Ginny waddled into the kitchen, plopped onto a chair, and turned a bleary eyed look of discomfort on her husband (who did have the good sense to be behind the stove cooking a nice big breakfast). "I think they're actually double the size they used to be," she complained, holding up one of her swollen feet for inspection.
"I'm sorry-"
"It's alright. Not your fault. It's Baby's fault." She rubbed her stomach fondly, but gave it an exasperated look. "That's right Mister Man, I'm onto your games. Not even born yet and you're already a headache-all that morning sickness and the poorly timed ridiculous cravings, and don't think I don't know you're turning somersaults on my bladder. I swear Harry, this one's going to be more trouble than Fred and George combined."
"Maybe we ought to name him after one of your brothers then."
Ginny reached behind her to squeeze his hand (since she damn well wasn't getting on her swollen feet again until she had to). "I've told you Harry, I like the idea of naming him after your dad. And much as I love my brothers, they've all got horrible names."
"Well we could make the middle name Fred."
"James Sirius sounds loads better than James Fred. Besides, I had six brothers. If I name a baby after one of them, I'll have to keep having babies until I've gotten them all, and I have no intention of being pregnant for as much of my life as my mum was. Thanks for offering though. I think Mum would cry if she knew we'd thought of it."
"Speaking of your mum, she sent another present." Harry turned off the burner and went to get a package from the counter. Ginny opened it while Harry made up plates of pancakes for the both of them.
"It's another jumper, three more blankets and two sets of booties. Honestly, Baby's got more Weasley jumpers than I do and I've been getting them annually my whole life!"
"What's on this one?"
"A baby lion. But no pressure, right?" Ginny laughed. "I suppose he does come from a long line of Gryffindors."
"On both sides eve," Harry added.
Ginny stabbed at her pancake, looking a bit resentful. "She's knitted an entire winter wardrobe for Baby, but she hasn't sent her poor daughter with the huge swollen feet a single set of slippers."
"Did you ask for slippers?"
"Really Harry, that's not the point."
They ate in silence for a few contented minutes before Ginny remembered something. "Oh, I ran into Ron the other day at the shop."
"Oh yeah? I haven't seen him for a few days. How's he doing?"
"Going a bit stir crazy from the look of it," Ginny said. Ron was between jobs at the moment, while Hermione was pulling in more than enough galleons to support the both of them with her position at the Ministry. This was a bit of a sore spot for the couple, and a source of amusement for Harry and Ginny.
"I can't believe he hasn't found work yet," Harry said, shaking his head.
"Hermione doesn't think he's trying very hard."
"Course he is. He doesn't like being a housewife."
Ginny giggled. "I invited him round to clip coupons with me. He didn't like it very much, in fact I thought he might jinx me. Course, I've got the protection of being his pregnant baby sister and his best friend's wife, if his jinxes were actually anything to worry about."
"So after you emasculated him, did you say anything else?"
"Yes…he's bringing Hermione over for dinner tonight. We need to work on her biological clock again. I was thinking I could sign the thank you cards for the baby shower gifts tonight while they're here. That way she'll see all the cute little clothes and toys again."
"Hermione's going to see right through that," Harry pointed out.
"Well it still might work. Come on Harry, Hermione's turned into a complete career-witch. We've got to get her on board with having children soon if we want our kids to have anyone decent to play with."
"What about Victoire and Teddy? They're decent."
"Teddy's going to be finished with school before Baby even starts, and Victoire will be nearly done."
"Don't get me wrong Ginny, I'd be thrilled if Ron and Hermione started having kids along with us. But it's got to be their choice. They'll only resent us if we start pushing them. If you keep pressuring Hermione like this, she'll get her tubes tied just to spite you."
"She'll what?" Ginny asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Er…guess that's just a muggle thing then." But before Harry could explain they heard a muffled scream and a thud from out in the yard. Harry dashed outside to investigate, Ginny following after at a somewhat slower pace.
"Oof!" went Teddy Lupin, the source of the noise, as he jumped down from a tree and landed in the grass. His hair (strawberry blond at the moment) was sticking up, peppered with an assortment of leaves and twigs, he was well dusted with dirt, and his palms were scraped. He regarded the Potters with a gap toothed smile.
"Hi God-Dad! Hi Mrs. P.! Guess what I just got?"
"Your first broomstick?" Ginny guessed, since it was still sticking out of the tree.
"Yeah!" Teddy exclaimed, looking ecstatic. "Grams said I could come over and show it to you, but I'm not very good on it yet. Can you help me get it down?"
While Harry got the broom down with a summoning charm, Ginny asked where Teddy's grandmother was. Then Andromeda Tonks burst into the yard holding a stitch in her side, red in the face and panting. "Theodosius Remus Lupin!" She yelled, and he meekly hid himself behind Ginny. "Didn't I tell you to keep your feet on the ground? Didn't I tell you we were walking to visit the Potters?"
"S-sorry Grams. I just got excited. I mean, my first broom!" He perked up again at the thought, edging back out again from behind Ginny, and Andromeda fondly ruffled his hair, which had gone white while she was shouting. Andromeda rarely managed to stay very angry towards her grandson, though he did give her many opportunities to practice.
Harry frowned down at the broomstick in his hands. "I thought I was going to buy him his first broom on his tenth birthday." He felt a bit cheated. He'd been intending to take Teddy out for a special daytrip to Diagon Alley so they could pick out the broom together. He and Andromeda had agreed that ten was a good age for something more serious than a toy broomstick, and Harry was rather hoping to get Teddy whatever was most current in the firebolt series. Harry not-so-secretly hoped his godson would want the same kind of broom that Harry's own godfather had gotten him.
Andromeda sighed. "I'm sorry Harry, that was the plan. Can't say I'm crazy about my seven year old grandson having a professional grade racing broom, even if it is second hand a little old. But I didn't give it to him and I couldn't take it away. You see how excited he is."
Excited was a bit of an understatement. Teddy was hopping up and down while he described every little detail about it to Ginny, as though she'd never ridden on a broom herself. His hair changed color twice while he was passionately demonstrating some kind of movement with wide, flailing arm motions.
"Who gave it to him?" Harry asked, though as he spoke he noticed a few marks on the broom handle, and he felt his stomach lurch. "Oh no. Malfoy gave my godson his old broom?"
"What?" Ginny asked, interrupting Teddy, who petered into silence to watch the adults with wide, curious eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure! This is his Nimbus 2001, the one he flew against me when we were at Hogwarts! See, this here is from my teeth when he rammed me!" Harry pointed to a little chink in the handle. "And this one's from my cleat, and this is-"
"Alright dear, we get it. You and this broom go way back," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.
Harry turned to Andromeda, furious. "What business does Draco Malfoy have giving my godson his first broom?"
"Did you forget," Andromeda started in a very cold tone of voice that silenced Harry instantly. "That Draco Malfoy is my nephew and Teddy's cousin?"
"I…" Harry felt his stomach give another lurch, and wished he hadn't eaten all those pancakes. "Yes, I did. Entirely."
"Come on Teddy. Let's go into the kitchen and have some ice cream," Ginny said, herding the boy from the yard.
There was an awkward pause. Harry tapped his fingers against the broom handle, thinking through his words carefully. He knew he was walking all over a loaded subject. Frankly, except for Teddy, Harry and Ginny avoided talking about Andromeda's family with her as much as possible. There were just too many awkward things that could be said.
"I'm really sorry Andromeda. I wasn't thinking, I guess. I didn't realize you spoke to the Malfoys."
She let out a slow breath. "It's alright Harry. I…I didn't used to after all, so why should you know that? It's just…after the war, when Cissie lost so much and came so close to losing as much as I have…" Andromeda's breath hitched, and she took a moment to compose herself before continuing. Harry waited in respectful silence.
"She…she rethought her priorities and decided that she valued her family above all else. She reached out to me, even though it was hard for her to do it, and I let her."
Harry nodded. "I suppose of the lot of them, your sister was the least horrible." He hadn't forgotten the fact that Narcissa had lied to an immensely powerful legilimens and saved Harry's life.
Andromeda glanced off into the distance. "She's a sight better than my other sister, long may she burn in hell."
After another tense moment Andromeda faced Harry with a smile that was a little too tight to be entirely cheerful. "I'm sorry Draco stole your thunder, but you know, this broom is second hand, and rather old even if it is in good condition. You'll still get to buy Teddy is first new broom."
"Promise?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Of course. I didn't want to have to drop that kind of gold myself," Andromeda joked. They both knew full well that she smothered her only grandchild with gifts just short of the point of making him unbearably spoiled. "And I'd like you to be the one to teach him how to fly."
"Course I'll teach him how to fly. If Malfoy teaches him he won't have any hope of making it onto a house team. And I intend to do everything I can to make Teddy quidditch captain."
"I think I'll settle for him scoring top marks on his OWLs and NEWTs," Andromeda said.
The two were laughing when they strode into the kitchen together, much to Ginny's relief from the look of it. Teddy's face and hands were coated with chocolate ice cream, and she was trying to wipe them off while he squirmed away from her, trying to shovel more into his mouth.
"Are you done being cross with each other?" Teddy asked.
"We were just having a discussion honey," Andromeda said, smiling affectionately at him. "Everything's fine."
"Your gram's just given me permission to teach you how to fly," Harry announced.
"Wicked! Can we start now?" Teddy eagerly shot up from the table, giving Ginny the opportunity to pounce and wipe down his sticky hands and face.
"N-now?" Andromeda faltered.
Harry looked at her uncertainly. "We'll be careful."
"It's okay Mrs. Tonks, Hermione's coming over in a bit. I'm sure she can heal up any bumps and scrapes our boys acquire," Ginny assured her.
"Oh, alright then." Andromeda didn't look happy about it, but she did acquiesce.
"Yes!" Teddy jumped in the air, then grabbed his broomstick from Harry and raced back into the yard. Harry dashed off to get his own broom, exuding a very childlike kind of glee himself.
Smiling, Ginny started clearing up the dishes. Andromeda helped, and then the two sat down at the table with some tea, Ginny letting out a slight groan as she did so.
"Urgh…when I'm no longer the spitting image of a beached whale, I'd rather like to give Teddy a lesson as well."
Harry went racing past just then with his firebolt, wearing his old Gryffindor quidditch team sweatshirt.
Andromeda smiled. "I think Teddy would like that."
"Mm. Harry's going to make him think he ought to be a seeker, but he's built more like a chaser…"
"Er, Ginny, he is seven you know. Puberty's still a ways off."
"I'm just saying, he'd be brilliant playing chaser for Gryffindor."