"Oh, Elvira wants to know if we're still on for the thirtieth," Davis went on. "I told her that people usually don't confirm until the week before, but you know Elvira." He rolled his eyes at his wife.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, the party's still on. But I think I might have to change the location if more people are invited." The two laughed again and spoke for a few more minutes before Ginny came from one of the ground floor offices.

"Good afternoon, Dave." Ginny said to the Healer after taking her daughter from Harry.

"Hello, Ginny. Everything alright with the babies, I hope."

"Oh, yes. Everything's fine." She smiled and looked at the clock. "We should be going though. See you soon."

Harry nodded and the four Flooed to their home in Northern Scotland.

Later

It was almost nine-thirty. Harry had just finished putting the children to bed while Ginny read a book. Now they were both stretched out on an over-stuffed couch in their family room, talking.

"So," began Harry. "What did Lynch say?" Ginny smirked, she too knew of Harry's dislike for her Midwitch.

"She wants me to take it easy, no unnecessary traveling, no Apparating or Flooing. You know the usual." Harry nodded. "Anyway, shall we get to work?" Ginny snapped her fingers and a large, purple binder appeared in front of her. The word 'Rachel' was written on the front cover. Flipping it open, it landed on a list of names; the guest list. "Okay, so far we've invited my parents, my brothers, their wives, their kids, Remus and Tonks, Neville and Luna, and Dave and Elvira. Is that everyone?"

"Don't forget about your father's old friends," added Harry.

"Oh, yeah. Jake and Randy Winters." Ginny said as she wrote down the names. "I have a funny feeling this is going to be an exhausting month."

"Well, that's what happens when you celebrate two birthdays on the same day."

"Tell that to my mum. She's the one that thought this would be easier than having two parties."

The room fell silent for a few minutes while both adults were lost in their own thoughts.

"By the way," said Harry, "I invited Casey Adams."

"All right, is that everyone, then?"

"I guess." Ginny turned the page in Rachel's birthday binder.

"Next, presents. Do you know what you want to get her?"

"I was thinking about one of those brooms for toddlers." He grinned. "What do you think?"

"I think you're crazy."

"Come on, Gin," Harry pleaded. "I got one for Alroy when one his first birthday."

"That's because I wasn't there to stop you. I'm sorry, but my daughter is not going anywhere near a broom until she's ten-years-old, even if it's just a toy. And that's final."

Harry crossed his arms over his chest and began to pout as his wife continued on.

"How about one of those Morgana dolls? Or maybe some books?"

"A doll?" What good can come of giving her a doll? At least if we get her the toddler broom it'll teach her to fly. And its really safe too! It has a seatbelt and handles and everything," he added, seeing Ginny's glares.

"Fine. I'll get the Morgana doll, and you get her the stupid broom," she gave in. "But if I find so much as one scratch on Rachel I'm burning the thing. Agreed?"

"Whatever you say." Harry then proceeded to skip happily around the room, while Ginny shook her head.

"Anyway," she said, making the thirty-two-year-old sit down again. "We'll have to get all the decorations tomorrow. Let's see, Mum's making the cake; Fleur and Hermione offered to cook dinner for me, isn't that nice of them? And Fred and George are the entertainment, for the kids anyway. Are we forgetting anything?"

"Is time to relax scheduled?"

"Very funny, we've got five birthday parties to attend in the next five months, that's eight people. Plus we've got Valentine's Day and Easter." Ginny stopped to catch her breath. "Not to mention the fact that I'm due somewhere in that chaos."

Harry comforted his stressed wife, tossing the binder onto the coffee table. "We can get through all of it, we've done it before."

"Not with twins we haven't."

"Big deal. Your parents had three kids before Fred and George and they went on to have two more, and they're still standing."

"Harry, when my parents had the twins, Bill was eight, Charlie was six, and Percy was two. Rachel's just turning one, and Alroy will be ten before I'm due. Don't you think they had it a little better than we do?" Harry laughed.

"Are you kidding? I know your brothers, Ginny. At least out kids aren't complete trouble-makers." In a more serious tone he added, "We'll be fine, trust me."

Dropping the subject, though still having doubts, Ginny pulled out a large book and two rolls of parchment from her purse beside her. "Shall we move on to more important matters, then?" She handed a roll of parchment to Harry, along with a quill, and set the book down between them. Taking a peek at the book's title, Harry laughed.

"'Name Your Wizard'?" he read. "Isn't it a little early to pick out baby names? We don't even know the genders yet."

"Well, we could just pick names according to the MPU results."

"You mean all girls names?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm, maybe we should go through all names, just in case."

"Fine."

Harry and Ginny then got to work and began writing down their favourite male and female names, the book only coming in use once or twice. Finally, as the large grandfather clock struck eleven o'clock, both Potter had finished writing out their lists with at least seventy names on each.

"Girls names first?" Harry asked, picking up Ginny's list.

"Sure," she answered, picking up Harry's. There was a moment of silence as they looked down each other's lists.

"Agnes? You've got to be kidding me," Harry said, breaking the silence.

"What's wrong with that?"

"'Agnes Potter', tell me you don't find anything wrong with that!"

"Well it's far better than Athena Potter!"

"I'll have you know that Athena was the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology."

"So what? You think it'll make our daughter smart if she's named after her?"

"Well, yeah," Harry answered lamely. Ginny just shook her head as she continued to read the list.

"Beatrice, no. Belle, no. Bridget, no. Bethany, yes. I actually like that."

"All right, I'll add that to the joint list." Harry then took out a fresh piece of parchment and scribbled the name down as an option, then returned to Ginny's names. "Buffy? I'm not naming my daughter after a vampire slayer."

"A vampire what?"

"Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a Muggle TV show."

"Oh, I see the problem. All right, I'll forget about it then. Hey, do you like Calantha?"

"Is that a joke?"

"Never mind."

"How about Dana or Delia?"

"No way. I don't suppose you'd like Danica or Demetria, would you?"

"Nope."

"I know! Honey!"

"Honey Potter?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Fine, then no to Hannah and Hilary too."

"You didn't even give them a chance! At least give Ileana a little thought, will you?"

"Ileana?" Ginny scrolled down the list a little until she came to the I's. "I love it!"

"Love? Well, that's a step up from like, I suppose." Harry once again added the name onto the joint list. "What do you think of Janelle and Judy?"

"Don't like either. How about Kizzy?"

"What's a Kizzy?"

"Forget it."

"Do you like Natalie?"

"No, but what about Nathalie?"

"Okay. Olivia?"

"No. Oriana?"

"Nope. Ruth?"

"Ew, ugly name… Oh! Phoenix Potter!"

"That's a bird."

"Fine. What about Ruby?"

"What is it with you and the gem stones?" Harry asked, looking over his wife's list. "Amethyst, Emerald, Diamond, Garnet, Onyx, Ruby, Sapphire, you've even got Gemma and Jewel on here."

"It's not a crime to like pretty names – or pretty jewellery."

"Anyway, you like Tatum?"

"No way. Tiffany's way better."

"I don't think so… Zoë's my last name."

"I've got Zara."

"Well, we only got Bethany, Ileana and Nathalie for female names. Shall we move on?"

"Sure." Ginny moved on down Harry list again, this time stopping at the male names. "You like Adam?"

"Yeah, very traditional."

"You're crazy."

"I could say the same about you for putting Adair, Ambrose and Arnold on your list."

"What's wrong with Arnold?"

"You named your pygmy puff Arnold in your fifth year."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. How about Casimir, then?"

"Sorry, no. Dylan?"

"That's nice." Another name added to the joint list.

"Fabian? You actually like Fabian?"

"Well, no, but it's a family name. Fabian and Gideon were my uncles. Mum's brothers."

"Oh, all right, I'll add them. But I'll only use them if we have boys. Okay?"

"Yes!"

"Do you like Henry or Hyatt?"

"No. What about Hagan and Hayden?"

"No."

Harry and Ginny were becoming very impatient, the clock was nearing midnight and they could barely get past a letter without arguing.

"Jensen, then? Or perhaps Jasper or Joseph?"

"Joseph? Yeah, I like that one. Do you like Miles or Morris?"

"Nope. Maddox and Maurice are better."

"No, they're not."

"Well, Rory and Regan are nice, we've got to admit."

"A little, but I'm not naming my kids them. Maybe Ren or Riley though."

"I'd rather have Theodore."

"I actually like that too."

"How about Wade?"

"Not for my son. Wyatt?"

"Not gonna happen. Zane's may last one."

"Zachary's mine."

Again the room became quiet as Harry and Ginny looked over their joint names list. So far it read:

Girls:

Bethany, Ileana and Nathalie

Boys:

Dylan, Fabian & Gideon, Joseph and Theodore

This wasn't as helpful as Ginny had thought it would be since neither would know the genders of their twins until later that month.

The Next Morning

Mr. and Mrs. Potter walked down the crowded streets of Diagon Alley alone. Both looked tired from staying up late the night before, being woken up at eight in the morning by Alroy didn't help either. Now Alroy was in Muggle school and Rachel was visiting Molly and Arthur at the Burrow while their parents shopped.

As soon as Harry and Ginny stepped foot in the Alley that day, Harry immediately pushed through the crowds leading to Gringotts while Ginny made her way to Madam Malkin's to pick up the robes they'd ordered a week before.

"I'm afraid there's been a slight problem, Mrs. Potter," began the shop owner when Ginny asked her for the clothes. "It's Dana, one of our interns; she accidentally gave your robes to a Ms. Greta Potter."

"Greta Potter?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, is there any way you can get my clothes back?"

"We're trying ma'am. Dana's been trying to contact Ms. Potter all day. We could always make you some new robes, free of charge, of course."

"There's no time, we need them by the thirtieth, that's in a week."

"Ah, yes, that is a problem." Ginny sighed. Of all the things she thought could go wrong on her daughter's birthday this was not one of them. Thankfully Harry came in at that moment.

"Everything all right?" he asked, seeing her disappointed face.

"They gave away our robes to another Potter."

"I'm very sorry, sir," interrupted Madam Malkin.

Ginny could tell from the look on Harry's face that he was about to do something he'd most likely regret later on, lucky for both of them, Dana walked up beside Madam Malkin with a large grin no her face.

"Good news," she said, "I just finished talking to Ms. Potter. She says she'll be back here in a half hour to exchange the robes. Isn't that wonderful?!" The three adults all glared at the teenager.

"Dana, I think we need to have a little talk after we close tonight," said Madam Malkin through clenched teeth as she led the girl to the back room, but not before telling Harry and Ginny to come back in an hour.

"Where next?" asked Harry as they stepped outside onto the cobbled road.

"The Party Palace, for decorations," his wife answered after consulting her list.

Walking a few feet away from Madam Malkin's, they found themselves in front of a small bubblegum pink shop which looked even smaller squished between two multiple level buildings. Though the inside looked much bigger due to the sickening shade of lime green and had pink and yellow polka dots all over the walls and doors. Beside the door sat a young man who looked to have just gotten out of Hogwarts. He was sitting behind a small desk and appeared to be the clerk.

"Can I help you?" the boy asked when he noticed his new customers.

"No, thank you," replied Harry as he began leading Ginny to their usual starting point; balloons.

"What do you think of these?" Ginny held up a package of pink and purple balloons with white unicorns on them.

"Unicorns? C'mon, Gin, do we have to use girly stuff?" Ginny laughed.

"Well, Rachel is a girl, Harry. What did you expect we'd use?"

"I don't know – nothing pink though. Can't we do Quidditch or something?"

"No. We've already done five Quidditch parties for Alroy, though I'm sure there are more that you haven't told me about yet."

"But Rachel won't even remember this birthday!"

"No, but I will. End of discussion." Ginny then proceeded to throw three packs of the unicorn balloons in her cart, along with a couple with a numeral one on them, then dragged Harry into the next department, signs and streamers.

"Let me guess," Harry started, "you want to get the pink and yellow stuff."

"Oh, stop sulking. I'll have you know I'm getting the baby blue streamers. And I'll be making my own sign – which will also be blue."

Two minutes later they were on a hunt for party favours.

"What do you think about a cute picture frame for the adults?" Ginny asked, this time holding up a wooden frame with bears glued on the corners.

"Not expensive enough," said a voice from behind the couple.

"Yeah, a hundred galleons per person will do," said another. Turning around they found Fred and George.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Harry after Ginny finished hugging her brothers.

"It's Cal's birthday next month and Angelina's making me plan the party. Can you believe it?" Fred's voice showed more excitement than anger, and his huge grin confirmed it.

"And he recruited me to help him," said George, the grin on his face identical to that of his twin's.

"Please tell me Angelina's still going to be cooking," said Ginny.

"She hasn't decided yet. But I'm dying to try out this new recipe I read about – Hippogriff stew." Fred started laughing hysterically as both Harry and Ginny considered never eating again.

"Anyway," said Harry, hoping to change the subject. " What're you getting for party favours?"

"Lollipops for the young kids, Sugar Quills for the older kids, and boxes of chocolate for the adults. You're not seriously considering picture frames, are you?"

"Not any more." Ginny put the frame back on the shelf and turned back to the twins. "Actually, I think I've got an even better idea. Would you two give us a discount at WWW, being family and all?" Both Fred and George's grins widened as Ginny explained her idea of giving everyone items from their shop, except for most of the kids, that is.

Nearly twenty minutes later Ginny walked back into Madam Malkin's to retrieve her family's robes while Harry trailed behind her with five heavy looking bags.

"Do we need to go anywhere else?" the man asked, exhaustion showing.

"Just the toy store." At this he brightened up and quickly sent all the packages to hide in the attic.

Rachel and Arthur's Birthday Party

"Ginny, dear, what color did you want the cake to be?" asked Molly Weasley, stepping out of the Potters' kitchen.

"Yell – I mean green, mum," answered Ginny after noticing Harry's glare.

The couple was sitting in the living room awaiting their guests. Molly, Fleur and Hermione had all arrived several hours before and hadn't dared to exit the kitchen lest they should get involved in one of Harry and Ginny's fights over what decoration goes where. Now it was almost noon and people were bound to start arriving.

As if on queue the doorbell rang and Harry left the room to answer it, though it only turned out to be Arthur, along with his friends, Jake and Randy. The men were promptly seated in the living room with cold Butterbeer in their mugs. Almost right after Bill and Ron showed up, both looking tired and ready to keel over from being left alone with their children for a few hours. Next came Fred and Angelina, who appeared to be fighting over giving out so much candy at Cal's party. Following a few feet behind were George and Katie. Then came Neville and Luna, Remus and Tonks, and Mr. and Mrs. Thorn arrived with Casey. And it was only once everyone had been mingling in the living room for ten minutes that Percy and Penelope finally arrived.

As it the night progressed, Ginny considered it a disaster due to all the children having sugar rushes, which she was sure to thank Fred for, and, of course, for the explosion of Molly's beautiful three layer green cake. Something that the twins swore they didn't do. And they were telling the truth, since it was later discovered to be Calvin. But despite all the mishaps, everyone, adults and children alike, had a wonderful time. And according to Arthur, it was his favourite birthday, much to the delight of Ginny.

'One month down,' she thought, once the last guest had left.