"Harry Potter, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Harry woke with a start, the forgotten cup of tea on the arm of the couch he had dozed off in clattering to the floor. Cursing under his breath, he waved his wand groggily to clean up the mess, steeling himself to face the wrath of his girlfriend's temper. What could I have possibly done now? he wondered to himself, his mind replaying the events of today in quick succession. Annual fitness testing was underway in the Auror department, and after a long day pushing his body to the brink of exhaustion, he had come home and promptly passed out in the living room. He hadn't even had the energy to mess anything up!

The sound of a crash in the kitchen brought him back to reality. Moments later, Ginny appeared in the doorway, dropping her training gear in the middle of the floor and storming towards him with a folder in her hand.

"Er...did you have a nice practice?" Harry asked timidly, immediately regretting his words as he watched the look on Ginny's face grow even darker.

"Did I have a nice practice?" Ginny asked, running her free hand through her coppery locks in frustration as she rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's attempts at small talk. "Oh, I don't know, Harry. If you call passing out in the middle of a fitness drill and spending the next hour being poked and prodded by trainers and then being dismissed from the team a nice practice, then yeah, I had a nice practice!"

Harry's eyes widened. Dismissed from the team? His mind worked double time to figure out how that could have possibly come about. Ginny was by far the strongest Chaser on the Holyhead Harpies, and one of the strongest players in the league overall. Why, just this last season she had come in second in the league in scoring!

"Why the hell would they do that?" Harry asked, reaching to take Ginny's hands in his. "Bloody hell, Gin, I'm so sorry-"

She slapped his hands aside, tossing the folder she held onto his lap. "That's why," she said, plopping down next to him on the couch and putting her head in her hands, shoulders slumping as her anger dissipated. "Just-just read it."

Harry opened the folder and saw what seemed to be a medical chart at the top of the small stack of papers. Pushing his glasses against his nose, he began to read.

Patient: Ginevra Weasley

Test: Blood test

Blood Type: O+

Result: Positive

Interpretation: Positive Pregnancy

Harry found himself re-reading the last line over and over again until he could make sense of it in his head. Ginny-Ginny was-

"You're pregnant?"

Ginny lifted her head from her hands, nodding miserably as she confirmed the words on the parchment. "Almost four months along, apparently."

Harry shook his head. He was no expert on the finer details of pregnancy, as the Dursley's didn't exactly teach him much in the ways of human reproduction (thank god), but shouldn't either of them have noticed something, anything by now? He and Ginny had always enjoyed a...healthy sex life, and he considered himself to be very well acquainted with every nook and crevice of his girlfriend's lithe body, yet he had yet to notice any sort of change to her form, nor had he seen any sort of strange cravings or unusual mood swings.

Ginny seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. "The healer I saw says every woman experiences pregnancy different. She thinks I'm carrying farther back, which is why it's not so noticeable, and my workouts have seemed to stave off the extra weight. Some women don't even know they're pregnant until they go into labor." She shuddered, closing her eyes as she thanked her lucky stars that that had not been the case with her. "Imagine if I wouldn't have passed out today-if I had kept playing-I mean, I already could have hurt the baby, I get hit with bludgers all the time, I-"

Harry scooted over and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, cutting her off with the ferocity of his embrace. "Gin, you can't beat yourself up over this. You didn't know. We didn't know."

Ginny leaned her head against his shoulder, a single tear trickling down her cheek. "How did this happen? We both agreed we weren't ready for kids, hell, we aren't even engaged, for Christ's sake. And I'm off the Harpies and I know you've been busier than ever at work lately and now you have one more thing to worry about-"

"Hang on," Harry said, cutting her off once again with a frown. "Now you're making it sound like this is your fault. If I recall correctly, we both played a part in this. This baby isn't just one more thing for me to worry about, it's our baby."

Truth be told, he was worried about what this all meant, but not in the way that Ginny feared. What the hell did he know about being a father? Yes, he always wanted a family, but that had always been a far off concept that he had never given much serious thought to. Like Ginny said, they weren't even married yet, let alone trying for a child...and yet…

He knew he wanted this baby.

The sound of his girlfriend's voice brought him back, her fingertips digging into his waist as she drew herself closer to him. "This baby will change everything, Harry, and I don't know if I'm ready. I'm scared of what this means, scared of how this will change everything...but Quidditch will be there whenever I'm ready to start playing again and I love you, and I love this baby."

She paused for a moment, looking slightly befuddled as she smiled to herself. "Is that strange? To love something that I didn't even know existed until today?"

A feeling of overwhelming happiness slowly broke through the haze of shock in Harry's brain. Slowly, he reached out to place a hand on Ginny's still flat abdomen, marveling at the fact that there was now a child growing inside. Their child. "I love it too, Gin. So much."

Ginny looped her arms around Harry's neck, shifting to straddle Harry as she looked at him with a familiar blazing look in her eyes. "I love you, Harry Potter."

And then she was kissing him senseless, pouring everything that was left unsaid into the kiss, both of their hands roaming and clutching as if the other was going to disappear at any moments. It was pure bliss, pure happiness, it was the happiness that Ginny brought him on a daily basis magnified tenfold, better than Firewhiskey, Felix Felicis, better than anything in the entire world-

And then Ginny broke it off, both of them panting heavily as she leaned her forehead against his.

"So we're doing this, Potter?" she whispered, a sly smile on her face.

"Game on, Weasley."

"You go in first."

"No, you!"

"It's your family!"

"Yours too! You bloody well know that you basically became an honorary Weasley the day you sat next to my brother on the train!"

"Honorary Weasley? Then doesn't that make you and I brother and-"

"If you finish that sentence, I swear I'll hex you to oblivion."

"Right. Sorry."

"Just open the goddamn door, we're already late!"

"Look, I'm in no hurry to get my bits hexed off-"

"What are you two hissing about?"

Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley both jumped as the front door to the Burrow flew open, revealing a suspicious looking Ron. He raised his eyebrows questioningly as he saw the nervous looks on both of their faces, crossing his arms in an eerie imitation of his mother.

"Er, nothing." Harry said hastily, avoiding Ron's eye. "Just excited to see everyone."

If possible, Ron's eyebrows went even higher. "Glad you're so excited...but if you don't get in there soon, all the food's gonna be gone, we've been waiting for you two...why're you so late anyway?"

Harry grabbed Ginny's hand, brushing past Ron and pulling her into the Burrow. "No reason."

After greeting the various Weasleys milling about and being lightly admonished by Molly because of their tardiness, Harry and Ginny finally took their places at the table outside and the meal commenced. Soon conversation was flowing a mile a minute, no one noticing the unusually quiet young couple at the end of the table.

"I saw that Gwenog brought in Matilda Sheffield from the Tornadoes!" said Ron through a mouthful of mashed potatoes, ignoring the disgusted look Hermione was shooting his way, "She's one of the best Chasers in the league-d'you reckon she'll be taking a starting spot?"

Ginny glanced at Harry, who gave an almost imperceptible shrug that Ginny understood to mean, Might as well drop the bomb now.

"Yeah-I reckon she'll be taking mine." Ginny replied flippantly, secretly reaching to grasp Harry's warm hand under the table.

There were chuckles from around the table.

"That's nonsense, Ginny. You're the top scorer in the league! Gwenog'd be mad to bench you." said George supportively, Angelina nodded vehemently by at his side.

Despite her nerves, Ginny smiled at her brother's kind words. "She's not benching me-I just didn't renew my contract."

There was a beat of silence as the Weasley family absorbed what Ginny had just said. Then, chaos.

"What do you mean you're not renewing your contract?"

"You're at the top of your game!"

"Are you going to the Cannons? Please tell me you're going to the Cannons!"

"Bloody hell, Gin-"

"Alright, you lot!" Ginny shouted over the cacophony of confusion. "That's enough!"

After everyone had quieted down, Ginny shared another look with Harry, who looked slightly queasy but still had it in him to offer a supportive smile. She rolled her eyes affectionately at her boyfriend before turning back to her family, steeling herself for yet another outburst.

"I'm not renewing my contract because I won't be able to play Quidditch safely for a while. At least for the next couple of months."

Another beat of silence as everyone tried to work out the meaning of her cryptic statement.

Finally, Harry decided to speak up. "She's pregnant, you nutters."

It was then that all hell truly broke loose.

Later, Ginny found herself pacing a hole in the floor of her childhood room at the Burrow. "I don't know where the hell they think they get off! It's not as if they didn't know we were living together! I'm 22 years old, yet I'm still convinced they see me as the little girl with pigtails playing with SheWitch dolls!"

Harry grabbed her hand from his spot on her bed, interrupting her diatribe and pulling her down beside him.

"You're their baby sister, Gin," he said soothingly as she nestled her head in the crook of his neck, sliding her arms around his waist as stroked the coppery hair cascading down her back. "They're always going to be overprotective. And your mum will come around, you know she's always been a bit old fashioned."

Ginny sighed heavily, taking in the comforting scent of Harry as she brought herself even closer to him. "I know, and it's the reaction I was expecting, to be honest. But still, I just want everyone to be as happy as I am. As happy as we are," she corrected, smiling softly as she ran a gentle finger down the plane of his cheek.

Harry caught her hand, bringing it against his lips and kissing it gently. "Like I said, they'll come around. Of course, your brothers might curse me to oblivion for defiling their sister outside of the sanctity of marriage," he added, a cheeky grin on his handsome face, "But after Voldemort, I think I should be able to handle a couple of angry Weasleys."

Ginny snorted. "Please, you looked like you were going to wet yourself during dinner. You don't stand a chance."

"Oi! Watch it, Weasley!"

Ginny snorted, lapsing into silence as Harry continued to stroke her hair, both of them determinedly ignoring the boisterous voices sounding from downstairs. After another moment, Ginny giggled again.

"Did you see the look on Ron's face?"

Harry nodded, his green eyes sparkling in amusement. "I thought he was going to throw up right there at the table. Although, I will say that George was giving him a run for his money in the shock department."

Ginny shook her head, leaning into Harry. "My brothers are delusional. You sure you want to be a part of this family, Potter?"

"My fate was sealed the moment I sat next to Ron on the Hogwarts Express. Too late to back out, I'm afraid."

Ginny raised a brow. "Oh really?"

Harry gave a solemn nod. "Of course, it doesn't help my case that I accidentally knocked up the most attractive member of the Weasley family. I highly doubt she'd let me go after that. Child support, and whatnot."

Ginny laughed, swinging a leg over Harry's thighs to straddle him. "You better watch it, Potter. We both know I'm the real catch in this relationship."

Harry leaned forward, a cheeky grin on his face as he began to kiss Ginny's neck, trailing upwards until he was right by her ear. Ginny shivered as she felt his warm breath ruffle her hair.

"Good thing I'm such a good seeker, then," he whispered.

Ginny groaned. "That was so lame, Harry."

And then, before he could come up with an equally lame response, her lips were on his, and all witty banter was forgotten.

"Hey Ginny, Mum wants to-"

Harry and Ginny sprung apart as the door banged open, a wide-eyed Ron looking on at the two of them with open disgust.

"Bloody hell, Ron," Harry mumbled under his breath, smoothing his clothes as Ginny rolled her eyes from her spot on Harry's lap. Ron's face was becoming redder by the second.

"Oi Mum! I think they're trying to make another baby!"

"Rita Skeeter thinks I'm in it for the galleons," said Ginny, as she lounged on the couch using Harry's lap as a pillow while thumbing through the Daily Prophet. "Says there's not way that the Chosen One would ever want to be tied down to a-ooh, nice use of adjectives-a "decidedly unfeminine jock with a nasty temper to match her even nastier hair color."'

Harry snorted, fiddling with the ends of the said hair. "Hmm, I liked the part where she brought in an expert to dissect whether I could even, er, how did she put it-" he snatched the paper from Ginny's hands, scanning the text, "oh, right-'supply the goods' to create a kid, what with how many times I've been cursed and all. Says it must not be mine"

Ginny sat up, setting down the paper and running a hand over the small swell of her stomach. "She's right," she sighed dramatically, clutching her abdomen, "you're not the father, Harry! It's-it's-Cormac McLaggen!"

"First he breaks my skull, now my heart?" Harry asked, a look of faux-shock on his handsome face, "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to kill him, Gin."

Ginny giggled. "He doesn't stand a chance against The Chosen One, does he?"

Harry wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, peppering her neck and jaw with kisses before stopping at her ear.

"Not a chance." he whispered

"Harry, dear, just when are you going to marry Ginny?"

Harry choked on his pumpkin juice, setting the cup down on the counter beside him as he tried to breathe once again. Ginny shot a thunderous look in her mother's direction.

"Mum, are you seriously still going on about that?"

Molly shrugged, a look of faux innocence on her face. "I just figured that with a child on the way, why not get married to tidy things up?"

Ginny rolled her eyes as Harry finally rid his airway of the offending juice.

"Well, Mrs. Weasley, we just figured with the baby we're going to be busy enough as it is, wedding planning takes a lot of time, you know-"

Molly waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, you two wouldn't even have to worry about a thing. I could take care of it, all you would have to do is show up!"

"I don't fancy the thought of looking like a balloon in all of my wedding pictures, Mum." Ginny said decidedly. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, we're getting married-just not until after the baby."

They had discussed marriage at length for the past year, even before the baby was on the way. While they were both certain that they were each other's endgame, they also agreed that there was no reason to rush. Couples in the wizarding world tended to get married much earlier than those in the muggle world-Ron and Hermione had been married for a year already, and Neville was marrying Hannah Abbott in a month's time-but with both of their careers demanding long and grueling hours from them, they figured that marriage could wait. Harry and Ginny were perfectly happy living together in their quaint London flat as boyfriend and girlfriend. They were young, they loved each other, and that was enough.

Of course, the baby changed things slightly. They still weren't in any particular hurry, but it definitely sped up the timeline for them. Ginny wanted to wait until the baby was born and they had gotten the hang of the whole parenting thing before they officially tied the knot, and Harry was just happy to go along with whatever she desired.

Molly obviously didn't share the same sentiments. "Ginny, dear, you're so small still, I'm sure the pictures would look fine! No one would know you were six months along, I'm sure we can find a dress that will disguise-"

"Mum, please!" Ginny huffed, running a hand absently over the growing curve of her stomach as she tried to keep her temper under lock, "We'll get married when we're bloody well ready! Alright?"

Molly looked like she was about to argue, but Harry cut her off before she could pick up steam. "Mrs. Weasley, I promise I'm going to marry your daughter. That's always been the plan. We're just going to do it on our time. Besides," he added with a small smile, sharing a look with Ginny, "I'd like for the little one to be there. Make it a family affair, y'know?"

Molly couldn't help but smile at the sincerity of her son-in-law's words, and decided to let the subject rest for the time being. "Alright, then. If that's what you really want."

"It is. It really is."

"Ahh, how's my illegitimate godchild?" Ron asked, cracking open a butterbeer and ignoring the scathing look Harry shot his way.

"Your godchild is ready to make an appearance any day now, at least I hope so for Ginny's sake. And watch your mouth, I am still at perfect liberty to change my mind, you know."

Ron waved him, taking a swig from his bottle before speaking again. "Who're you gonna get? Dean? Nah, mate, you're stuck with me."

The two men drank in companionable silence for a moment as they watched their better halves sort through baby clothes with Fleur at the kitchen table. Harry smiled as he watched Ginny direct the tiny garments into corresponding containers with her wand, her other hand resting on her swollen stomach. To Harry, she had never looked more beautiful.

"This is all so weird."

Harry tore his eyes from his girlfriend, fixing Ron with a quizzical glance. "Yeah? How so?"

Ron shrugged, pulling at his collar uncomfortably. "Well, you like...made a human. From nothing, y'know? Poof!"

Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's childish incredulity. "Wasn't all me, mate. Your sister played a big part in it as well…"

Ron blanched, shaking his head. "No need to finish that thought."

"Ron, I've been with your sister for six years. You must've gotten use to the idea of us by now."

"I'm used to seeing you hold hands and kiss and all that," Ron said, wrinkling his nose as if he smelled something rotten, "but not used to the idea that-that you-y'know-"

Harry raised a brow. "Made a baby? Ron, you and Hermione've been married for a year and dating for even longer, you must know how that works-"

Ron waved him off, conceding defeat before Harry could finish that train of thought. "I know how it works, git, but she's my sister. The irrational brother half of my brain feels as though I ought to clobber you for looking at her, much less for getting her pregnant outside of marriage...but the best friend part of me can't believe that my mate is about to become a father."

Harry smiled softly. "Me neither. It is a bit mad, I suppose."

"Seems like just yesterday you were a scrawny, spotty git in glasses," Ron said with a pensive look on his face. "Now you're a slightly less scrawny, spotty git in glasses-with a baby on the way."

"Oi! You can hardly call me scrawny anymore, Auror training has seen to that!"

Ron snorted at his friend's offended look, patting his shoulder in a patronizing manner. "Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night."

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend, taking another long swig of his drink. After a moment of comfortable silence, Ron spoke up again.

"You're going to be a great dad, I reckon. I know you're worried and all but...you'll do a bang-up job. You and Ginny are both gonna be great."

Harry looked at his red-headed friend, touched by this moment of uncharacteristic seriousness. "Thanks, Ron."

There was another moment of silence. "Of course, the kid will probably like me better. I'm gonna be the best damn godfather this world has ever seen."

"Yeah, when the kid starts cursing like a sailor, I'll know who to blame."

Ron grinned. "Like I said-best godfather ever."

"You've got this, Gin, you're almost there!"

He tried not to wince as Ginny held his hand in a bone-crushing grip, a low stream of expletives spilling from her mouth at a constant pace. Harry couldn't help but be impressed at his girlfriend's creativity-he would never think to string some of those swear words together.

The healer disappeared for a moment behind the small partition hiding Ginny's lower half, popping back up with a smile on her face. "Alright, Ginny, you're ready to push. Just a few more minutes and you'll be holding your baby."

Ginny let out an exhausted sigh, her sweaty hair forming fiery tendrils around her face. "Goddammit, Potter," she muttered, "this is all your fault."

Despite the stress of the current situation, Harry couldn't help but smile. "Yeah? I thought we agreed that we both played an equal part in this?"

Ginny fixed him with a glare that would make a lesser man shrink with fear. "Next time, you're doing this."

"I'll see what I can do."

The next few minutes passed by in a blur of curse words and murmured encouragements, blood, sweat and tears...and then, the shrill wail of a baby.

Their son.

After watching the nurses clean up the squalling infant and cutting the cord with a shaky Severing charm, Harry found himself sitting at Ginny's side as their child was placed in Ginny's arms.

"Oh, Harry…" Ginny exhaled, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks as she stared down at their son. Harry felt tears of his own rolling down his cheeks as he looked at the love of his life-sweaty and exhausted and mere minutes removed from the strain of labor yet still looking beautiful-holding their child. Ginny Weasley had given the little orphan boy that lived under the cupboard under the stairs the greatest gift he had ever been given.

At last, Harry Potter had a family.

"I love you," Harry choked out, pressing his forehead against hers and feeling as though he were about burst, "I love both of you so much."

Later that night, after passing James Sirius Potter around to various Weasleys as they cooed over the wrinkled little creature, Harry and Ginny were finally alone again.

Well, almost.

"I still can't believe that he's ours," Harry whispered, running a gentle finger down his son's soft cheek. He already had a sprouting of raven hair, poor kid, and a pair of lungs that could put a banshee to shame. While George had said he looked like a wrinkled potato, Harry couldn't help but disagree. His child was perfect.

Ginny smiled, resting her head on her boyfriend's shoulder as they stared down at the new life that they had created. "No take backs, Potter. We're stuck with this little guy."

They were both silent for a moment, watching the slow rise and fall of James' chest as he slept in his mother's arms.

And then-

"Hey Ginny?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

For completing me.