Who here thinks that the Molly - Ginny - Lily bond is a force of nature? I DO! (Couldn't possibly be because I'm from a long chain of daughters, could it? XD) How much do you think it meant to Molly for Ginny to have a little girl?

9 October 2007 – Baby

Molly, out of breath and hopelessly excited, hurried up to Ginny's kitchen door and knocked, very gently. A soft early-autumn breeze blew past, and she tugged her traveling cloak tighter about her shoulders. Finally, Arthur opened the door and beamed tiredly at her. She rushed into his arms.

"A girl?" she whispered happily, as he kissed her cheek, helping her remove her cloak.

"A very beautiful girl," Arthur promised. "But, Molly—"

"Wait until you see Hugo," she gushed. "He's absolutely Ron—but with Hermione's eyes, can you imagine it? He's precious, Arthur, I just—" She looked around; arrival of a new baby or not, whenever she walked through the door of this house, she was used to being greeted by the war cries of at least two, but usually three small boys. "Where are James and Albus and—Teddy? Wait a moment, where's—where's Harry?"

"The boys are with Andromeda," said Arthur as he took her hands, smiling in a way that made Molly rather nervous. He brought her to sit down at the kitchen table. "There's something I need to tell you, sweetheart—"

Molly felt her stomach plummet. "The baby," she whispered.

"The baby is perfectly healthy," he promised her. He did not look tearful or overly upset—this did something to calm Molly's nerves, but not much. "Ginny has—"

"Ginny," she repeated, "Ginny what?"

"I'm trying to tell you," Arthur said patiently. "Ginny's had a complication—that's why the baby came so late. She's going to have to stay in bed for the next few weeks, take it easy—"

"Why?" Molly asked at once.

"I don't know the specifics," he replied, hiding a faint smile, "But I'm sure you can ask our daughter when she wakes up. She is going to be just fine, I promise you—she was joking around with Harry and me at the crack of dawn, before she fell asleep. He's sitting with her now."

At that moment, Harry came into the kitchen, his face alight with a grin. "She's awake, Arthur—oh—hi, Molly!" he said happily, coming over and kissing her; he could have been levitating. "Everything all right at the hospital? What's the baby's name?"

"H-Hugo," Molly sputtered, a little shocked as Harry prepared a tea service. "He's—he looks just like Ron…"

Harry grinned. "That's spectacular!" he said ecstatically, rapping the whistling kettle with his wand. It poured itself into the teapot. He looked at Arthur. "Boys get out all right?"

Arthur nodded. "Andromeda says they can stay the night if you need it, as well."

Harry rubbed his chin. "I'll ask Ginny how she's feeling…that's great, just great…Molly, you're all right?" For Molly was frozen in the act of standing up to embrace Harry sympathetically, but now she was very confused. Harry looked at Arthur. "Did you make it sound dire?"

"I tried not to," Arthur replied. "I told you I'd muck it up."

Harry came over, still smiling (though in a more reassuring, less manic way), and kissed Molly's cheek gently. "Ginny is fine," he promised. And, because she had believed him for so many years—because she had trusted him implicitly from the day he had told her how much he loved Ginny—Molly relaxed.

"She is," she repeated softly, and Harry nodded.

"She's not feeling her best at the moment, and won't be for a couple of weeks, Lavender says," he admitted, "But the baby's healthy, and Ginny's going to be absolutely fine."

He turned and flicked his wand. Three teacups and saucers flew from the cupboard and settled themselves on the tray beside the steaming pot of tea. "Why don't you both go upstairs and say hello to your granddaughter?" he asked, picking up the tray and placing it in Arthur's hands.

Harry and Arthur followed Molly through the kitchen door to the stairs. Molly got halfway up, following Arthur, before she turned suddenly to face Harry again. "Her name," she said, "What's her name?"

Harry blinked, his smile slipping for only a half second—or did his chin tremble? "Lily," he told her. "Lily Luna."

Molly smiled and followed Arthur the rest of the way up the stairs, coming to a stop at Harry and Ginny's bedroom door. She knocked once.

"You don't need to knock, Harry," said Ginny's voice, and Molly smiled even more; she sounded very tired, but joking and teasing was always a good sign.

"It's not Harry," Molly replied, opening the door. "It's just us—but if you'd rather we left…"

"Mum," said Ginny happily. "Oh, Daddy, thank you," she added as he brought the tea tray in and set it on the bedside table beside a wide variety of potions. She lay in the center of the big bed, cradling a small bundle of flowery yellow blankets, from which one small hand protruded.

"How's she doing?" Arthur asked, kissing Ginny's head gently and reaching out one finger to stroke Lily's hand. He settled himself on a chair next to the bed, leaning close. "Hello, sweet pea—hello, Lily…"

Ginny smiled and looked up at Molly, who stood at the end of the bed. "She doesn't bite hard," she said, arching an eyebrow and smirking. She patted the empty space on the bed beside her. "Come say hi, Granny."

And though it certainly didn't sound like it, Molly knew that what Ginny wanted right now was to curl up beside her own mother, just like Lily was doing with her. Very slowly, she approached the bed and sank down on the mattress, moving close to Ginny, who relaxed gratefully against her. Molly leaned over to peer into the tiny, pink face. "Oh, Ginny," she whispered. Lily's eyes were wide-open and a lovely shade of light brown. She blinked once, frowning up at Molly.

Ginny let out a slow sigh; she seemed to be trying not to move very much, but tipped her head away from the pillow to rest on Molly's shoulder. She seemed to have a bit of a low fever, but Molly could fix that. She kissed the top of her head gently.

"How did I do, Mummy?" Ginny asked quietly. She looked exhausted, thrilled, and, yes, a bit ill—but mostly, she was happy.

Molly leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You did beautifully, darling."

"Agreed," Arthur replied in a rather tight voice, and Ginny gave a short laugh and rubbed his arm.

"I don't know what you were so worried about, Arthur, really" Molly said to him, smiling as she watched her daughter coo at Lily—her daughter. "They're just fine."