Written for QLFC Round #1
Team: Wigtown Wanderers
Position: Chaser 1
Prompt: Harry/Ginny (Chaser 2's NOTP)
Additional Prompts: (object) broken wine glass, (quote) The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count., (phrase) over the moon.
Words: 1219
Title: the choices we make (cannot be run from)
Beta'ed by: Kage Kitsune, CUtopia, and VanillaAshes. Thanks y'all!
The Wizarding World knew very well that Harry Potter, the Man Who Conquered, had found his one true love in Ginevra Weasley, the seventh child of a seventh son. It was easy to see that they were absolutely over the moon for each other. Their wedding had been hugely publicised, the couple's steps dogged by reporters since before their engagement had been announced. It annoyed them both greatly, though once Ginny was on the professional Quidditch circuit, things normalised for her somewhat.
Still, it was a burden that their new marriage didn't need, though both weathered it quite admirably. Until the incident.
It was a normal evening, Harry was playing host to Ron and Hermione for dinner. He enjoyed the freedom to make an elaborate meal of his choice and then sitting down to eat it with his loved ones. What had once begun as a novel pleasure that had never faded, and was now something of a weekly tradition. Usually, Ginny would join them.
On this particular occasion, Ginny was on a training rotation with the Harpies, and wasn't meant to be home for days.
"- and then he had the gall to tell me that my department had to submit another request! As if we hadn't already followed the ridiculous procedures already set in place," Hermione fumed.
"No use getting worked up over it," Ron replied. "You know you can't rely on that bloody ferret to change his ways."
Harry nodded in agreement and Hermione opened her mouth to retort – and the floo flared green.
All three froze before relaxing as Ginny stepped out.
"Gin! Didn't think you'd be able to make this one," Ron said happily. "Come have a seat, here pull up a glass."
With that, he handed her his empty wine glass before snatching up the bottle to pour.
"Not tonight, Ron," Ginny replied tersely. She was clutching her overnight bag so tightly Harry feared for her hand. "I have to speak to Harry right away."
"Right," he replied, looking between them. "We'll just be on our way then, shall we?"
With that he bustled a protesting Hermione out the floo, and Ginny sealed it after them. Harry and Ginny stared at each other for a long moment, the tension in the room so palpable Harry feared it might swallow him if he didn't speak.
"Ginny, is something wrong?"
She gave a soft cry before throwing herself at him, dropping her bag and the wine glass. Neither of them paid any mind to the shattered glass adorning the floor as Harry caught her up in an embrace. Ginny was already shaking with the strength of her sobs as an alarmed Harry soothed her.
After what seemed like an age, her tears turned to soft hiccoughs and Harry guided her to their room, sitting her on the edge of the bed.
Ginny looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes before pulling him down to join her and taking a steadying breath.
"During the medical check at training, they found something," she said and Harry's heart stuttered in his chest as he looked at her in horror.
"None of that," Ginny reassured him. "I'm not ill."
"But you've just said- "
"I know what I said! Just… just let me finish."
Harry swallowed heavily and nodded, taking her hands in his.
"So they found something. Our medicals are supposed to be confidential, but Greene overheard the results and blabbed about it in the stadium to the others, the ninny."
She locked eyes with him as she continued, squeezing his hands with more force than was strictly pleasant.
"There were reporters in the stands for a publicity op, so it will be in all the papers by morning."
"What will be in the papers?" Harry asked, unable to contain himself.
"I'm pregnant, Harry," she said, tears threatening to spill over once again.
His eyes widened and he froze as her words washed over him. Pregnant. She was pregnant. He was going to be… a dad? Minutes ticked by as she watched him process the information.
"Harry?"
"Mmm," he said, too dazed for words.
"I didn't want it to be this way," she began, and his world snapped back to focus abruptly.
"You don't want the baby," he said, hurt, and began to withdraw his hands from hers. She tugged them back into her lap and glared at him venomously.
"That isn't what I said! Honestly, Harry." Her voice softened as she continued. "You're my husband and I love you. I want a family with you."
"Then, what- "
"I wanted more time for us, Harry! I wanted more travel, and fun, and for us to get what we wanted from our careers before this happened. Before we settled down to become parents and produce the perfect little family that everyone expects from us!"
Crying once more, Ginny looked at him imploringly as she continued.
"But now the papers will be all over it and any choice we might have made, any say we might have had in the matter is gone! And this will be our lives. This is it, now."
Harry understood then what she meant. Ginny loved him, of that he had no doubt. She was simply afraid of being trapped into a life she didn't want. She was afraid of being relegated to childminding and housewifery as he traipsed around as an auror and lost sight of who she was. Ginny, who had grown up in a house with six brothers and money that never stretched quite far enough, was afraid of becoming a version of her mother that would be measured up and found wanting.
It was with that insight that Harry answered her at last.
"Ginny, I would never ask that of you," he began. "If this isn't the time you feel is right, you can make that choice and I'll support you, and damn those who say otherwise!"
"You would wait?" She asked tremulously.
"Of course I would! Either way, it won't be what you think, Gin. You don't have to stay at home if that doesn't suit you. You can keep your Quidditch career, or find something you love even more. I'll stay home if you don't like the idea of nannies, or we could wait ten years and just adopt," he said.
She gaped at the stubborn tilt to his chin, before a small laugh escaped her.
"Why Harry Potter, I do believe you would fight the whole world for me," she said.
"Yes," he replied simply. He examined her tear stained face, her tousled hair, her work-roughened hands. "I would fight the whole world for you. To keep this. Not for only you, but for us."
She sighed softly as his green eyes flitted over her, as he looked at her and found everything he had ever wanted.
How silly of her it had been, to think that this man would ever deny her anything. How ridiculous it was to think that they would have to cater to the whims of societal standards. Harry didn't care about being normal. Harry cared about her, about them.
Her choice seemed so much easier now than it had during Quidditch practice.
"Harry, you're going to be a dad," she said, "and I'm going to be a mum."
Her choice was made.