Disclaimer: Don't own it. Nothing but the plot and some of the character's are mine. Pity, but true.


"I'll take your gaping silence as a yes, then?" Annie snapped. Ginny sat down hard on the armchair, her mind reeling with white hot anger. How could Harry DO that to her? How could he tell Annie? How could she ever trust him again? "I bet you really want to know how I found out, huh?"

"No," Ginny said, shaking her head, "I already know." She clenched her jaw and turned back to her daughter who looked angry and disappointed in her.

"Well," Annie snapped, "I'm going to tell you. I was talking to someone and they said that you dated Harry Potter when you were at Hogwarts," Annie began and Ginny winced, "so naturally, I was a tad curious. So I had a chat with uncle Ron and he informed me that you and Harry were still dating all the way to around early November." Ginny could feel a faint sweat on her forehead as Annie glared at her. "I was born in June, that would make me conceived early October, around the same time you were still dating Harry Potter. How could you?"

Ginny felt sick as she stared down at her hands. Annie was right to feel angry, Annie was right to feel so pissed off at Ginny that she may never speak to her again. It wasn't fair for either Harry or Annie.

"I did what I thought was best," Ginny said softly, looking up and staring into her daughter's eyes, the green specs glimmering in the soft lamplight.

"You lied to me," Annie whispered. "My entire life has been one big lie to you, hasn't it? How many people have you told besides me? How many people know?"

"Annie, don't get upset. It isn't like that-"

"Mum, don't you dare tell me not to get upset!" Annie cried. "You told me my father left!"

"He did!"

"You made me feel like such a burden, like such a waste of time-"

"I never meant-"

"But it did, mum! It did," Annie cried, rubbing her hands on her pants. She took a few calming breaths and managed to blink back the sharp stab of tears. "Tell me."

"What do you want to hear?" Ginny whispered.

"Everything," Annie replied. Ginny sighed and thought back to the first day she ever saw Harry and the way he made her feel. Even at ten she knew that one day she would be with him.

"Ok," Ginny said, biting her lip. "I saw him for the first time when I was ten and mum and I were going with the boys to Hogwarts…I just couldn't stop staring at him. His eyes, his hair, his smile…the scar…everything seemed so perfect, so beautiful that I felt something really weird come over me. After that all I could think about was him. Mum called it a crush or puppy love and I spent the first two years at Hogwarts terribly in love with your father-" The words tumbled out of Ginny's mouth to Annie, who was listening intently. "-I kept wishing that I he would stop seeing me as Ron's little sister and see me as something else…even a friend if that was what it had to be. You know, he saved my life." Annie raised her eyebrows and Ginny nodded. "I was eleven and somehow I got Tom Riddle's diary with my school things…well, one thing led to another and he saved me from expulsion, death, my mother's furry. I fell in love with him that day…real love."

Annie watched as her mother's eyes misted over and realized with a start that Ginny was still in love with him, and probably always would be.

"Well, after that it got quite unbearable to even be around him. My face was always hot, my hands were always sweaty and absolutely nothing intelligible came out of my mouth, even if I tried! It so embarrassing to have him see me all flustered when all I really wanted him to do was stop looking at me like that. Stop looking at me as though I was a child with a crush, stop looking at me as though I were just another stupid girl in love with the famous Harry Potter because it wasn't like that. I didn't love him because of what he had done before, I love him because of the way he was. He was shy at the best of times, modest, kind, sweet, handsome…he was just Harry and I wished more then anything that I could have him.

"One day I woke up and it hit me. He will never see me as someone other than little Ginny Weasley unless I stop being so obvious about everything. So…I got my first boyfriend and pretended that I didn't have feelings for him anymore. I never predicted how well it would work. Of course I got some help such as aunt Hermione and uncle Ron became prefects and Harry was left out of it. At times I was the only one to talk to and I managed to keep my blush down, my hands dry, and very intelligible thoughts came out of my mouth. He suddenly saw me as something of a friend.

"Voldemort hit again and left Harry even more angry and bitter then before after he killed Harry's godfather, Sirius. Plus, his entire fifth year consisted of people telling him he was a liar and Voldemort wasn't back, but then everyone found out he was, so it all turned out ok." Ginny quickly got back to the point in case Annie got bored or become angry again. "Anyways, my fifth year something amazing happened. He kissed me for the first time. It was magical and slightly annoying. I had always thought my first kiss with him would be sweet and romantic maybe down at the lake or in mum's garden one summer night. Not after a Quidditch game where I smelled like B.O. and had sweat, some not even mine, covered all over my face. That didn't seem to matter to him, he scooped me up and kissed me. Also, in front of EVERYONE, which was embarrassing. But then things got good and we started dating. He was nothing like my other boyfriends. He could kiss, unlike Michael Coroner who seemed more interested in suffocating me with his tongue then anything. By the way, Annie, if a boy can't kiss, try and teach him, if he still can't kiss, dump him. Believe me when I say it will help-" Annie raised one eyebrow signaling Ginny to go on. "Right…well…

"Dumbledore died that year, about a week before school ended. Snape killed him-"

"WHAT?" Annie cried, looking horrified. Ginny seemed confused and then gave a short laugh.

"Oh," she spluttered, "all cleared up. It was a big misunderstanding."

"So Snape didn't kill Dumbledore?"

"No, he did," Ginny said.

"Then how was it all cleared up?" Annie asked.

"It's very complicated," Ginny said, waving a hand in briefly, "something about a pensive and Dumbledore said to and Snape didn't want to but had to…Can I please finish my story?"

"Oh, by all means," Annie said sarcastically, waving her hand.

"Ok, where was I?" Ginny muttered. "Oh, yes- Well, that summer Harry changed. He tried to break up with me, something I wouldn't have. I went along with it for a little while until he got really annoying with it and we had some words. See, Voldemort couldn't kill Harry because Harry had his mother's love, which Voldemort now had. But as long as someone could love Harry in a different way, a more intimate way, then Harry would be safe to fight. For a while we didn't know what that meant until it suddenly came to me. By then, we had been in a war for about three years or so, I was nineteen at the time. I won't get into the gorey details because you're scarred enough, but it worked. Harry defeated Voldemort and I conceived you." Annie frowned, not an angry frown but a thoughtful frown. "I realized the spell could only work if there was someone else that could love Harry more then anything. I realized that in order to truly defeat Voldemort, I need to have a child to carry on in Harry's blood."

"I was conceived to save good magic?" Annie whispered. Ginny shook her head and went over to her daughter, bending down and cupping her face in her hands.

"No, baby," Ginny whispered, "you were conceived to save me. You were here to keep me going when it got bad and you were here so that one day, your father could realize that no matter how many bad things happen in the world, no matter how much is taken away from us, it always gives up back something extra special. And that was you. You were your father's miracle. You were what saved us."

OoOoOoOo

The Burrow seemed much bigger then the last time Harry had seen it, about four years ago. The old house still seemed lopsided as though any minute it was going to give out and tumble to the ground. He took a deep breath, shifted the bag over his shoulder, and walked up the uneven steps. The door even seemed bigger as he knocked twice.

"Uh, in a minute!" Mrs. Weasley called from inside. Harry could hear some swearing, a crash and then another swear and wondered briefly if he should have called first. The door opened and Mrs. Weasley came out, her head bent, wiping frosting off of her hands. "Yes- Harry!" she screamed and wrapped him into a violent hug. He literally felt the wind get knocked out of him as his ribs strained against Molly's boa-like hug. "Oh, we've missed you!" Harry felt guilt slowly seep into him as she stepped back and wiped the tears out of her with the corner of the napkin. "Come in, come in! Arthur, look who's here!"

"What, dear?" Arthur asked, sticking his head out from a doorway. His face lit up and he quickly hurried over to Harry, giving him an equally bone breaking hug. "Harry Potter, well, I'll be damned!" Harry smiled as the hug went from a hug to just holding on.

"How have you been?" Harry asked, slightly awkwardly. He didn't know if they knew what he knew and if they didn't he didn't want to say anything.

"Great," Molly said, happily filling a plate with food. "Here, dear, eat up. You're too skinny!" Harry smiled gratefully and sat down, looking at the old kitchen.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Well, let's see," Molly said. "Bill's in Egypt-" she muttered something Harry couldn't make out but it sounded as though she had called Fleur a really bad name "-Charlie is back in Romania, Percy is at the Ministry-" Percy had finally been forgiven by the entire Weasley family after he managed to get very useful information for the war. "-The twins are at that awful shop of theirs and Ron and Hermione are upstairs with the kids." Harry noticed she didn't mention Ginny, she never did. "Now, you will stay for Christmas dinner won't you?"

"Uh, Molly-" Arthur said quickly. "When you're done I need to ask you about something."
"Sure, dear," Molly said sweetly and turned back to Harry. He quickly finished his meal of pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, sausage, ham, French toast and some mixed fruit and followed Molly up the stairs, feeling very sleepy. "Here, dear, you can sleep here." She let Harry into the room that had been magically added after the War. It was one of eleven so that all the kids and grandkids could stay here at once. Harry's room resembled his broom cupboard at the Dursley's only he had a window and there were no locks on the outside of the door. "It's a bit cramped, but-"

"It's perfect, thank you, Molly," Harry said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him and handed him some fresh towels.

"Hermione and Ron should be waking up soon and we'll have breakfast," Molly said, forgetting she just fed Harry enough to feed a small country.

"Sure," Harry replied, looking around the room. He sat down on the bed and smiled. Molly left him to his thoughts and slowly traveled back down the stairs, a goofy smile on her face.

Two minutes later Harry realized he had forgotten his bag on the kitchen floor. He got up, stretched his legs and opened the door, facing the silent hallways. As he got closer to the kitchen, he stopped, listening to two angry voices fighting. He was about to turn around when he heard his name.

"-Harry can't be here when they get here, Molly!" Arthur whispered furiously. "Do you know what Ginny is going to do if she sees Harry here when Annie is here as well?"

"What would have liked me to do, Arthur?" Molly snapped. Her voice soon turned sarcastic: "'Hello, dear. Nice to see you for the first time in four years. Sorry we can't have you stay with us but your daughter is here and her mother doesn't want you to have any contact with her. Bye, dear!'"

"Molly, you know that we all missed Harry and that we all want Harry to stay with us, but-"

"But nothing!" Molly cried, her voice rising slightly. "I have sat by and watched the years slip by as Harry and Ginny grew further apart and that girl, your granddaughter, grow up without a father! No more, Arthur! Now, Ginny can either deal with it…or leave because this is my house!"

"Are you mad?" Arthur snapped.

"Possibly," Molly retorted. "There is no reason why Annie should be kept from her father anymore. If she gets angry, blame it on me. It's just a little matchmaking."

"See, the thing is, dear," Arthur snapped, "she doesn't know we know!"

"Oh," Molly cried, "how could she not? EVERYONE knows! That girl is the mirror image of him!"

"Obviously he doesn't know and it won't do any good to spring her upon him-"

"Arthur, he has the right to know," Molly said softly. "You yourself has said it on many occasions."

"I know he does," Arthur snapped, rubbing his head. "I just don't think it our place to decide when she tells him, that's all." Molly let out a sigh.

"I keep kicking myself for not saying anything earlier!" Molly suddenly burst out, making Harry jump. "Ooh, I just let her lie and lie and lie to us! 'Some Irish wizard boyfriend' she said! Huh! I've never met a black haired, green eyed wizard in my entire life! I should have said something a long time ago! I should have said something to her, told her it wasn't right, keeping a baby from him."

"She wasn't doing it out of spite, Molly!" Arthur snapped slightly. "We all remember what Harry was like when he came back." Harry felt himself blush and a familiar guilt come back to him. "She knew what it would do to him and I agree with her!"

"That baby should have had a family!" Molly cried.

"She did! She does, Molly!" Arthur cried. "Your daughter raised that baby on her own with help from no one. I don't blame her one bit. I would have done the same."

"Oh," Molly said, snorting, "I would have loved to see that. Arthur Weasley giving birth-" Arthur blushed and then glared at his wife.

"You know what I mean!"

"I do," Molly said with a sigh, "but you can't tell me that deep down in the tiniest corner of your heart that you don't think this is a good idea…can you?" Arthur didn't answer and Molly gave him a smile and went back to washing dishes.

Harry slowly turned around and walked back up the stairs, tripping over his bag, which had been placed on the landing, and walking down the hall. He stopped outside of his room and turned towards the door down the hall. It had a sign that read, in pink glittering letter's: Ginny's Room. Underneath it, it said: Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again, in black letters on a white poster. He smiled and slowly opened the door, taking in the familiar room before him. He looked at the light pink walls and deep pink carpet on the floor. The bed was made up and looked as though it hadn't been slept in in a year or so. He smiled at the pictures that plastered every spare surface and then the walls.

Pictures of the Weasley's; pictures of Bill's wedding; pictures of Bill's baby; pictures of everyone. He finally came to the end where he saw pictures that he himself had. They were pictures of Harry and Ginny dancing at the wedding, or the picture taken just before Harry left for good. It was him sitting by the window, reading a book. He remembered clearly how Ginny had taken it without him knowing it, so his picture never looked up.

Finally, he saw pictures of a baby with giant brown/green eyes that smiled at him as she played in her pin, pictures of her on her birthday, pictures, pictures, pictures of the daughter her never knew. Then, he saw it. He frowned at the picture at the far end. It was of Annie as a baby, she was smiling her chubby baby smile as Harry approached. He knew about this one because it had been sent to him ten years ago in an unmarked envelope, not by owl but muggle post. He never knew what it meant. Now he did. It was a picture of Annie that had been sent to him a long time ago. That's why she had always seemed so familiar.

Harry turned around and walked out of the room, feeling guilty for even going in in the first place. He was silently yelling at himself when footsteps came down the stairs.

"-you idiot! Now there's jam all over our bed sheets!"

"If you would stop screeching at me for one minute I'll go and get my wand to clean it," Ron barked and came into view, shaking his head. Hermione let out a shriek when she saw Harry, making Ron trip on the last step and stub his toe. He let out a stream of curses, some that made Hermione slap him in the arm, and looked up at Harry. "Hey, mate," he said through clenched teeth.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" Hermione cried, looking at him as though he had grown a few heads, all of which were staring at her.

"I'm here for the Holidays!" Harry said, trying to sound as though her weren't extremely nervous. "I finally took my Christmas holiday."

"But-" Hermione stuttered, trying to think of a reason to send him back to Hogwarts immediately, "-what about the students?"

"Not a one of them stayed for holidays," Harry said, smiling at her. He suddenly realized, with a swoosh of the stomach and a shiver, that Hermione knew. She had to know. There was no other explanation for the fear in her eyes as she looked at him.

"Oh…but, surely you have WORK to do, don't you?" Hermione asked, twirling her hair.

"Nope," Harry said and she glared at him.

"Do Molly and Arthur know you're here?"

"No, Hermione, he snuck in," Ron said, holding onto her shoulders and forcing her to keep walking. "Now, let's go get that wand and clean up the jam. It's still early and the kids will be here any moment…"

"Alright," Hermione snapped and looked back at Harry, biting her lip.

OoOoOoOoOo

Meanwhile, Ginny and Annie were still talking.

"Mum, why didn't you just tell me?" Annie asked desperately.

"I wanted to be sure you could understand it," Ginny said softly.

"I would have," Annie protested angrily.

"I just don't want you to hate me," Ginny said, tears slipping out of her eyes. Annie turned to her sharply and sighed.

"Angry? Yes, very. Confused? Very. Slightly disappointed I wasn't told before I met him at school? Yes. Do I hate you? Never," Annie said, now holding her mother's hands. "I could never hate you."

"I'm just so sorry, Annie! It never seemed to be a good time and I didn't know what to say or how to say it or how you would react-"

"Mum, I think…"Annie sighed and started again. "I think you did the right thing. Maybe it would have been worse to know who he was. I missed having a father, sure, but it never got to the point where I would die if I didn't see him. I always thought that when I did meet him it would be because he wanted it, not because I was his student. Just…why did you wait?"

"His parents were dead, Sirius was dead, Dumbledore was dead, Ron was hurt, I was hurt, Hermione was hurt, everyone he loved was hurt and he blamed himself. He left me, not knowing I had you, because he thought a life with him would hurt me more then a life without him. I never told him I was pregnant because I realized he hadn't been free his entire life and telling him he had a baby would have made him feel chained again. He would have come back and he would have loved you with all his heart, but I didn't want him to. I wanted him to go out and be himself to have fun for once. He tried to get back in touch with me a little while ago but everything seemed so perfect now…maybe if you had voiced your need for a father I would have brought you to see him…" Ginny trailed off and let out a small sob.

"Does he even know who I am?" Annie asked. Ginny winced.

"Well…"

"HE DOES?" Annie burst out. "How long has he known?" Did he not want to see her? Did he not want her in his life?

"Like, a few months-"

"MONTHS?" Annie yelled, unable to keep the sound of voice down. She took a few steadying breaths and looked back over at her mother. "You told him?"

"No," Ginny said, "he figured it out. You do look so much like him…"

"This is weird," Annie said softly.

"I know," Ginny said, nodding.

"I mean, I've been calling my dad Harry Potter for my entire life," she said, frowning.

"He really wants to see you," Ginny offered. "Do you want to see him?" Annie thought for a moment. She nearly blurted out, "Of course I do!" but stopped herself.

"Yes," she said calmly. "I think I would like to see him sometime outside of school…"

"How about tonight at Christmas dinner?" Ginny asked. "He's probably at grandma and grandpa's-"

"Mum!" Annie bellowed, glaring at her mother.

"Whaaat?" Ginny asked.

"You already arranged something with him?" she snapped.

"Well…yeah-"

"You didn't even know I would say yes," Annie snapped.

"Well if you didn't then I would just say you weren't ready-"

"Oh, God!" Annie cried, rubbing her eyes. "Like that wouldn't have been awkward!"

"I'm sorry, alright!" Ginny cried. "I'm trying to make it right with us."

"You need some lessons in tact," Annie muttered and rubbed some dirt off her shoes. "I'm tired. I think I'm going to go sleep." She got up and walked past her mother, who stopped her.
"Babe?"

"Yeah?" Annie asked, turning back to her mother.

"Are we good?" she asked. Annie stared at her mother long and hard and then her forehead smoothed out.

"Yeah," Annie said softly, "we're good." Ginny felt herself well up as her daughter went upstairs. Ginny got up, took out some parchment and quickly scratched a letter to Harry explaining what was happening. Maybe for the first time in a long time everything would go great.

A/N please read and review.