A/N: Thank you again for the reviews, follows and favourites! Enjoy this next chapter and please review :)
3 Feb - Thank you, Roselle, for your wonderful reviews! Apologies for the timeline confusion for each pairing. I hope the following calendar helps:
Year 2018 - Harry and Albus first made love on Christmas Eve during Albus' 2nd year.
Year 2019 - Ginny and James first made love during the summer holidays after James' 3rd year.
Year 2020 - Lily Luna tests the virginity detector during the summer holidays after her first year. By this time, Harry & Al have been intimate for 1.5 years, and Ginny & James for 1 year.
HPASPGWJSPHPASPGWJSPHPASPGWJSP
"Mum?"
Still smiling at what Harry had said, Ginny turned to see James standing at the kitchen doorway.
"Yes, love?"
"Can I... talk to you? For a moment?"
"What is it, son?" Harry asked, putting down his mug and preparing to stand up.
By then, James' subdued tone and tense expression had set off alarm bells in Ginny's mind. She stood up, placing a hand on Harry's arm to stay him.
"Finish your coffee, I'll see what he wants," she said. "Let's go to your room, James."
Harry nodded and leaned back, lips quirking in a smile. James preferred confiding in Ginny, the way Albus preferred coming to him. He picked up his mug and took a sip.
"Dad? Can I talk to you?"
Harry looked up to see Albus standing in the doorway.
"Sure, Al, come here."
Albus shook his head. He looked worried, his fingers twisting together. "Not here. Somewhere... private."
The meaningful look from those bright green eyes made Harry's heart skip a beat.
"Where's Lily?" he asked carefully.
"In her room," Albus answered at once.
Harry nodded and stood up, coffee forgotten.
"Let's go to my room," he suggested, not realising his words had almost mirrored Ginny's.
HPASPGWJSPHPASPGWJSPHPASPGWJSP
"Is that what it does? Are you sure?" Ginny asked, her tone sharp with shock.
"That's what Lily said," James replied, the tense look on his face more pronounced now that he was alone with his mother behind a locked door and a privacy charm. He continued pacing up and down in the space between his and Albus' beds, hands shoved deep in his jeans pockets.
Sitting on Albus' bed, Ginny closed her eyes, cursing under her breath. She had never thought George and Ron would come up with such an invention - testing one's virginity, of all things! She wanted to firecall them and tell them off, before stating that her children would no longer be their testers, but that would only raise more questions. James was only fourteen, fifteen late this year; he was expected to still be innocent... in this, at least.
"We'll come up with a story," she said heavily. Her heart sank, never had that adage 'Oh, what a tangled web we weave...' seemed more real to her than now. She had never had reason to outright lie to Harry or anyone else so far.
Early this year, right after Christmas break, she had been promoted to Lead Tester at the Quidditch broom manufacturing company she worked at. Since then, she had travelled overseas three times as part of her work, spending two or three days away each time. It was exciting, getting to meet their foreign subsidiaries, looking at different materials and spells used, different production methods, experiencing new cultures, people and food.
Still, the highlight of each day was retiring to her hotel room at night and waiting for James to arrive by portkey. To avoid detection, she always insisted on two things - staying at a Muggle-run hotel, laughingly citing that her father's love for all things Muggle things had rubbed off on her, and scheduling her trips on Thursdays or Fridays so that James' studies wouldn't be disrupted by lack of sleep. He would spend the nights with her, both of them making love long into the night before returning to Hogwarts at dawn and crashing to bed where he would sleep half the day away.
Harry never seemed to mind these trips abroad and would urge Ginny to make the most of them each time, telling her to experience everything - food, culture, sights - except young and available wizards. Ginny would laugh and tease him in turn, telling him he could go out on those nights she weren't home to have a drink with Ron or Neville, only he was to return home alone.
These company trips were a Godsend. Last year, Ginny could only meet James during Hogsmeade weekends once term started. She would Apparate the two of them to a small Muggle town and under a Glamour charm, rent a room for a few hours, pretending to be a weary single mother and son to anyone curious enough to ask.
"That I have a girlfriend at school?"
Ginny blinked and looked up. Then she nodded slowly. "Yes. The ball doesn't do anything except change colour, right? So it shows you're not a... virgin," thanks to her, "but not who you've been-"
Unable to complete the sentence, she shook her head and swallowed hard. When her eyes stung, she curled her trembling hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms to ground herself.
"... not who I've been making love with for the past year," James said quietly. He was crouched down in front of her now, face turned up to hers, brown eyes solemn yet intense.
Ginny nodded numbly, her breath catching in her throat when he reached up to frame her face with surprisingly gentle hands.
"Don't you feel guilty, mum," he whispered. "I don't. I never have."
"Oh, James...!"
Ginny lunged forward, throwing her arms around her eldest son and hugging him tightly. She prayed they would come out of this all right, without Harry or Albus or Lily or anyone else finding out.
"It'll be all right, mum," James whispered, his lips brushing against her ear. "Maybe this invention doesn't work correctly and never will."
Ginny shook her head, feeling a tear slide down her cheek.
"I think it does, love," she whispered back. "Your uncles are very good at what they do and you told me that the ball turned blue for Lily, the way it should."
James pulled back and regarded her with a frown.
"Yes, but it also turned green for Al."
Ginny blinked again. "What? Are you sure?"
"Yes."
To be continued...
