Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand and surveyed the knives as they began to slice potatoes in the sink. Slowly stirring the gravy, she glanced over at her daughter sprawled on the window seat. Ginny's face was pale and withdrawn as she stared at the droplets of rain running down window pane, her breath lightly fogging up the glass. Suddenly she stiffened, her face flushing.
"Mum, I think…it's coming!" she panted. Molly Weasley dropped the pan of gravy on the floor and rushed over to Ginny.
"Stay calm dear, it's all right," she soothed, smoothing a sympathetic hand over Ginny's hair. "Can you still apparate?" Ginny nodded and, gripping each others hands, the two women disappeared with a crack.
They materialized in a busy lobby, where Molly quickly dragged her daughter over to a desk where a woman slouched, calmly drumming her fingernails on the wood.
"Can we please see a healer?" The woman looked up in surprise at the sweating woman in front of her. She stared at Ginny's face in slight confusion, but then her eyes suddenly widened.
"Are you…"
"Look, it doesn't matter who she is! My daughter is in labor and needs to see a healer!" snapped Mrs. Weasley. The woman shut her mouth and almost instantly a healer came rushing around the corner, pushing a wheelchair in front of her. Briskly, she ushered Ginny into the chair, and off they sped with Mrs. Weasley jogging behind.
By the time she reached the bed, Ginny was panting heavily. She gasped as contractions seized her body, her nostrils flared in fear. Mrs. Weasley grasped her hand. "It's okay, dear. I gave birth 7 times and I'm still standing." Ginny smiled weakly and gripped her mother's hand harder.
The minute hand slowly inched around the clock as the hour hand crawled towards the twelve. As the clock chimed seven in the morning, Ginny screamed one last time and the healer cried "It's a girl!" Ginny leaned back on the sweaty pillows and clutched the screaming bundle as her daughter was handed to her. Slowly, the baby opened its eyes to reveal shining green orbs. The healer, busily filling out a birth certificate asked "What names should I put for the parents?"
Ginny glanced at her mother, who nodded. She took a deep breath. "Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley".
The healer nearly dislocated her jaw. Mrs. Weasley grimaced testily. "Just sign the certificate, please!" The healer signed her name with a flourish, commenting "I didn't hear an announcement about Harry Potter's girlfriend expecting."
A look of panic crossed Mrs. Weasley's face. She drew her wand from the pocket of her dress and muttered "Obliviate". Instantly, the healer's face went slack and her eyes unfocused. She thrust the certificate into Mrs. Weasley's hand with a "Congratulations on your baby son, Mr. Woods" and stumbled from the room. Ginny turned to her mother with a worried expression.
"Is that what we are going to have to deal with from now on?"
"No," said Mrs. Weasley firmly. "Ginny, do you understand the chaos you will cause if you announce that you have had Harry Potter's baby? The ones who believe you will try to make her as famous as her father. Harry lived an anonymous life until he was eleven. I don't think he would mind if his child had the same."
Ginny tenderly examined her daughter. "I think you are right." She paused. "Mum, can you send a letter to Hogwarts registering Lily Hermione Weasley?"
Molly frowned in confusion. "Weasley?"
Ginny wrote "Lily Hermione Potter" on the birth certificate. "Yes, Weasley".
Mrs. Weasley sighed and pulled back the curtains. Both women flung their arms over their eyes as brilliant sunshine filled the room. They gaped at each other. "It's stopped raining for the first time since…" Ginny trailed off, stroking the fuzzy hair on Lily's head. "Welcome to the world, my darling."
"A bar of Cadbury chocolate please," said a small, flame-haired girl as she handed the money over the counter. The man behind her eyed the coins as they were scooped up in the shopkeeper's stubby fingers. The girl turned away with a grin, the chocolate clutched in her own nimble hands. As they turned out of the shop, the man leaned down and murmured in the girl's ear.
"I'm still amazed that you know how to use that muggle money. Such strange shapes!"
The girl grinned. "Uncle Charlie, it isn't that hard. Besides, I have to know how to use this money since Mum won't let me go to the magical shops."
Charlie Weasley smiled at the girl's frown and ruffled her hair. "Lily, your mother has her reasons for being so protective."
"But I'm not a baby! I'm five; I can take care of myself." Charlie had to stifle a laugh at his niece's indignant face, so reminiscent of her mother when she was young. Growing up with six older brothers, Ginny insisted on being included on all their adventures but ran to her mother when things went wrong. But Lily wouldn't dream of seeking shelter from Ginny. Instead her mother seemed to be the dependent one; Lily was her one source of joy and worry.
The lopsided roof of the Burrow was just visible over the tops of the tall hedges when another person came around the corner of the lane. Lily tugged on Charlie's sleeve as she spotted the man's long purple cloak. Charlie inspected the wizard, and realized that he recognized him. "Daedalus, have you been talking to Dad?" He walked forward hand extended, forgetting the little red-head at his side.
"Yes, at least I talked at your father. He's still refusing to come out of retirement," Daedalus Diggle sighed and spotted the small figure staring at him with curious green eyes. "Oh ho, is this one of yours Charlie?"
Charlie instantly kicked himself for forgetting his sister's orders. "Er, no. Daedalus, we've got to be going. Great to see you." He grabbed Lily's hand and tried to move past Diggle, but the man stood firm, looking nosily at the girl. "Who's your daddy?"
Lily stopped, trying to remember the name she had once heard in a whispered conversation a few months ago. "Harry Potter!" she chirped innocently. Charlie froze. How on Earth did she know? Horrified, he saw Diggle's eyes widen to the size of saucers.
Thinking desperately, Charlie plunged his hand into his pocket and pulled out his wand. "Obliviate!" Daedalus's face instantly went slack. He looked inquisitively at the girl's surprised expression. "Do I know you?"
"No, you don't" snapped Charlie, scooping the girl up and hurrying off down the lane, leaving Daedalus Diggle staring after them in confusion.
"Uncle Charlie, what just happened?" Lily's eyes were worried at his expression.
"It's okay, sweetie. Your mum will explain it when we get home." Charlie turned into the driveway of the Burrow, setting the girl down on the doorstep and rapping on the door. Ginny opened the door and stared in surprise at her panting brother.
"Charlie, what happened?"
"We met Daedalus Diggle on the road and Lily told him who her daddy was." Ginny's reaction was instantaneous. Her face paled to the color of a sheet and she urgently grabbed up her daughter and pushed her brother through the door, shutting it behind her.
"He knows?" she whispered. Charlie shook his head.
"I obliviated him."
"Mummy," piped up Lily "why was Uncle Charlie so scared?"
Ginny signed heavily. "Sweetie, there is something that I have kept from you for far too long."
"Is this what you were whispering about with Granny last week?" enquired her daughter.
"Yes, is that how you heard…H-Harry's name?"
Lily nodded. Ginny set her down on the couch, and hurried upstairs. Lily perched on the edge of the couch, tapping her feet against the side. Soon the groan of the stairs announced her mother's arrival, as Ginny materialized in the living room clutching something in her hands. Pulling Lily onto her lap, Ginny held out the photo frame for her daughter to see. Lily peered into the picture, and saw her mother's big brown eyes smiling back at her. Standing, with his arm draped around her shoulders, was a man with a mop of messy black hair and sparkling green eyes. The man next to him, furtively glancing at the camera, had bright red Weasley hair and freckles, but she couldn't place him. Lily tapped the red-haired man. "Is that Uncle Ron?" Ginny nodded slowly. Lily's finger shifted to the girl who was resting her head against Ron's shoulder. Ginny chuckled sadly.
"That is Hermione Granger. She went to school with Uncle Ron…and your father."
"Harry Potter?"
"Yes, Harry," Ginny tightened her grip on the girl in her lap. "How much do you remember from what we have told you?"
"My father died before I was born. Uncle Ron and Hermione, who went to school with him, died too…" pausing for a moment, Lily looked up at her mother's pale face. "Mummy, why did Harry die?"
Ginny sighed. "Lily, I have to tell you a story I should have told you long ago."
