Miracles Miracles

Ginny had been trying to figure it out for a while, and then it finally dawned on her who the voice she heard reading from a storybook nearby belonged to. She smiled. "Al, dear, would you bring Mum a glass of water please."

Albus Severus Potter dropped his book and stood up, staring intently at Ginny. "Mum, did you just call me Al?"

Ginny looked at him quizzically. "Well, yes dear. That is your name, isn't it? Don't tell me you're James polyjuiced." She laughed.

"Mum," cried Albus and then leapt across the room to give her a hug.

Ginny hugged her son, at a loss for what was wrong as he cried into her belly. She had been listening to someone read while imagining the words come to life in front of her and then suddenly got the feeling that she was missing something. After letting her mind drift for a while, she realized that she was thirsty and that she couldn't get herself a drink, which she had a feeling was odd. That she was being read to seemed odd as well, but it didn't bother her; she liked the reader's voice, though she didn't recognize it at first. Now of course, it was obvious to her.

Albus pulled away from his mother's arms and looked up into her face. "Mum?"

"Yes, dear? What's the matter?" She wiped a smudge of tears off his cheek.

Albus squeezed her hand then stood up. "I'll be back."

He ran out of the room, leaving Ginny alone to contemplate her situation. She was in a room she didn't recognize, but which felt familiar. Her room, she felt. But why didn't she know it? And why was the bed so small? It couldn't be a hospital room, it looked too personal and homey. She'd never liked hospitals, but she liked this room very much. She'd just ask Al about it when he got back.

"Dad!" yelled Albus, racing into the kitchen. "Go see Mum quick!"

Harry Potter took one look at his crying son, dropped the dish he'd been washing, and ran to Ginny's room, hands full of suds, fearing the worst. Had she fallen? Was she sick? Did she…

He didn't have to finish his thought as he burst into the room and saw Ginny sitting up in bed looking expectantly at the door. She smiled when she saw him, and his stomach started to do backflips. He hadn't seen that look in her eyes in three and a half years. He staggered slowly toward her. "Gin?"

"Do I look different, Harry? You seem as though you're seeing me for the first time. Am I polyjuiced as well?"

Harry didn't know what Ginny was talking about, but she sounded like she did. She sounded like herself. Like the her before… His legs shook like they were going to give out. He cautiously sat on the edge of the bed next to her and looked deep into her eyes.

She reached out and took hold of his arm and tugged him closer. "What's wrong, dear? Al was acting strangely as well. Or perhaps he was James. Did we have a polyjuice accident? Is that what's going on? Fetch me a mirror would you. I want to see what's wrong with me."

Harry shook his head. "You look fine, Ginny," he whispered. "You're fine."

Ginny scooted closer to Harry, as for some reason he was resisting her pulling him toward her. "Well, you're certainly not." She rubbed his cheek and jaw and felt tension through the stubbly skin. "Whatever it is, it'll be alright, Harry. We'll get passed it together like we always do." She guided his chin toward her and kissed him softly on the lips.

Harry's sudsy hands tightened into fists as he received Ginny's kiss. It was the first since her accident years ago. He wanted so badly to throw his arms around her and crush her to him, but he was terrified that she wouldn't let him. Did she really remember that she loved him? That they were married and had kids? Was this real recovery? Was it temporary? How long would it last? All these worries kept him from responding, and Ginny soon pulled away.

Ginny broke the unreciprocated kiss and looked worriedly at Harry. She wasn't before, but now, she was scared. Something bad had happened, and it had put distance between them, and she didn't know what it was. She needed to know now. She needed to fix it. She opened her mouth to speak, but then James and Lily rushed in, followed by Al bringing her a glass of water.

The first two bombarded her with hugs and kisses, and Harry stood up from the bed to give them room. Ginny reached for Albus to come and complete the group hug. He smiled brightly then climbed onto the other side of the bed and hugged her.

"From the way you all are reacting, I'm beginning to feel like I was away for a long time." She looked up at Harry, whose face seemed to confirm what she was saying.

"I'm going to call Severus," he said, then turned away and walked out of the room.

Ten minutes later, when Harry returned, he'd brought with him a tall man in dark billowing robes whom she instantly recognized as Professor Severus Snape. "Oh my god, Professor Snape?!" she yelled, and started trying to get out of bed.

Severus smiled warmly and gestured that she should stay in bed. "I'm pleased you remember me."

"How could I forget? Everything you've done! Oh my god. What are you doing here? Alive? Harry!"

"It's a long story, Ginny. Let's just say that you've been ill and Severus has been treating you."

Ginny turns back to Severus. "Severus?"

He nods. "Shall I call you Mrs. Potter?"

"Ginny's fine," she said, still awed. "Sir…Severus. How are you alive? Where have you been? Why did you leave? How long have you…"

Severus laughed and conjured a chair beside her bed for himself. "Let's save the questions about me for after you answer some about you."

Ginny blinked confused. "Ok."

For the next thirty minutes, the Potter family gathered in the one room listening to Severus talk to Ginny. For one thing, they wanted to know just how much she remembered and whether or not Severus thought her recovery was significant, and for the other, they were reluctant to be apart from her after nearly four years of believing she was lost forever.

"I can't believe she's back," one of the kids whispered.

Harry glanced at his kids who were huddled together on a big couch he'd conjured for them so that they could sit and watch the interview. They had a large blanket wrapped around the three of them, James in the middle with a sibling under each arm, the younger two holding on to their older brother for reassurance. The sight touched Harry, and he suddenly felt very proud of his eldest.

The kids seemed ready enough to accept that their mother had returned for good, but Harry wasn't ready at all. He'd held on to false hope before for so long that when he'd had to let the old Ginny go and let a new Ginny, a Ginny who didn't know him and didn't love him and wasn't mother to their children, and frankly one who he'd had a hard time seeing as his wife and not a patient under his care, develop in her place, he'd been devastated. But he'd dealt with the debilitating disappointment, grieved, and moved on. At this point, he'd just been waiting for her to recover enough to realize that she didn't want a life of pretend marriage with a school friend and suggest that they go their separate ways. He'd braced himself for the possibility every day for the last year, and so now, to hear the love in her voice and see it in her eyes and feel it in her lips just felt like the universe's attempt at one last kick in the face.