KEEPSAKE
Post-Seven; Harry returns from Auror training to find Ginny with a one-year-old son that she claims to be theirs.

Disclaimer: All JKR's work.


SEVEN: Spiraling

"Hi!" Sarah greeted warmly, her blue eyes looking straight at Ginny. She walked towards the red-headed witch and extended her hand, motioning to shake Ginny's. "You must be Ginny."

"H-Hello," Ginny said, bewildered as she shook Sarah's hand. "I'm so sorry, but I haven't heard anything about you. Sarah...?"

"Sarah Carpenter. I work with Ron and Harry in Squad C, and I was with them during training here in London and in America, as well. Harry's told me loads about you."

"Has he really?" Ginny found herself breathless. On top of Ron and Hermione's unexpected engagement, she didn't anticipate Harry's dinner partner tonight to be a woman, much less a girlfriend that she had never heard about. Out of all the thoughts that seemed to be exploding in Ginny's head, all she could think about was Liam sleeping in the chair beside her, and how unsuitable this woman seemed to be Harry's girlfriend. Even the term seemed foreign to her. She turned slightly to look at Ron behind her, whose face was red with guilt. Clearly, he had known.

"Yes he has," Sarah said pleasantly. "You were a popular topic of conversation when we first started our training. And even now, apparently! He's told me about Liam...where is he?"

"Oh, he's sleeping," Ginny said, gesturing to her sleeping son in the nearby chair. "Perhaps another day."

Harry stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Sarah's shoulders. "How about we go into the kitchen and we introduce you to Ron's mum? And Hermione, as well. I reckon she has some news to share with us..."

The pair walked past Ginny, who was smiling as wide as she could, like some kind of idiot. Harry gave her this look that was a cross somewhere between apologetic and sympathetic. She didn't reciprocate, and instead waited until they were in the kitchen. As soon as they were, she twirled on her heel and grabbed Ron by the sleeve before he could escape from her. She pulled out her wand and cast a charm over Liam, who was sleeping soundly in spite of the new ruckus.

"What did you just do there?" Ron asked, pointing at Liam.

"A silencing charm, so he won't hear us arguing," Ginny said heatedly. "You knew? You knew that Harry had a girlfriend?"

"It wasn't a sure thing!" Ron explained hurriedly. "Sarah's been with us for the past two years, and she was the only one that ever got close to Harry. They'd been talking for awhile ever since we came back, and I guess they rekindled their spark. Can you blame him?"

"You guess?" Ginny asked maliciously. "There is a strange woman in our house, Ron, and she's going on about how much she knows about me and how much she knows about my son. When it comes to Liam's father, I need answers!"

"Calm down, won't you? They'll hear you out here, yapping off like I'm the only one with a pair of ears! Harry's a grown boy, and you have Wyatt. If you want answers, you'll have to get them from Harry yourself. But before you go about snooping and pointing fingers, just be aware that Sarah is brilliant, and wonderful for Harry. You've moved on, and there shouldn't be any reason that he can't either."

"But Liam-"

"Even with Liam!" Ron insisted, and he turned around and walked into the kitchen, leaving her behind.

Ginny was so frustrated she didn't know what to do with herself. Before she could storm into the kitchen and demand answers out of either Harry or Sarah, she restrained herself and instead decided to take Liam upstairs, so he could sleep in peace. She gathered him into her arms, and she shushed him gently as he stirred from having been moved. The journey upstairs wasn't a particularly long one, and yet Ginny's thoughts made it so. She didn't want to see Sarah again, not tonight at least, and she certainly didn't want to see Harry. She didn't want to see anyone, now that she thought about it. Perhaps she would go to bed, seeing as Sarah's visit seemed to have no foreseeable end and Ron and Hermione would want to celebrate their engagement accordingly...

Once in her room, Ginny gently set Liam onto her bed and wrapped him snuggly with several blankets, one of which was emblazoned with several famous Quidditch stars over the years - his personal favorite. She slipped into her pajamas and tied her hair up, hoping that the tension of pulling her hair backwards would relieve the anxiety and stress that she felt this moment. She was about to turn off the light when the door opened and a familiar face stepped in.

"Going to bed, are we?"

"I figured there was nothing better to do than sleep everything away," Ginny told Hermione, who was already making her way to sit on the edge of the bed.

"She's not staying here tonight, so you can relax," Hermione said, assuaging Ginny's other fear. "Harry just thought that, well, now that they'd made it official, it would be wise to introduce her to everybody. Especially you."

"How kind of him." She sat on the floor, leaning against the wall and looking up at Hermione.

"Oh, Ginny, come off it. You know Harry meant no harm. Sarah's clearly important to him."

"Almost as important as the many different times he mentioned her to everyone."

"It's not as though he meant to keep her a secret forever," Hermione said. "Think back to when you and Wyatt had started. Did you want to go around boasting a relationship that you weren't certain of just yet?"

"That was different then. I had Liam in the picture."

"And so does Harry. Now, at least. And he has you to consider, as well. The fact that he didn't bring Sarah's name up the moment he saw you only goes to show how considerate he is of your feelings and the repercussions that this new relationship could have on yours, and his with Liam. Give him some credit for having tact."

Ginny shrugged. "It's one thing for Liam to have just met his father, but it's something else entirely for him to get accustomed to another new face."

"This isn't entirely about Liam," Hermione pointed out. "Nor is it about him at all. This is about you and what you feel for Harry."

Ginny almost said something, then chose to play stupid. "I don't know what you mean."

Hermione smiled knowingly. "Deny it all you want, Ginny, but something has changed since he came back."

"Yes. He has a girlfriend now."

"Don't do this with me, Ginny. Remember who you're talking to. Remember that I'm the one who was with you all throughout your pregnancy, all throughout Liam's first months, when you wished that you had Harry at your side."

"Things have changed now. I have Wyatt, and Harry and I are just friends who-"

"What you and Harry had doesn't instantly go away, as though you performed some vanishing charm, Ginny. The fact of the matter is that now he's back, you're forced to deal with feelings you've repressed in his absence. Call me hyper-analytical, Ginny, but you know as well as I that what I'm saying is true. I've been with you this whole time."

Ginny looked at the ground. She had no argument against Hermione. As much as she could try, she would never outwit her. In many ways, Hermione knew her better than she knew herself.

"I don't need it to get more complicated," Ginny admitted. "I'm sure Sarah is lovely, but Harry doesn't need another lovely person in his life."

"Only you?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't know." Ginny sighed heavily and miserably.

"You need to talk to Harry about this, Ginny. He's trying his best to take your opinions and emotions into consideration, and the least you can do is alleviate his confusion by giving him insight into what you're thinking and feeling. He wants to be a good father and a good friend."

"Ha, a friend," Ginny said ruefully.

"And if it changes beyond that, it'll be a conversation for another time," Hermione said, making way to leave the room.

Before she left though, Ginny made sure to say, "Congratulations, by the way. I'm happy for you both."

Hermione smiled down at her friend. "Thanks, Ginny. Soon enough, you'll be happy for you."


"Want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Ginny looked at Wyatt, feigning confusion. "I haven't the foggiest - what do you mean?"

"I'm saying, you're not very good at hiding your emotions, Gin. You're not being yourself tonight. Trust me, I would know."

Ginny squirmed uncomfortably. At the moment, she was lying in bed with Wyatt, trapped and entangled between the sheets. She was resting in the nook of Wyatt's arm, and she had hoped that she would be treated to some silence so she wouldn't have to confront any more repressed feelings and inevitable conversations.

"I'm sorry. There's just a lot on my mind, lately."

"Like Harry Potter's new girlfriend?"

Ginny froze. "What are you talking about?"

Wyatt sat up and Ginny followed suit, the two of them sitting upright and looking at each other on the bed.

"Ron told me," he said simply. "He warned me that you might not be all...here, especially with Harry's new girlfriend, Sarah something or other. I was waiting for you to tell me yourself, but clearly..."

"Ugh," Ginny uttered. "It's not important, really, it's not, Wyatt. If it were, I would have told you."

"It's alright to be bothered," Wyatt said reassuringly. "Old feelings die hard."

"What? No, Wyatt! No, there are no old feelings there. Honestly, those have gone a long time ago. Please don't worry."

"I'm not worried," Wyatt said plainly. "You might not feel the same way as you used to, but you're still going to feel something. It's the natural response to change. Especially now that you've both moved on."

"Now I've got you and Hermione analyzing every facet of me. Honestly, I'm fine."

Wyatt shrugged and then kissed Ginny on her forehead as he was wont to do.

"I wish you would realize more often that I'm more receptive than you think I am. I want to know what's on your mind, and I want to know whatever's bothering you. That's how this works, Ginny."

"I know, I know. It's just one of those things that takes time."

"Then I suppose I'll wait. I love you, Ginny. I hope you know that."

Ginny's heart leapt. They had never been said before, and yet when Wyatt said those three words, it sounded as though they had been said a thousand times, as though it were natural and familiar to her. Her mind suddenly cleared and she jumped on top of Wyatt, kissing him square on the lips.

"Oh, I love you, too, Wyatt. But you already knew that."

"I had a suspicion," Wyatt said playfully as he grabbed Ginny by her waist to bring her closer.


For a while, Ginny felt comfortable with everything. Knowing that her relationship with Wyatt was anything but a fluke helped bring clarity to her mind and allowed her to relax. She was outwardly happy.

Even Hermione took notice, in spite of her busy wedding plans. Ever since the engagement, Mrs. Weasley took it upon herself to bring the wedding about as rapidly as she could, dragging Hermione along with her everywhere she went. At the rate everything was going, she and Ron would have an extremely short engagement.

Everything else was moving along nicely. At work, she was working up the courage more and more to participate in the Quidditch try outs at the encouragement of her colleagues. In turn, it gave Liam some nice quality time with Harry seeing as he was at a point where he could be at home more often in between raids. The two of them hadn't really talked yet since he introduced Sarah, and yet she could always hear whenever Sarah was at the Burrow for a brief appearance. She always managed to be upstairs whenever those instances came up, or she would slip outside with Liam for a while.

She preferred the latter more so these days, however, now that Liam had taken a liking to playing outdoors rather than in her room. And ever since George gave him a toy broomstick for toddlers, they had more reason to go outside. Ginny would take him out to the lake, where he could fly around near its banks and then possibly watch the fish and the fireflies gather along the water's surface whenever he got tired and the sun was setting. During these moments, it was as if Sarah didn't exist. Out of sight, out of mind.

"Stay close by, Lee!" Ginny called after her son, who was teetering away from her, slightly suspended in the air.

"It's fun, Ma-ma!" Liam shrieked in delight. "Higher!"

"Not too high!" Ginny reminded him from where she was sitting on the ground. "I won't have you falling down and hurting yourself. Do you hear me?"

"No!" Liam replied mischievously, whizzing past his mother as he said so.

Ginny couldn't help but smile inwardly. So much of Liam reminded her of Harry. His love for Quidditch was a shared passion between his parents, but his immense skill and inclination for the sport undoubtedly came from his father. Seeing him ride on his broomstick was incredibly reminiscent of the first Quidditch game at Hogwarts that she saw Harry play in. She remembered seeing him sail through the air effortlessly, the wind blowing his already-messy hair every which way while a giant smile plastered itself on his face. She couldn't think of anyone else that was as happy at what they were doing as Harry was when he was on a broomstick. And the same effect played out when Liam flew on his toy, albeit awkwardly and slightly haphazardly. Yet the glee there was undeniable.

"Having fun?"

Ginny turned around and found Harry standing behind her, surrounded by reeds and tall grass. He moved towards her and sat down next to her, as much as Ginny wanted to get up and just leave. She was inexplicably drawn.

"I thought you were out with Sarah," Ginny said softly.

"I was. But she had to get back to the Ministry to fill out some paperwork that she forgot about. And so now I'm here. Looks like he's having fun on his broom, eh?"

"He's a natural," Ginny replied. "He gets that from you."

"Are you kidding me? He gets that from both of us. You're not too bad on a broomstick yourself, Weasley."

Don't call me Weasley, Ginny thought. Call me Ginny, like you always do.

"Spitting image of you, though," Ginny said. "He loves everything Quidditch. I wouldn't be surprised if he became a Seeker in a matter of years."

"Hi!" Liam exclaimed when he saw Harry. "Hi Da! Da! Da!"

Ginny looked at Harry, surprised. "He calls you 'Dad' now?"

Harry was smiling widely. "I guess so! He was struggling with it a while ago, but I suppose I helped him along the way."

"That's wonderful," Ginny said, almost breathlessly. She had always wondered if Liam would ever be able to call him Dad, and now it was happening. "He's gotten used to you."

"Well, I am his father," Harry reminded her. "I would think that he would."

"Oh, but, you know what I mean. I've never seen him take as well to anyone new as he has to you. You're amazing with him."

"New? I'm doing the best with what I've been given," Harry said, rather snidely.

Ginny felt slightly attacked.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying...it's not like you gave me a head start, you know. It's not like you told him every day as he was growing up who I was, or what to call me. I had to do that all on my own."

"I had no choice!" Ginny exclaimed defensively.

"Again with the choice!" Harry said exasperatedly. "It's the choice all over again, isn't it? You act as though you were rendered completely incapable of lifting a quill to write to me."

"I've had this conversation with you already," Ginny said matter-of-factly. "I thought you understood."

"I didn't understand, I just didn't have anything to say at the time."

"Oh? And now? Suddenly you're a fountain of words? Go ahead, tell me everything. What do you have to say?"

"I wanted to be here!" Harry retorted heatedly. "Had I known that you were pregnant, you were right - I would have come back instantly and helped you. It was my right, my right as Liam's father to be here for his birth, to have watched him grow up rather than coming back simply to hear about it, as though I were some stranger-"

"You would have resented me! You would have realized that coming back wasn't good for your career!"

"To hell with my career, Ginny! It's my family! Do you think I wanted Liam to grow up thinking he didn't have a father, to grow up like I did? I could have put my Auror training aside for later!"

"The chances of you going back were unlikely, and it was better that you made something of yourself rather than being forced to stay here."

"You act as though everything is more important to me than my son, as though I would have done it all in spite of Liam!" He was fuming.

"And you wouldn't have, hadn't it been for me!" Ginny insisted. "All I wanted to do was help you rather than hurt you! Can't you see that?"

"Why are you being like this?" Harry was frustrated with her. "You act like I'm always attacking you."

"What do you mean 'always?'" Ginny asked meticulously, standing up as she did so. "What are you getting at?"

Harry stood up. "I'm getting at Sarah!"

"What does she have to do with any of this? I thought we were talking about us, I mean, our situation!"

"Oh, don't play like that," Harry said, refusing to acknowledge the lack of transition between topics. "I've known since the moment I introduced her to you that you didn't like her."

"That is so not-"

"Don't lie to me about what this is about and what it's not about," Harry said. "I know you, Ginny. Sarah's a wonderful woman, and I'm sure that if you'd given her a chance, you would have been able to see that, too. You don't even talk to her when I bring her to the Burrow. Instead, you flit off to wherever it is that you go, and I have to come up with some excuse to her as to why she has yet to meet you!"

"I thought we were talking about Liam," she said, catching a glimpse of her son on his broomstick out of the corner of her eye.

"I was under the impression that we weren't talking at all, at least not since you met Sarah. Care to explain why you've been avoiding me since then?"

"I haven't been avoiding you," Ginny insisted. "I'm busy with work and with Liam, both of which are concerns that are more pressing than getting to know your girlfriend or going out of my way to talk to you."

"Oh, you have to go out of your way now, do you?"

"Just take a look at us, Harry! We're a mess! You're fine when you're with Liam, when I'm not around, but the moment that I'm suddenly there, you're not yourself and I just don't feel comfortable."

"You're one to talk," Harry said. "Something's clearly bothering you and you haven't bothered to tell me what it is."

"There are parts of my life that are my own, you know. I don't have to tell you everything, Harry."

"You used to."

And with that, silence befell them both. Whereas another situation may have brought nostalgic memories of stolen moments in corridors or beside the lake at Hogwarts, neither of them thought back to what "used to" meant. Instead, they just watched as Liam sped along, constantly squealing in excitement and never tiring of his ride. He rose higher with each loop he did, nearly a foot and a half off the ground, before heading back down and riding closer to the reeds and soil.

"That's our problem, then, isn't it?" Ginny finally asked. "We used to do a lot of things, and now we're not."

"I suppose so," Harry said simply, his gaze still focused on Liam and occasionally the sun setting on the horizon of the lake.

"Wyatt wants to have dinner tomorrow night, if you're not busy." Ginny's voice was barely a croak now. "So that you two can meet officially."

Harry didn't say anything for a while. Ginny didn't care to look at him, to implore him for some sort of response. She waited for all of several minutes.

"Sure," he finally said. "Sounds good. I'm going to head back inside." And with that, Harry spun around and headed back towards the Burrow, leaving Ginny and Liam alone again.

Ginny heaved a sigh, feeling rather empty inside and as though she had let some golden opportunity slip by.