Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Author Note: This is a short ficlet thats been on my computer for a long time now and I finally put it into an actual story. Its going to be short, probably five or six chapters. It is set in the "Secrets that Were Kept" and "As Seen in a DreamÓ universe so it might make a little more sense if you read at least "Secrets" first. Okay, enjoy!
Part One: Chapter One
Harry,
Please come home quickly after work, I need to talk to you about something.
Love,
~Ginny
P.S. Can you pick up some more Anti- Nausea Serum on your way home?
Harry stuffed the letter into his pocket as he entered the Apothecary. He paid for the Serum and left quickly for his flat.
He and Ginny had a nice flat not far from Diagon Alley, on the wizarding side of London. It wasn't tiny, it was modest and they both loved it. Voldemort had been gone for a little over four months, though the cleanup process was just beginning. He and Ginny had been married weeks after Voldemort's downfall, which had been done mostly on Harry's part. As much as he didn't like to take all the credit, he would admit to casting the spell that ultimately destroyed Voldemort.
Harry fumbled the letter in his pocket, his mind racing about the many things Ginny could possibly have to tell him. She was working at a grammar school, teaching Reading Comprehension. She had been offered a Charms Apprenticeship at Hogwarts after she left almost two years ago, but turned it down. Maybe her news had to do with her job, maybe she had been offered another apprenticeship.
Harry shook his head. He knew Ginny better than that. She loved that grammar school too much, and she was good with those children.
If it had anything to do with the Weasleys, then Harry would have already heard about it. Ron was working in the Department of Magical Games and Sports as an intern to the head Charm Master. Ron and Hermione had gotten married a few weeks before he and Ginny had.
They had all been active in the war against Voldemort. After leaving Hogwarts, Harry had gone straight into Auror training, ignoring the numerous Professional Quidditch offers he had, and Ron and Hermione had taken positions at the Ministry of Magic. The three had gotten a flat in Diagon Alley while Ginny was still in school and after she finished at Hogwarts, Harry moved out to live with Ginny.
Everything seemed safe for them, until Hermione's parents left for vacation in Italy at the beginning of the summer after Ginny finished at Hogwarts. It was lucky that they left a few days early, because Death Eaters attacked their home in attempt to hurt or destroy Hermione's poor dentist parents. Dumbledore insisted that Hermione and her parents leave and hide under the Fidelius Charm. Hermione agreed and Ginny became the Secret Keeper. Refusing to leave Hermione's side, Ron went with them to America. For half a year, Hermione and Ron studied at Harvard Academy of Magic. After Voldemort's downfall, Hermione and Ron came back to England along with the Grangers and announced that they were getting married as soon as possible. Apparently they had decided that as soon as it was safe, and as soon as Voldemort was destroyed they were to marry.
Harry shook his head at the memory. He loved his friends to death, but sometimes they were too much for him. Now they were living in a flat in Muggle London and Hermione was working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
Harry took the steps to his flat two at a time, eager to get to Ginny as soon possible.
"Ginny!" he called as he entered the apartment. Glancing around the room, he saw she wasn't in the front sitting room. He set the Serum onto the table and went to find his wife.
"Ginny?" he called, softer this time. He opened the door to the bedroom and found her asleep on the bed. He sat down next to her, gently moving the hair from her face. He smiled at her sleeping form, and kissed her forehead. He stood up slowly, careful not to wake her. She hadn't been feeling well lately and Harry thought it best to let her sleep. Whatever it was she needed to talk to him about could wait. He was beginning to get concerned for her, she was tired all the time, and she was nauseous. She went through about a bottle a week of the Anti- Nausea Serum. This had gone on for the past five months at least.
"Harry?" Ginny said as he went to leave the room. "Is that you?"
"You fell asleep," he replied, bending back down to the bed. "I was going to let you sleep."
"Oh, well thank you," she replied and yawned. "But I'm awake now, I might as well stay awake."
"Do you want anything?" he asked and she shook her head. Her eyes trailed over him in his service uniform. She usually didn't see him in it; he would change as soon as he got home and she got home after he did. Well, normally.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," she replied looking at him. "I just like seeing you in uniform." She ran her hand over the deep green fabric he was wearing. She liked his service uniforms the best out of all of his uniforms. The color accented his eyes perfectly.
"I should change," he said. "And you should sleep."
"I'm awake now, Harry," she said. "I don't think I can sleep again till tonight."
"Well I should still change," Harry replied.
"Wait for a few minutes, please?" Ginny asked. He sighed and laid his head beside hers.
"Love, why did you want me to come home so quickly?" he asked after a few moments. Feeling Ginny tense beside him he rolled over and looked at her.
"Harry give me your hand," she instructed and he complied. She intertwined her fingers with him and kissed his hand. Then she began to move his hand below the blanket.
"Ginny," Harry warned.
"Don't worry Harry," she replied. "I'm not doing anything like that. Here, feel this." She placed his hand on her lower abdomen and moved her hand away.
"Its soft, Ginny," Harry said. "Thats what you wanted to show me?"
"No, like this," she said and moved his hand over her stomach. "See how its flat and then it goes up a little?"
"Yeah, but..." Harry stopped and looked at her, his eyes getting bigger by the moment.
Ginny smiled at him. She took his face into her hands and kissed his cheek. Leaning towards his ear she whispered, "There's a baby in there."
"Are you serious?" Harry asked, his voice barely audible.
"Of course I am," she replied.
"We've hardly been married three months!"
"Three months today, actually," she replied.
"Are you supposed to be showing already?"
"Well, at three months, no, you shouldn't be showing. But at seven months, yes, you should be showing."
"Seven?" Harry asked. "Seven months, how can you been seven months pregnant?"
"Simple, Harry. Seven months ago we were here with the soft music and the really good dinner that you cooked and--"
"All right I understand that part of it," Harry said. "You were pregnant before we got married?"
Ginny nodded. "I couldn't tell you, I couldn't tell anyone. I didn't even go to the doctor till right after Hermione and Ron's wedding. I couldn't risk it."
"Oh Ginny," Harry whispered and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry."
"What have you to be sorry for?" she asked.
"I'm sorry you couldn't tell anyone, that you had to do everything on your own. I'm sorry I couldn't be there."
"Harry, its all right," Ginny replied. "I didn"t want to risk it. I didn't want to add more danger to our lives."
"I know," he said. "I love you Ginny."
Ginny smiled. "I love you too, Harry. Come on, I'm hungry."
Harry laughed and let go of her. He smiled at her. "I'm going to be a dad."
"Yes you are," she replied as if to confirm what she had told him. He stood up and went into his closet to shed his uniform and Ginny went into the kitchen, absently rubbing her slightly swollen stomach.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh and get some cranberry juice!" Ginny called as Harry pulled on a pair of Muggle jeans.
"Cranberry juice?" he asked.
Ginny nodded. "The muggle kind. Magic doesn't make it the same, it tastes funny."
"Everything tastes funny to you," Harry muttered under his breath.
"Oh and get some of that banana chocolate monkey chunky stuff."
"Chunky Monkey ice cream?" Harry asked.
"Yes, thats it," Ginny replied. "Hermione had some the other day and I'm craving it."
"Cranberry juice and ice cream," Harry repeated. "Is there anything else you would like my darling?"
"Don't take that tone with me, Harry," Ginny warned, her cheerful mood suddenly turning sour.
"What tone?" he asked.
"That one," Ginny replied, pointing a finger at him. "I'm carrying your child Harry, the least you could offer is a little bit of support and sympathy."
"There was no tone intended, love," Harry said, bending to kiss her forehead. "I'll be back in a jiffy."
With a subtle pop, Harry Disapperated from their room and into the Leaky Cauldron. The pub was closed, but Tom always kept it open for people passing through.
Harry pulled his jacket around him tighter as he stepped into Muggle London. It was a chilly night for late May and he glanced at the sky, hoping there was no rain in store.
By now he knew his way around this area of town, having to come to a local convenience store at all hours of the night for the past four weeks.
Ginny was in the stage of her pregnancy which Charlie had affectionately labeled 'the psychotic stage.' He had christened the last three months in a woman's pregnancy after his wife, Caroline, who had made him go out each night for Muggle guacamole and mango juice. She insisted that together they made an awesome smoothie. So far, each and every woman that Harry saw pregnant fit this description perfectly. Penelope wanted sushi, and Percy was deathly allergic to it. Bill's wife, Elizabeth wanted the vomit flavored Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans when she was pregnant with their first son, William, and grass flavored ones when she was carrying their second son, Cameron. Harry helped Bill sort through five bags of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans once. It hadn't been very fun.
Harry didn't know much about women and pregnancies, and he certainly had nothing to base it on. He had only seen magical pregnancies; he had no clue if Muggles went through these sort of things. But he knew that Charlie blamed the magic for the weird late night cravings.
Harry stumbled into the convenience store and quickly found the ice cream and the juice.
"Cranberry juice and Chunky Monkey ice cream," Harry muttered to himself, shaking his head. "At three thirty in the morning."
As he laid his items on the counter, he realized that he didn't have Muggle money. He did a quick transfiguration in his pocket of galleons into the Muggle currency and pushed them across the counter.
"Back again, eh?" the clerk asked and Harry nodded.
"What's yer name?" the clerk asked Harry.
"Harry," he replied.
"Well Harry," the man said, reaching beneath the counter. Harry instinctively moved his hand to his wand. Voldemort had only been gone for a few months and not everything was safe.
"'ave a 'Late Night Buyer Card'," the man finished, handing Harry a blue index card.
"A what?" Harry asked, his hand relaxing off his wand.
"'Ell it seems a lot o' wives 'round this area are always craving the oddest things in the dead of night," the clerk explained. "Get at least four o' five men in 'ere a night asking for the weirdest things. The weirdest men too, some come in their bathrobes, though they're awfully fancy bathrobes, all thick and lined with silk and sometimes fur. And a 'andful don know what pounds are, try and give me big gold coins, like those chocolate ones. Well after a while they find the right monies. It must be the time of night, guess they're not thinking clearly. So the manager made this card, ya see, and when ya spend nuff, ya get money off 'o other purchases."
"Thank you," Harry said as the man finished. The clerk bagged his purchases and Harry set off for his home.
Author's Notes Pt. 2: So I know that in England, they use pounds as their currency. And I also know, well with limited knowledge, that Europe switched over to using the Euro recently. However, this part of the fic takes place in 2000, and I thought they were still using pounds back then. You know I say back then like it was a long time ago or something. Sheesh, three years ago is nothing. Anyway, if anyone is reading this and they have some insider knowledge about the currency issue, then please correct me if I am wrong. There is a small plot here, just to let you know. This is basically what happened when each of Harry and Ginny's children were born. I just started writing and this came out. I'm a bit stuck on "As Seen in A Dream" and I had hoped to break that writer's block. We'll see. Thank you very much! ~Erica Evans
