Chapter 1
"Harry, don't…"
"What?"
"You died! I saw you, dead, and now you're back! Just give me time to process this, okay?"
Reluctantly, Harry let go of Ginny as she went and sat back down, fanning herself with her hand. Ash and soot was still on her face from the battle, but she still looked beautiful to Harry.
"Look, I know it's hard, okay? I mean, I'm the one who died! It's still not sunk in. And Fred's dead, and Lupin, and Tonks… I don't want to rush things either. But in that split moment when Voldemort shot that killing curse at me, all I could think about was you." Harry tried appealing to her but her only reply was a long, exasperated sigh.
"Did you really have to mention Fred? I don't want to think about that right now."
"Ginny, none of us do. None of us want to think about how in order to save all the strangers of this world we had to lose the ones we care about most. But…it's happened. One day you'll have to accept it. My parents are dead. I had to grow up with an aunt and uncle who hated me. I've lost the closest thing I've had to a parent…twice! It's never easy, but we have to stay strong throughout it." But what tore Harry apart the most, is when Ginny lifted her head from staring at the ground and looked pleadingly at Harry with her heart in her eyes.
"But why Fred? Why Tonks? Why Lupin? Why all the good people?"
"Because we don't get to choose who goes, it just happens." The tears that shone in her eyes started to slowly glide down her dirty face, leaving clean trails. "Come here." And this time when he held his arms out, she went willingly. "It's going to be different for you than it was for me because you'll have people to support you. When Bellatrix sent that killing curse at you, my heart stopped beating in my chest. If your mum hadn't have got their first, I'd have made she suffered through all of the pain she's ever caused us before I killed her."
"Harry, don't speak like that. You sound like one of them."
"I'm sorry Gin, I'm just bitter about everything still. Come on, let's go and find Ron and Hermione."
They made their way through what still remained of the Great Hall doors until they were once more reunited with the rest of the Weasley family and Hermione. She and Ron had their arms about each other whilst they mourned over Fred with the other Weasley's. Arthur was supporting Molly as she silently cried against the front of his shirt. Not far off were the bodies of Lupin and Tonks and everybody else who had died in the war. At the very end of the Great Hall, with nobody surrounding him, Harry spotted the body of a man Harry had only ever begun to understand during the man's final moment.
At the end of the row, he found the man who had loved his mother, who had killed his favourite headmaster on Dumbledore's own wishes, who Harry had hated for seven years before finally realising that he was good, but realising too late. There lay Severus Snape. There were dry patches of blood all over his robes, but Harry used Scourgify to clean it up until they were the same immaculate white that Harry remembered from five years of potions lessons and one year of Defence Against the Dark Arts with him. He knelt down beside him and grasped the limp, cold hand of his old professor. In some ways, Harry wouldn't have been able to defeat Voldemort without him. It was his silver doe he saw that led him to the sword and him that was able to infiltrate the Death Eaters without them realising he was good and gained Voldemort's trust. He owed a lot to Professor Snape.
He kneeled silently by his side for some time until he felt a harm on his arm which had begun to go cold and numb from sitting so still and holding the limp hand. The sudden touch made warmth run through his arm once again and he looked up into the brown compassionate eyes of Ginny. He clasped the hand that wasn't on his arm and she supported him up. They made for the doors of the Great Hall where a swarm of gingers could be seen. The Weasley's were departing. Hanging limply in the air in front of them using the same spell Harry remembered Sirius and Lupin had used on Snape when him, Hermione and Ron had knocked him unconscious was Fred. Mrs Weasley walked by one side and Mr Weasley on the other whilst George stood further back, avoiding looking at his dead twin brother as he passed. Harry and Ginny walked over to him. Harry lay his hand on his shoulder causing him to look up and when he did, Ginny flung her arms around his neck and wept into his shoulder as he did the same with her, using her soft ginger hair as a blanket to lean on as it fanned over her shoulder and back. Harry silently retreated until he was out in the sunshine alone and could hear faintly in the distance the sound of a phoenix singing. He smiled slightly, and then turned to look at what lay of the castle that he'd come to think of as home.
As tears began sliding down his face, the rain came pouring down until everybody who had stayed to fight in the battle were cleaned of all the ash and soot that must have fell when the castle was destroyed. He knew that this was the end. Voldemort was gone, and with him were most of the people he cared about. His parents, Sirius, Professor Dumbledore, Fred, Tonks and Lupin, everyone. All he had left now was his best friends. And as he thought this, he felt tingles on his neck and turned around to find Hermione and Ron staring at him. They walked forwards until Hermione was in the middle and she grasped one of Ron's hands and one of Harry's and just held it. They both looked up at the sky.
"This is it then, isn't it?" Ron's deep voice broke the silence. No one else could speak so Hermione just nodded as tears streaked down her face. "We've survived…" She finally managed to say, holding their hands tighter as another minute went by until they were almost turning blue from the cut off of the blood circulation.
"We've survived…" Harry repeated then turned to face his best friends. He gleamed at them as he saw the faces of the two people he loved most in the world, with the exception of Ginny and the rest of the Weasley family. But they were his family now too. They'd stuck together this far, and they'll stay together forever more.
"I guess we still don't know the answer to that question McGonagall asked us some years ago; why's it always us three?" And they all laughed at Ron's joke and the sound echoed around the deserted castle making it seem like every ghost of every one who had died today was laughing with them.
Chapter 2
You would have thought that each couple would propose straight after the battle but neither did. Harry waited three years to propose to Ginny and Ron waited another two years to propose to Hermione. None of them felt that they had to rush it because none of them felt threatened anymore. At Ron and Hermione's wedding, Ginny was five months pregnant with her and Harry's first child. Five years later, they'd already had two kids and were on their third (and they hoped their last!) Ron and Hermione, on the other hand, had two, like Harry and Ginny, but were trying for another. It was this fact, however, that caused so many arguments between the pair. Hermione often spent the night at Harry's having a girl chat with Ginny when this happened and Harry would take out Ron to try and get him to calm down because he was more the angry one whereas Hermione just got emotional. Luckily for him, Hermione never tried starting with him on the fact that he went with Ron when they argued because she knew that if she needed him, he'd still be there. Even after all this time, they were still the best of friends.
"Hey Gin?" Harry said, disturbing her from the book she had resting on her baby bump as James and Albus played outside with Teddy. She sighed, before picking the book up and closing it. She knew Harry wanted something every time he called her 'Gin'.
"Yes, Harry, what do you want now?" The little bump that was to be their third child had kept her up for the past few nights by kicking. Harry often made the remark that he must be a great footballer but as Ginny was from a pure blood family who didn't understand muggle antics she never really understood the joke.
"What do we name it?"
"Name what, Harry?" He rolled his eyes at her arrogance.
"The baby, Gin, the baby! What shall we name it?" This had caught her off-guard. For the past two kids, Harry hadn't really took an interest in naming them until they were born and he knew what sex they were.
"Well, I, erm, I don't know. We don't even know if it's a boy or girl yet."
"But, say…say it's a girl. What shall we call it?" Ginny really didn't know why Harry was to pressuring for her to answer the question.
"Well, I was, er, I was thinking about Luna maybe? Or Molly, after my mum?" Harry frowned slightly and looked down at the floor. "Really Harry, what is going on?"
"I was thinking… We've got James and we've got Albus-Severus. If it's a girl, do you think we could, er, name her Lily?" He said this sheepishly, blushing as he did. This took Ginny by surprise. His mum was something Harry and Ginny had never discussed. Sure, they'd spoken about James a few times, but only when Sirius and Lupin were mentioned too. They never spoke about his mum, just like they never spoke about Professor Snape. His mum was more of a touchy subject than his dad was.
"Erm, Lily, dear?"
"Yeah. I mean, it's my mum's name, but if you don't want to then you don't have to. Actually, just forget I said anything." He shut down quickly and went back to looking out the window at James and Albus playing Quidditch outside with Teddy Lupin.
"Lily sounds lovely. If it's a girl, we shall call her Lily. But what if it's a boy?" But her question wasn't answered for as soon as she'd said that Lily was okay Harry jumped up and almost swung her around in his arms before he remembered she was pregnant.
"Ginny, do you know how much I love you?" And he said it with sincerity in his eyes.
"Yes Harry, I know."
Chapter 3
Over at Ron and Hermione's house, things were just as emotional, except for the wrong reasons. As tears streaked down her face, Hermione dropped another negative pregnancy test into the waste bucket. She gulped, and arched her back as she readied herself to go and confront Ron who waited eagerly outside the bathroom door, hoping to hear some good news finally. Sheepishly, she opened the door to find him staring intensely at her.
"Well?" There was hope in his voice, but unfortunately, that was quickly diminished.
"I'm so sorry Ron, it's…it's not worked." She choked on the last word as Ron's face turned pale before turning red with anger.
"Why isn't it bloody well working? We know we can have kids, we've already got two! The doctors say we're fine but it just won't work! Look at me Hermione, I'm not as young as I used to be-" She tried butting in, saying he was only in his late thirties but he carried on ranting, "I won't always be able to have kids and neither will you!" The unbidden tears began sliding down her face.
"Ron, I'm sorry… I know you want more kids, I want more kids, but I don't know why it won't work. We just have to keep trying-"
"Keep trying?! How long do we have to keep trying for?! It's been seven months and still nothing!" Like Hermione, he choked on the last word, but as he did he turned around on his heel and disappeared from Hermione's sight. She heard the front door bang as he carried on cursing on his way out. She slid down the bathroom wall and put her head in her hands.
She stayed in this position for what felt like an hour until she dragged herself into the living room to grab the telephone. She dialled in Ginny's number and sobbed silently as it rang. After the third tone, Ginny answered, knowing Hermione's number off by heart by now. She started speaking as soon as she answered it.
"Mione, negative again?" Her only reply was a choke coming from Hermione's end of the receiver. "I'll be there in two." She hung up and, true to her word, arrived at the house in two minutes.
She went straight to Hermione as she apparated into her living room. Hermione had fallen back to the floor and was crying again. Ginny knelt down beside her, despite the effort it must have taken to get down that low considering her condition. Hermione never told her that she envied her but being her best friend, she already knew.
"Ginny…" Hermione choked, "I don't know why it won't work! We've both been to the doctors and we're both fine but it won't work! It's been seven months and Ron's in distress!" But by the looks of it, so was Hermione.
As Ginny comforted Hermione, Harry heard a loud knock at the door. As he had been with Ginny when Hermione had called, he knew who it was. He shouted to Teddy,
"Teddy! I'm gonna be out for about half an hour, you okay with the kids?" His only reply was the sounds of the kids screaming as Teddy told them he was babysitting them now. Harry smiled, but made sure that the smile had gone when he answered the door to his impatient and extremely aggravated best friend. As soon as he opened the door slightly, a hand reached inside and dragged him out. Next thing he knew, he was standing beside a red-faced Ron.
"Ron, I've left my walle-"
"Forget about it. We're just going for a walk anyway." Harry had to run to catch up with Ron's long strides as he strode silently and vehemently around Godrics Hollow, which is where Harry and Ginny lived.
Back over with Hermione and Ginny, Ginny was trying to help Hermione upstairs. All of the stress had caused her to half blackout and so Ginny needed to get her to bed but neither Ron nor Harry were answering their phone. She was half supporting Hermione when tripped one of Hugo's toys (Hermione's youngest) who was only a baby and went tumbling down the stairs with Hermione in her arms. When they hit the bottom, Ginny felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She gasped, and it's at that point that Hermione came fully into focus. Her leg was bent awkwardly beneath her and every time she moved it she felt a sharp pain course through it. She suspected she'd broken it. Ginny was lying on the floor next to her, holding her stomach. It hit Hermione what had happened and her face went pale. She tried to stand but fell back to the ground with a cry as her leg gave-way beneath her. She started to drag herself across the floor until she'd reached the telephone. First, she dialled in Harry's number, but no one answered. Then she tried Ron's, but still no-one answered. She didn't know what to do, so she gave one last try and rang Harry and Ginny's home. It rang for some time, but finally someone answered it and she heard Teddy's voice on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Teddy! Teddy, quick! Get Harry! It's an emergency!" Teddy didn't know what to do.
"But, auntie Mione, they've gone out…" Hermione let out a small cry as she accidentally moved her broken leg.
"Auntie Mione? Are you okay?"
"Teddy, please, go and get Harry or Ron!" He heard the desperation in her voice so threw down the receiver and ran out the door. She could faintly hear him yelling at the top of his lungs for Harry and Ron. Finally, after what seemed like ages, she heard quick footsteps and Harry's deep voice on the other line.
"Hermione? What's up? Teddy says it an emergency?"
"It is! Harry, you need to get here right now! Me and Ginny fell down the stairs! My legs broken but Ginny's clutching her abdomen, she might miscarriage!" She heard a quick gasp before Harry told her he was on his way and hung up. A minute later, both Harry and Ron appeared in the room. Harry ran straight to Ginny who was at the bottom of the stairs still but Ron ran to Hermione.
"Hermione? Are you okay? Does it hurt? HARRY! We need to get them to the hospital!" Ron's pale face was etched with concern as he carefully tried lifting Hermione up but she cried with pain so he put her down. Tears were streaking down her face. "Harry, I'm taking her to the hospital!" And he looked over to see Harry trying to lift Ginny up just like Ron had done with Hermione though he had more success. They both apparated to St. Mungos.
Two hours later, Hermione was lying in a hospital bed with her leg cast up in the air. Ron was by her side. She'd been unconscious, but opened her eyes to find him holding her hand tightly, praying she was okay. She smiled weakly.
"Hi." His head shot up as she tapped him on the shoulder. The look of relief that she was okay was clearly evident on his face.
"Hi yourself." His smile shone brightly.
"What?" She asked, but he just gave her another smile and put his finger to his lips.
"Sssh, you don't want to disturb the baby." Hermione looked at him, confused.
"The baby? Wha…? Wait, Ginny had her baby?! But she's only five month along-"
"No Mione, our baby. Your pregnant darling." Her eyes widened in surprise.
"I'm…what?"
"Pregnant! You've been pregnant for a month or two now but the tests were faulty and so came up negative. You're pregnant! We're going to have another baby!"
"We-we are? Oh my God, I'm pregnant!"
"Yes darling!" And in that moment, the pain in her leg was forgotten as they both rejoiced over the wonderful news that they had just found out. And even though they still get hurt, they still carry on. The Golden Trio will always carry on.
The End.
