Thursday May 28th
Harry hovered in the door of Ginny's room as Mrs. Weasley wiped a damp, cool cloth on Ginny's pale face. "Why hasn't she woken?" At Mrs. Weasley's insistence Harry had carried her upstairs when she'd passed out while Mr. Weasley had gone to fetch the midwife.
"I don't know, Harry." Mrs. Weasley said her anxiety in her voice. "Fainting isn't unheard of in pregnancy but it does tend to be short lived and she's been out for almost 10 minutes." Harry moved in and sat at the end of the bed, taking Ginny's limp hand.
They heard a clatter from downstairs and Mr. Weasley's voice. Two people swiftly climbed the stair. A very sturdy woman with spectacles and thick short iron gray hair marched into the room with a small bag. "I'm here, Molly."
"Oh Martha, I'm so glad! I can't wake her," Molly told her, moving aside. Harry nearly stood to make room for her to sit but Mrs. Weasley touched his shoulder and he knew she wanted him to stay with Ginny.
"I'm the midwife," Martha said glancing at him once. "Martha Sterling. You must be the dad."
"Yeah," Harry said, the word nearly stuck in his throat as he watched her pull a small vial from her bag. The dad. Holy hell, he was the dad! He watched as she waved the vial under Ginny's nose. Nothing happened. "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know, yet," she answered automatically, completely unruffled by the panic in his voice. Her calm seemed to seep through the room and Harry felt slightly better. He wondered vaguely how she managed that. "Let me check on the little one and see how the baby is doing." She moved Ginny's shirt up and pulled her pants down a bit. Harry had to work hard not to blush, having caught sight of her underpants. The midwife waved her wand, muttering. The light glowed again, this time pulsing and changing shape and colors. Harry couldn't pull his eyes away from the beautiful light and he unconsciously squeezed Ginny's hand. That was their baby making that light.
He'd imagined marrying Ginny. He's thought about it more than once on those long, lonely nights last year. He'd thought about coming home to her, getting to kiss her any time he wanted. He'd even thought about kids once before pushing it out of his mind as something to be thought about someday if he lived long enough to ever see her again. Now because of some unknown person he and Ginny were being forced into a situation that he wasn't sure he anywhere near ready for, no matter what he'd told Ginny. "Is the baby okay?" he finally asked, after the midwife withdrew her wand.
"Yes, the baby is looking great," Martha told him smiling. "That's how I like to see my babies, especially when I'm the one who delivered their mum." She put a hand on Ginny's cheek. "She's clammy."
There was a bang downstairs and a loud shout of "Mum!"
Harry recognized Ron's voice so he didn't get up as he watched Mr. Weasley go to intercept his youngest son.
The midwife didn't seem to even notice, she was totally focused on Ginny. She waved her wand down Ginny's torso as Ron and Hermione burst into the room.
"What the hell happened?!" Ron shouted, completely panicked.
"Quiet Ron," Mrs. Weasley told him. "We'll explain what happened later. Right now we need to figure out what's wrong with Ginny."
"But Dad's message said-"
"Ron," Hermione reproached him softly. "Later."
Martha glanced up, and around for the first time. "What am I missing?" No one spoke. "Molly," she said, turning to face Mrs. Weasley. "I need to know everything."
Molly hesitated for a moment, looking between Arthur and Harry. She absent mindedly ran her hand along Ginny's dresser, before lacing her fingers together. "We… well the kids have sworn that they haven't been intimate and Ginny thought that she might have had something happen to her when she was in St. Mungo's two weeks ago. She had been cursed by a blood boiling hex. While she was there she said she dreamed that a woman came into her room in the middle of the night-"
The midwife held up her hand. "Wait- wait a minute. While I normally don't believe teenagers who say they didn't do anything, if you're telling me that someone might have magically impregnated her then I need to know that."
"That's... that's what we are thinking," Mr. Weasley confirmed. "Ginny hasn't been out of our sight in months, except for that night in St. Mungo's and she was definitely too ill to be up to anything."
Martha let out a long breath. "Okay… then I think I know what's wrong. I also imagine that it was very stressful for her, learning about being pregnant?"
"To say the least," Harry muttered.
Martha turned to him; her eyes were kind and her smile sad. "I imagine for you as well. You're in for a rough road young man. I hope you're up for the challenge."
He straightened and frowned. "I am up for it." He thought of Teddy, his tiny godson who was not yet 2 months old. How he'd only had his father for a few short weeks and his resolve firmed. "I can do this."
She nodded. "I would be inclined to believe that if anyone could be it would be you. When you were born you were so sturdy and calm. I told your mum that you were just about the mellowest baby I had ever seen." Harry was startled but Martha didn't pause so he could ask a question. "Alright, back to Ginny. Magical methods of impregnating are incredibly hard on the body. We will often see this happen to those mothers who have sought help to conceive a child. Let me see," she said, rummaging in her bag. She pulled out another, larger vial. She tilted Ginny's head back and began to slowly pour the liquid down her throat.
Within second Ginny's eyes fluttered open. She drank the rest of the potion and tried to sit up, but Martha put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "You just stay there young lady. You're in bed for the rest of today."
"What happened?" Ginny asked groggily.
"You fainted," Harry told her, watching her beautiful but ashen face.
Realization dawned over her features and she closed her eyes. "It wasn't a dream, then?"
"I'm afraid, not," her mother told her gently.
Ginny's eyes met his and he could feel her fear as if it were his own. Maybe it was his own? He didn't stop to think about what he was doing, or who was in the room with him. Ginny needed him and he needed her. He crawled up behind her on the narrow bed and lay down with her, pulling her into his arms. She turned and curled in and he felt her hot tears as they leaked into his shirt. "It will be okay," he murmured into her hair, inhaling the flowery fragrance that haunted his dreams. He stroked a hand through her silky hair, trying to comfort while soaking in the enormity of what was happening. He continued to whisper comfort into her ear and eventually her breathing slowed as the sobs subsided into occasional hiccups.
No one else spoke, giving them this moment together.
Ginny finally looked around at Martha. "Why did I faint?"
"Being magically impregnated makes a witch very vulnerable physically. Healers typically prepare the woman for months with strengthening solutions before even attempting to impregnate her with magic. It's very dangerous, especially because the women attempting it are often much older. You are young, normally healthy, but I imagine the blood boiling hex sapped you of some of your reserves. It's lucky you even survived it to be frank. Combine that with the huge shock and all of the stress of finding out, and your body simply shut down. I'm not surprised you fainted." For the first time Harry saw concern in the midwife's face. "You will need to be extremely careful. You will not be allowed to do anything physically strenuous. You will need to eat properly and take potions hourly for a few weeks."
He felt Ginny nod. "I will be careful. I'll do what I need to do."
"Harry," Mr. Weasley interjected, putting his hands in his pockets. "We need to leave for the ministry in about 10 minutes. The hearing will be starting soon."
"Right, the hearing," Martha said, looking thoughtful. "Ginny is on bed rest. Tell Garsteur I'm not letting her out of the house any time soon and he can contact me to verify." She stood and faced Ginny's parents. "I don't know why this happened, and normally I would want to send Ginny to St. Mungo's but under the circumstances that is not an option. I will be checking in daily and I want to know if anything else happens, including her being sick more than twice in an hour. I'll be back with her potions as soon as I can. Molly, Arthur, why don't you show me out?"
She left the four teenagers alone in Ginny's room. Hermione finally broke the uncomfortable silence. "You're really pregnant?"
Ginny nodded and Ron swore, striding around the small room angrily.
"Ron," Harry said, getting up carefully from the bed. "Ron, we didn't do anything!"
Ron turned and his face was a mixture of anger and sorrow. "I believe you. Bloody hell, Harry I believe you."
"I believe you too," Hermione confirmed quietly. She went and sat next to Ginny, who was still lying down. "Who would do this to you and why? What are you going to do?"
"We're going to get married," Harry told her, "probably in the next few days." He then briefly explained about the law and the hearing he was going to attend shortly.
Hermione was struck speechless.
Ron ran his hands through his hair, nearly pulling it all out in frustration. "This is just so unbelievably unfair."
Harry saw Ginny try to sit up, but what little color she had regained drain from her face and she flopped back onto her pillow. He rushed over to kneel at her side. "Ginny?"
"No, I'm okay," she assured him. "I just got dizzy again."
"You stay still," he told her gently, running a hand over her cheek. "Maybe you and Hermione can try to figure out what to do about a wedding while I'm at the ministry."
She nodded but kept her eyes closed. "Okay."
He kissed her gently and stood, hesitating. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"We'll be fine," Hermione said. "I'll stay with her."
Harry put a grateful hand on Hermione's shoulder, motioned to Ron that he should go with him and they went downstairs to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sitting at the kitchen table, the ruined, coffee splattered newspaper still on the table.
Mr. Weasley got up and wordlessly they went to the fireplace and floo'ed to the ministry.
They arrived into chaos. Reporters were everywhere through the atrium and Harry had to fight to get through with Mr. Weasley. Harry hadn't noticed Ron at first, but was thankful to have his tall friend there to help push through all of the fired off questions.
They made their way to the lift and headed towards the Magical Law Enforcement's office.
Harry felt a weird numbness settle over him, as though his limbs has been dumped in ice water that made the noise around him sound as if it was coming through cotton balls. In the space of a few hours he'd gone from 17 year old Auror in training to a father.
A father. The thought was at once more terrifying and more amazing than anything he had ever felt before. Very shortly he'd add husband to that list. As the doors clanged open a roiling nausea swept over him. Would he make a good husband? Could he be a good dad? He looked over to Mr. Weasley who was leading them down to the correct office and wondered if he'd ever be half as good of a dad as Mr. Weasley was. The thought was daunting.
They entered Gavin Garsteur's office and found the man waiting for them. He invited them to have a seat and finally Harry's hearing seemed to turn back on as Mr. Weasley explained why Ginny wasn't there.
"No, no trouble at all!" Mr. Garsteur said genially. "I quite understand and I have a lot of respect for Martha Sterling. She delivered all of my children. If she says bed rest, then bed rest it shall be for the mother. Now, about our little problem here…"
Harry thought that a very odd way of referring to the baby but didn't comment on that. "Ginny and I are going to get married."
Mr. Garsteur smiled happily. "Wonderful! I was hoping to hear that. Because you are not a flight risk and your family is well established, Arthur, I will grant you the full 10 days to get married. We will, of course, waive the paperwork needed since Ginevra is still underage at this point and ensure that someone will be available for the soul bonding. That should give you enough time to throw together a decent ceremony."
They murmured their thanks and Mr. Weasley asked, "what about the press downstairs?"
"I will be releasing a statement about your impending nuptials," Mr. Garsteur told them. "I was thinking to say that you two are getting married shortly and that you are very happy and ask the press for privacy at this time. Would that do?"
"Yes," Harry said curtly. He was itching to get out of this office and speak to Kingsley and then get back to Ginny. She'd looked so pale and small in her bed.
"Fine, fine," Mr. Garsteur said, standing up and they shook hands all around.
Ron hadn't said anything and Garsteur hadn't asked why he was there. Finally he spoke up. "Does this happen often? These hearings?"
"Oh no," Mr. Garsteur told them genially. "We sometimes have couples who marry in a muggle ceremony and that might register since their souls aren't bonded, but we do recognize the muggle ceremony as valid. No, we typically only have a case once every 3 or 4 years."
"How do you know?" Ron asked.
Garsteur shrugged. "I'm not at liberty to share the full mechanics of it. What I can say is that the system was created well over 300 years ago and that both parents must be magical for us to detect the pregnancy and it is only detected when the souls aren't bonded."
"Do you know how the press found out?" Harry asked him.
Mr. Garsteur shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't. I'm the only one with access to the list and I didn't tell a soul. I was quite shocked to see the papers today. I only found out this morning so someone must have tipped The Daily Prophet off last night in order for them to make this morning's addition." He smiled apologetically at Harry. "We don't want a scene, especially if the couple has agreed to marry. We try to keep things quiet so as not to further embarrass the couple. I'm going to be investigating to see if someone has been in my office."
"Thank you, Gavin," Mr. Weasley said and they made their way from his office and back to the lift to head up to Kingsley's office. "I sent him a message," he told Harry and Ron once they were alone in the lift. "I told him we needed a few minutes of his time. This is a serious breech not only in St. Mungo's but also in the Auror department."
They arrived at Kingsley's posh office and waited about 5 minutes before his secretary told them they could go in. Mr. Weasley closed the door softly behind them and Harry fell heavily into one of the chairs in front of his desk, barely noticing any of the ornate details that littered the Minister's office.
"Your message was very cryptic, Arthur," Kingsley began. "What happened?"
Mr. Weasley sat down next to Harry, Ron sat on his other side, his hands folded between his knees. "The paper came out this morning and we were all shocked. I got home to find Ginny saying adamantly that she couldn't be pregnant and we could test her. Harry arrived and I saw the ministry summons for them. We knew it had to be true, but didn't know how. Molly tested her and saw that she's pretty early on, tested that Harry is the father. He swore they hadn't; offered to take Veritaserum."
"I still will," Harry said, sitting up. "We haven't done anything."
"We believe you," Mr. Weasley told him gently. "Anyway, Ginny remembered something happening when she was in the hospital a few weeks ago after Snape's funeral." The Minister nodded, acknowledging that he remembered the fight that had landed them there. "She said that she woke up because her stomach hurt and saw a woman who gave her a potion that made her fall back to sleep. Harry doesn't remember anything from when they were there. When we got ready to leave for the ministry Ginny fainted."
Alarm crossed Kingsley's face. "Is she alright?"
"Martha Sterling has had a look at her and it isn't the best situation," Arthur told him. "She and the baby are okay for now, but she bears all the signs of having been impregnated magically."
"Who would do this?" Ron asked.
Kingsley steepled his fingers and sat in silence for a full minute. "We do still have a few rouge Death Eaters on the loose. I can't see the point in forcing Harry into marriage, but putting Ginny's life in danger and tying Harry to that could have something to do with it."
Harry sat up fully, alarmed. "Hang on! Ginny's life is in danger?" Ron also looked startled.
Mr. Weasley sighed heavily. "I'm afraid so, Harry. Martha didn't want to alarm Ginny, but the magic done on her is very dangerous at this point because of the blood boiling hex. She is stable for now but there is still a chance that Ginny will become so ill that she loses the baby or loses her own life. If we hadn't discovered so early on that she was magically impregnated it might have been too late to save either of them."
Harry's heart froze in his chest. Ginny's life was in danger. She might lose the baby. This baby that he didn't know existed yesterday but today he was completely changing his life to keep safe.
"Possibly they were hoping for just that thing to happen. If someone knew that you and Ginny had previously had a relationship, they might have hoped that we wouldn't believe that you have not been intimate and she might not have received treatment." Kingsley told him.
Harry frowned. "How did you know she and I had had a relationship?"
"There is little about your personal life that we didn't know," Kingsley told him wryly. "We had to watch you closely."
Harry's face flushed, but he chose to ignore the embarrassment. "What are the odds that Ginny is going to be okay?"
"If she takes care of herself, takes it easy," Mr. Weasley told him, "then we have a good shot of saving herself and hopefully the baby. She's got to take care of herself, though, and that's going to be a challenge. She isn't very good at staying still and we can't trust St. Mungo's enough to check her in there."
"What about hiring a private nurse?" Harry asked him.
"That is something to look into," Kingsley said. "I will be checking with the Aurors to see what happened that night. I will look into it with Robards so we can do this quietly. She's going to be vulnerable to attack right now, so she shouldn't be left on her own. Harry, I want you to take a day or two off from training, spend time with Ginny. I'm sure this has been an unbelievable shock to both of you. If you need more time you can have it. I'll speak to Robards about it."
"I can deliver a message," Ron told him. "I need to get back to my training."
Kingsley nodded in appreciation and scribbled a note, handing it to Ron. Ron clapped Harry on the back and said, "I'll see you later."
Kingsley rose and they followed suit. He clasped Harry's hand and held on. "We will figure this out. We'll figure out how to keep her safe."
They thanked him and left the office. In the lift, which was thankfully empty again, Harry voiced one of the fears that was clawing at him. "How are we going to keep her safe?"
"We'll figure out a way. We have to. In the meantime I want you to move in to the Burrow. It is better to have more protection at the house and you can't help while at Grimmald Place."
Harry stared hard at the closed doors, but not really seeing them. "I will tonight."
The atrium was blessedly free of press. Several security warlocks stood around, clearly keeping them out and Harry and Mr. Weasley nodded in thanks as they went to the floo to go back to the Burrow.
They arrived to find Mrs. Weasley about to take a tray upstairs. "Oh good, you're back! Here Harry, take this up and get her to eat." She pushed the tray on him and he dutifully took it up to Ginny's bedroom.
He could tell instantly that she'd been crying. Hermione stood when she saw him and said, "I'll just leave you two alone for a bit," and left, closing the door behind her.
Harry set the tray on her dresser and sat down next to her on her bed. She put out a shaking hand and feebly tugged on him. He knew instinctively that she wanted him to lay down with her so he obliged. "What's wrong?" he asked, cradling her to his side.
"I can't stand up," she told him. "I feel like I've had the flu or something. I can't move without feeling horribly sick!"
He knew how that must frustrate and scare her. She was such an active person, constantly on the go, and here she was, stuck in her bed. "You will be feeling better soon," he assured her, stroking a hand down her back and hoping what he said was true. "You just had a massive shock and everything's piled on. You'll be okay in a day or two." Ginny, his Ginny, was one of the strongest people he'd ever known. She was a rock for him and it was shocking to see just how low she'd been brought.
"I hate you seeing me like this," she whispered into his chest.
Harry's heart lurched at the pain in her words. "Don't… don't feel like that. We'll be married in a few days. I'm pretty sure the vows go something along the lines of 'in sickness and in health', yeah?"
"Most of the time people who are making those vows actually want to get married."
It was such a simple statement but it opened up the window to all the insecurities she must be feeling. He had to admit he was feeling them himself. "Would you do the same for me? Would you want to marry me even if I was sick?"
"Of course I would!" she said, surprised.
"Well then, what's the difference? You'd do it because you care about me and I care about you. That hasn't changed." He leaned over her, careful not to put any weight on her and kissed her. Harry had to breathe in, remember not to rush her and that she was not up for any heavy snogging but it was difficult. She always set his blood on fire. "I've dreamed about marrying you. I've pictured you in a wedding dress and I've wanted that for us. Never think I didn't want this at some point- that I don't want you. I do."
Ginny nodded and he could see in her gaze that she believed him, that he'd set her fears to rest. Her chocolate brown eyes were swimming with unshed tears. "I'm trying not to cry."
Harry lay back down and kissed her temple. "It's been a rough few hours and you're pregnant. I think I remember something about pregnant women being very emotional."
She gave a watery giggle. "I'm going to try not to be too emotional." He saw her hand flit down to her stomach, almost hesitantly before landing to rest on her lower abdomen. "It still seems like a dream, like there can't be a teeny person in there who has completely turned our lives upside down."
Harry took his larger, calloused hand and covered hers, right over the place where there baby was growing. "It's amazing," he agreed, his voice sounded raw. Teddy flashed into his mind. When he'd held his godson for the first time, his tiny warm body was a solid reminder of just how helpless the baby was. Now his baby was growing inside of Ginny and there was the very real danger that he was going to lose them both. A fierce wave of emotion washed over him and he silently vowed to do everything he could to protect them. "I know we didn't do anything to create this baby, but…" he paused, trying to think up the right way to say it. "But the baby is really the innocent one in this."
Ginny looked at him thoughtfully. "What do you mean?"
"Well… it's just that…" His heart gave a lurch. "I'm the reason this happened."
"You're not the reason," she said, putting a comforting hand on his chest. "Some nutter did this to mess with you."
He swallowed as guilt gnawed on him. He took her hand in his and entwining them. "But it comes to the same thing. You're pregnant with my kid and it isn't just our lives anymore."
Ginny closed her eyes and he saw a tear fight its way from her eyes. "We have more than you and me to worry about."
"Yeah," Harry said. "I can't help but think that we're at least grown but the baby doesn't have any way of standing up for itself or… or protecting itself." He shrugged self-consciously. "It's… I dunno, it just feels like that's maybe our job."
She nodded but didn't speak and didn't open her eyes. More tears began to leak out.
Harry felt the weight of that come down upon him. His kid was growing inside of Ginny. It was on him to keep them safe. "I don't know much about babies. I've held Teddy a few times, and I've even changed his nappy once but that's it."
"I can teach you, and Mum will help." She sounded tired, but for the first time through this whole mess, he looked down saw a shy smile come over her face. "You're going to an amazing Dad, Harry. I've seen you with Teddy. You can do this."
"I hope so. I'm going to try." He brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing her fair skin lightly. "But that's just half the battle- I also have to be a really good husband too."
"You're already doing a good job," she assured him. "Harry?"
"Hm?" He asked as his thumb gently stroked her hand.
"Where are we going to live?"
Oh, he hadn't thought of that. "Do you want to stay here?"
"Not… not really," she told him.
"I guess we can move into Grimmauld Place, but I'm not sure that's the best place to raise a baby." Harry stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I always wanted a big, messy yard to play in. The Dursley's were a pain about having to have everything just so. I wasn't allowed to run around out back. Maybe we should buy a different house, although I'm not sure Kreacher is going to like the idea. Still, a new house could mean we can set up new wards, make sure the place is completely safe."
When she didn't say anything, he turned to see her studying him. "You want to buy a house?" Ginny asked him, her voice forcibly neutral.
"Well, it's an option," he told her noncommittally. Did she want to live at Grimmauld Place?
"It's an option," Ginny parroted with a half laugh, half sigh. "Oh Harry, for most 17 year olds, buying a house isn't an option! Especially when they already have a house they couldn't possibly sell!"
Seeing where she was going, Harry grinned sheepishly. "I have a lot of money. It turned out that killing Voldemort was rather lucrative. The Ministry insisted on compensating me for it."
Ginny bit her lip, and finally said, "If you want to buy a house, well then let's buy a house. I'll leave that up to you."
"It's your house too, though," he reminded her.
"I'm not picky," she promised. "A yard to fly in would be nice, and a kitchen big enough for family dinners would be lovely, but I honestly don't have any idea what I'd want in a house. I've never really thought about it." She fell silent and then laughed. "Imagine that, talking about family dinners."
Harry turned more onto his side and kissed her. "I'll ask your dad and Bill about how I do this, and maybe we can get you pictures and you can pick a place. It will probably take a while to set up wards so we can move in. I imagine Hermione will help with furnishings and whatnot since you're going to be taking it easy."
She eyed him, frowning. "I'm not going to like this bit about pregnancy."
"It's just this pregnancy," he reminded her. "This time you have to take it easy to keep you and the baby healthy."
Ginny quirked an eyebrow, "Are you already planning for more kids?"
Harry flushed but grinned sheepishly when he realized what he'd said. Her stomach gave a loud rumble and Harry got up to get the tray. "You need to eat this or your mum is going to have kittens."
"Harry?" Ginny said, picking up a slice of bread.
"Yeah," he asked, gazing into her amazing eyes.
"I'm glad it's you," she said. "I don't think I could do this, could make it through if it was anyone else but you with me."
A/N: I actually finished this story tonight, so it's all done! But it's still in editing and I think it will still be posted on a weekly basis.
Thanks James for all your help!
Thank you also to my ridiculously patient and understanding husband. :) I wrote 234 pages in 28 days and he picked up a lot of the slack around the house so I could do it.