The sound of the floo flaring to life downstairs jerked Harry out of the deep sleep he'd been enjoying. Immediately he pulled out his wand and slowly made his way to his bedroom door. He cast a silencing spell on his feet and crept down the hallway, stopping near the landing at the top of the stairs. The floo flared again and Harry swore under his breath.

"Harry, are you awake?" He heard Hermione's voice call out from the sitting room and he sighed with relief.

"I'm awake!" He called out. He stumbled down the steps, wiping sleep from his eyes as he went. He definitely wasn't prepared for what happened next.

"Bloody hell!" Ron shouted as he entered the sitting room.

Two large hands grasped Harry's arms and a blur of red followed as his best friend planted a big, wet kiss squarely on his lips. Ron then followed it up with one on each cheek. Harry tried to pull away, but was swept up into a famous Weasley-style hug. For a moment he thought he felt his feet leave the floor.

"Good morning to you too," Harry grinned. His expression sobered as he turned toward Hermione. "Sorry Hermione, but Ron and I are running away together."

Hermione put the back of her hand to her forehead. "O, whatever shall I do," she moaned.

Ron was completely ignoring their banter. "I can't believe it," he whispered, shaking Harry's arms roughly. "My best friend is a Harpy! I thought it was a big deal when you defeated Voldemort, but this Harry," he paused and stared directly into Harry's eyes, "this is huge."

"Leave it to you Ron to put Quidditch above the safety and security of the world," Harry chuckled.

"Quidditch is his world," snorted Hermione. She took a seat on one of the chairs and gave Harry a pointed look. "Care to explain what happened? Just the other day you were still Head Auror and you seemed happy. Why the sudden change?"

Harry sighed and pulled away from Ron before plopping onto the sofa. "Because I needed a change. This is going to sound incredibly stupid, but being an Auror just doesn't thrill me like it used to. Most crime is white collar now and I spend more time doing paperwork and going to court then I do tracking down dark wizards."

Hermione reached out and squeezed his hand. "But you knew it would be like that eventually."

"I know, but I thought once things quieted down I would have a family to keep me busy. Now the boys are at school and Lily's with Ginny." He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. "Quidditch just seemed like a fun thing to do. It all started as a laugh really. I was at the Leaky one night and Gwenog came in. We drank a few rounds and one thing lead to another."

Ron's jaw dropped. "Harry, did you sleep with Gwenog Jones? Because if you did you would be three times my hero right now."

"No!" Harry exclaimed. "I did not sleep with Gwenog. I just meant that we started talking about Quidditch and things. She told me that she was going to be short a Seeker, I mentioned that I used to play Seeker and suddenly I had a tryout scheduled with the Harpies. I think it will be good for me and the boys. Quidditch has a demanding schedule, but at least it's a schedule. As an auror, I was in and out of here all the time, most of the time without notice. I had to work late so many nights. Maybe if I hadn't been so busy all the time…" His voice trailed off and Hermione gave him a concerned look.

"That's not the reason she left you," Hermione assured him. "Maybe that was one of the reasons, but you know it wasn't the only one. You two were just never right for each other."

Ron nodded his head in agreement. "Like oil and water mate. I don't understand it myself. You two seemed so close."

"We weren't," Harry admitted. "We tried to be after the war, but we were always just hanging by a thread."

"You didn't do this to hurt her, did you?" Hermione questioned and Harry sent her a glare. "Well, you know she always wanted to be a Harpy and now here you are, the first male Harpy ever and starting Seeker. It just seems a little planned."

"It is a little Slytherin of you," added Ron.

Harry stared at his hands. Did he do it on purpose? It didn't seem like he had meant to do anything at all, everything had just fallen into place. He supposed a lot of people would think he was trying to hurt her, perhaps Ginny even thought he'd done it to hurt her.

"Maybe I should talk to her," he suggested. "I don't want her to think I did it on purpose."

Ron grimaced. "Not the best idea. It will probably just make things worse."

Harry looked to Hermione; she always had the best answers to life's problems.

"I think Ron's right," she agreed. "Best leave it for now. Perhaps she'll come for Christmas and you can talk to her then. And I want you to really try to talk to her, not just fight with her."

"She always starts it," argued Harry and Hermione pursed her lips tightly.

"She may start it, but you like to stoke the flames. I think that is the biggest problem you two had. You've both been fighting all your lives so you think any kind of conflict is a battle."

dSz

"Ginny, are you in here?" Victor questioned the seemingly empty library.

A head shot out from amongst the shelves. "I'm back here, just looking for a book."

Victor made his way toward his wife and noticed that there were multiple books strewn across one of the desks. They all seemed to be albums full of photographs. Some old, some new, but most of them appeared to be taken at the Weasley's.

"What are you doing in here?" He asked as he came up behind her.

"Looking for a spell," she explained. "I want to make copies of all my photo albums."

Victor scanned the shelf in front of her and then reached around to grab a large, dusty book.

"It should be in here."

Ginny flipped through the book as she made her way back to the desk full of albums. Victor grabbed one and began looking at the different moving pictures. One caught his eye immediately. It was Harry Potter standing next to James and Albus. Harry was smiling confidently, while James grinned in a cocky sort of way. Albus would smile shyly at the camera before looking up at his father and brother with adoring eyes. Even though James' hair was red and not black, all three seemed like different versions of the same person.

"I can't believe how much James and Albus look like their father," he commented aloud.

"They look alike and act alike," Ginny agreed. "Well, they don't exactly act alike. I think James is more like his namesake and Albus is more like Harry. I always hoped when I had a little girl she would be just like me."

"She does look like you. You both have the same hair and the same freckles." Victor leaned over and kissed her on the nose. "I have always loved your freckles."

Ginny blushed. "She does look a lot like me." Her grin turned to a frown.

"What is wrong?" Victor questioned as Ginny slowly sat down on the floor. Victor followed her and reached out to take her hand.

"She's nothing like me," explained Ginny. "I always wanted to give her everything, all the things that I never had, and now she's nothing like me at all. I know you think she's spoiled and perhaps she is, but I just want her to be happy."

Victor nodded. "I understand. Every parent wants their child to have an easier life. But you had a hard life and you were happy, weren't you?"

A sour look crossed Ginny's face. "I was never happy," she admitted without a trace of guilt. "I love my family, but I was never happy. We never had enough of anything, when there were so many other families who had so much of everything. I was angry all the time at my parents for having so many children, even though if they hadn't, then I wouldn't be here. I always felt as if I had to fight for everything."

"You did and it made you strong," Victor agreed. "That's another thing I love about you, but you need to realize that not everything has to be a fight."

"I know, but I feel like I have to stick up for myself."

"You feel like that with Harry?"

Ginny nodded and gripped his hand tightly. "I feel like I have to fight him because he's so powerful. He's powerful in so many ways and I feel like I can't keep up. He has the whole world at his feet and he has my boys completely enamored with him, while they hate me."

Victor pulled her into a one-armed hug and kissed the top of her head.

"O my sweet, you are so wrong. Those boys love you just as much they love their father, but they are teenagers and they are angry."

"Angry at me," Ginny interrupted. "They think I betrayed Harry."

"You did," Victor said bluntly. "But that is in the past now and you have to let it go. You both did and said many hurtful things, but now those times are over. It's time to move on. I think staying with your family for a couple days over the Christmas holiday would be a good start."

"But they hate me," groaned Ginny. "Harry is like a son to them and I hurt him so badly. I did the most evil thing that I could have done and then I left him and the boys. My family can't forgive that."

"I think they forgave it a long time ago, but you haven't forgiven yourself. You have to stop hating yourself before you drive everyone away."

Ginny pushed up from the floor and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. Victor waited for her response. He knew she would either say yes or no. Ginny never said things like 'I'll think on it'. She was very decisive that way, another thing Victor loved.

"You're right, we should go. I'll write to Mum and see what their plans are for the holidays."

dSz

James sat in the Gryffindor common room, staring into the fireplace. The flames flickered and flared. It was late, so the room was empty. Usually James would be fast asleep by this time of night, but a strange dream had disturbed him and now he couldn't go back to his bed.

In the dream he'd been very young and Albus had been even younger. They'd both been wearing their winter coats and pants. His mother had decided to take them to the play park down the road, where there was a gigantic sledding hill. James was so excited that he could hardly sit still. Even Albus, who was only around two at the time, had seemed excited about the trip. Then quite suddenly, everything had been ruined.

"Where are you taking the boys?" His father's voice questioned from out of nowhere. James looked up to see his father's head floating in the fireplace, an angry scowl on his face.

"O Harry," his mother gasped, placing a hand on her chest. "You scared the life out of me. I was just taking the boys to do some sledding down at the park."

His father gave her an annoyed look. "I told you I don't like you taking them down there. It isn't safe with Death Eaters still roaming about."

His mother sighed before shooing him and Albus toward the kitchen. "Watch your brother," she said and James had nodded.

As soon as they were in the kitchen he'd sat Albus down on the floor and told him to be very quiet. James snuck to the door and pressed his cheek against the wood. He knew he wasn't supposed to listen in on conversations, but he wanted to know if they were still going sledding.

"You can't keep us locked away here forever," said his mother.

"I just want them to be safe. Don't you care about their safety?"

"I want them to be happy, not just safe! We weren't always safe."

There was silence for a moment. "I won't have my sons put into danger."

"They're my sons too and I am taking them sledding!"

"Why do you always have to fight with me," his father shouted and James flinched. He hated it when his parents raised their voices. "Can't you ever just listen to me? You never take anything seriously. Dolohov and Nott escaped capture for the second time. They are dangerous and they have a fairly good idea of the general location of my home. Doesn't that worry you in the slightest?"

"What do you want to do Harry? Shall we go under Fidelius. It worked so well for your parents?"

Another minute passed in silence and his father must have said something too quiet to be heard through the door because a moment later his mother said, "Fine, we'll play in the backyard." James had cried at the injustice of it all. Then Albus had started to cry and then his mum came in to the kitchen and she was crying too.

James tried to shake his head to get rid of the memory of the dream, but it stayed lodged in place. It was hard to remember what his father had been like back then. That man seemed to be completely different from the laidback man his father was now. Now he couldn't imagine his life without his dad.

"Can't sleep?" A timid voice questioned. He looked up to see Rose Weasley standing at the bottom of the staircase leading to the girls' dorm. A long, Gryffindor colored robe was wrapped around her tiny frame.

"Bad dream," he replied. "You?"

She held out a large book. "I thought I'd do some reading and I didn't want to bother anyone upstairs."

James nodded and motioned for her to sit next to him on the sofa.

"Do you want to talk about it? I know I'm only a second year, but that doesn't mean I can't listen."

"Do you think it's wrong that I sometimes miss my Mum?" He blurted out quickly.

Rose mulled over the question before answering. "No, I don't think it's wrong. She's your mother and you love her."

James ran a shaky hand through his hair. "But I don't feel like I should because she hurt my Dad, but then sometimes I think I should be mad at my Dad because maybe it's his fault she left, and sometimes I don't know what to think. You know?"

Rose shook her head, causing her red curls to bounce. "I have no idea how you're feeling because I'm not in your situation. Your parents are divorced and mine aren't, but that doesn't mean that you can't love both your parents just like I love mine. If your parents can't get along, that's their problem."

"But Mum cheated on Dad and then left us," James snapped. "How can I love her after that?"

"She didn't leave you, she left your Dad. It had nothing to do with you James." She squeezed his shoulder. "Sometimes people can't get along. It's sad that you and your siblings got caught in the middle of it, but that's just the way things are. I think you should try and make the best out of a bad situation."

"How'd you get so smart?" James questioned and Rose grinned. "I just feel like there's no way to win. If I like my Dad, then I hurt my Mum and if I like my Mum, then I hurt my Dad."

"That's not the correct way to think about these things," Rose chastised. "Life is not just a game full of winners and losers, bad guys and good guys, there's more to it than that. Complicated things should be broken down into simple parts, so let's do that."

James gave her a confused look. Rose's brain always seemed to be ten steps ahead of everyone else.

"The mess between your parents is complicated, but we can sort out the simple facts. Fact number one, you love your Father," Rose held up one finger. "Fact two, you love your Mother." Another finger went up. "Fact three, your parents do not get along. Now logically speaking, these facts have nothing to do with one another. One does not lead to the other, they are completely separate facts."

"I think you're losing me."

Rose huffed. "I'm not done yet. Fact four, you sometimes dislike your Mother. Fact five, you sometimes dislike your Father. I will freely admit that these two facts are the same for everyone, even me. No one likes someone all the time. Once in awhile they will do something that you don't agree with or something that makes you angry. So what conclusion can we draw from these facts."

James shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I love my parents, but sometimes I don't like what they do. They don't get along, but that doesn't really have anything to do with me."

"Exactly," said Rose. "You aren't much different than every other child in the world, except your parents are divorced which is not common in the wizarding world. In the muggle world it is actually quite common."

"Really?" Rose nodded and James gave her a tiny smile. "It's good to know that I'm not the only one."

"Rarely is anyone the only one," she explained. "There are just too many people in the world for anyone to be the only one going through something." She patted his leg. "You better go on to bed now. I hope I was a bit helpful."

James grinned. "You were. I feel loads better now. Slightly confused, but still better. Thanks Rosie." He gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Don't call me Rosie!" She hissed while wiping her cheek. James continued to grin all the way up to his shared bedroom.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Strange reviews on this one. Everyone calm down. It's only a fanfic. I didn't really pull Harry and Ginny from an alternate universe and force them to get divorced. Most of my stories do not follow canon, a couple are completely AU, and I've never had anyone get upset over it. Also, I've read plenty of stories with Harry and Ginny where they are not romantically involved yet the characters listed are Harry P and Ginny W. I did not say in the summary that it is HP/GW, but they are the main characters, which is why it is listed as a Harry P and Ginny W fic. Also, I do think Ginny is in character, if her character had gone through a bad relationship and a divorce. This story is about a family that has gone through a divorce.

No, it is not going to be HP/GW or I would have put it in the summary. Harry and Ginny are not suddenly going to fall back in love or any such nonsense.

Harry didn't fight for custody of Lily, because he is not a jerk and even though Ginny hurt him, she is still the mother of his children. This is not a story where Harry is a great guy and Ginny is a horrible girl who hurt him. I want this story to be a little more real than that. People are going to say things they don't mean, hurt each other on purpose and do things that they wish they hadn't, just like people do in real relationships.

Harry will eventually be dating in this story. I'm not going to say who, you'll just have to wait and see.