Disclaimer: JKR and various publishing companies own Harry Potter and everything associated with it. I own Emery Daria, Meredith and Nathaniel Weasley, Sarah Trodman, and the plot.
A/N ~ Thanks for all your kind words and continued support. Sorry it's been awhile, my muse left me for another! (*pointing finger to aikakone*). But it seems to be back and hopefully will start being cooperative again.
aikakone ~ Thanks for your continued support, not only with WoR, but with all my stories. It's been a lot of fun getting to know you! Bad, bad influences *grin*. An almost kiss *sigh*…oh, I just wish they would hurry up and get to it already!
Artemis Ray ~ Welcome aboard! Glad you are enjoying a hopefully 'well-balanced' Remus (My favorite I think is cheeky!Remus *grin*).
Smile (gigs_2) ~ Thanks for reviewing, it's been 'wicked' fun to write! Don't worry about George, we'll take care of him *smile*.
Neni Potter ~ Well, if Draco is capable of love, I think he's in it. Don't fret, all's not lost with Draco just yet. Am playing with a few ideas for a BZ/GW story, but nothing has solidified yet….
Spunky ~ Thanks again for coming to FFN to review! Kind words are always encouraging! See you on the threads!
SnapesEvilMistress ~ Isn't Remus the sweetest with kids? Think he will make an excellent father someday! Glad you are enjoying and thanks for the continued support!
Chapter 14: Remnants
Ginny had selected a pair of muggle maternity jeans and a loose cotton blouse out of the box I had brought back from Ron's. When she was ready, we prepared to Floo to the Bishop's. The Bishops were a wizarding family that lived near Harry and Ginny in Godric's Hollow.
Ron had dropped Merry and Nat off at the Burrow and insisted on meeting us there.
When Ginny caught sight of the remains of Potter Place, you could feel her steel her nerves against the flood of emotion that surely overcame her. It appeared to be nothing more than a charred shell.
"You don't have to do this, Gin," Ron said supportively. When her eyes glazed over with feral determination, he said, "Well, just be careful then. Moony is proof that it's dangerous."
She made her way hesitantly up the stairs and through the threshold where there had once been a door. It wasn't long before a floorboard gave way beneath her right foot, sending her lurching forward. Both Ron and I instinctively grabbed for her. She never said a word and kept her eyes firmly affixed on the rubble and destruction that surrounded her.
All the pictures that had been on the mantle were now burned to ash-her wedding picture, pictures of her brothers and their families, a picture of Fred and Angelina the night they announced their engagement.
Harry's study, which Ginny hadn't touched since his death, was the next room she ventured into. It was not as destroyed as the foyer and living room had been. Some of the books that had lined the many bookshelves were salvageable, if not untouched. Among those was the photo album Hagrid had given Harry at the end of his first year of Hogwarts.
The glass case that had held Godric Gryffindor's sword had been shattered, but the sword itself was unscathed. Dumbledore had given it to Harry as a graduation gift. Ginny fingered it precariously. The sword that had killed the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets wasn't particularly full of fond memories for her. "Perhaps I could donate it to Hogwarts?" she uttered to no one in particular.
"Ron, will you look through the desk?" she asked after a few more moments of kneeling in the soot and ash.
Ron complied silently. The contents of the desk had also escaped the chaos that had abounded around it. Harry had kept an extra wand (his holly and phoenix feather wand had been destroyed in the final battle) the keys to their Gringott's vaults and a couple of pictures of Ginny that she obviously didn't know were being taken.
"Hey, Gin, what's this key too?" Ron asked, holding up a small key with a round head.
Ginny eyed the key from across the room. "I don't know. Is it a Gringott's key?'
"No," Ron answered. "Those are here."
I left the bookshelf I had been sorting through and examined the key. "Ginny, did Harry keep a safe or a file cabinet?"
About that time Ron attempted to open the last desk drawer. "It´s stuck.'
"That's what the key is for," Ginny said as she fought to get up.
"There's no key hole," Ron argued.
"I know that!"
Only a fool would intervene in a Weasley sibling argument, and I am not usually a fool. So I did the only logical thing and became particularly interested in the bookshelf once again.
"Harry charmed it," Ginny explained. "I just can't remember what the password is."
"Will a Finite Incantatum work?" I suggested.
Ginny pulled her wand and tried it. It didn't work. "Any other ideas?"
Ron thought earnestly. "It wouldn't be in Parsletongue would it?"
"No!' Ginny snapped. "He told me. I just can't remember."
"Then let's skip it for now and come back to it," I suggested.
We continued through the house. After Ginny nearly fell again, Ron took the lead to make sure it was safe. Since the bomb went off by the back door, the kitchen was laid to waste.
Admittedly, I was uneasy as Ron began to climb the stairs, afraid one would give under his weight at any moment. We all made it to the second storey and Ginny went right to her bedroom; their bedroom.
While in a state of disarray, there appeared to be a great deal that would be salvageable. Ginny started with the dresser drawers, most of its contents left untouched.
"Oculus Reparo," Ginny said as she affectionately fondled an old pair of Harry's glasses.
"That works better with a wand, Gin," Ron pointed out.
"No, Ron, that's the password to the desk drawer."
"I'll take care of it," I said and turned to leave.
"Oculus Reparo!" I uttered and the keyhole appeared. The drawer was full of files and papers. The deed for the house, their marriage license, and his Last Will and Testament were in the first few files. There was a file of keepsakes; a picture of Ron, Hermione and him at Graduation, a Valentine that appeared to be from a child that compared his eyes to a pickled toad, his Hogwarts diploma and his Order of Merlin, First Class papers.
When I pulled out the last file, six letters fell out. They were sealed and addressed only with a name, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Remus (my breath hitched when I read my own name), A. Dumbledore, and Malfoy (Harry never could bring himself to call him Draco).
"Ginny, Ron," I called. "I think you should come down here."
I fingered the envelope with my name on it tentatively. Within moments, both Ron and Ginny had reentered the study.
"Did it work?" Ginny asked, her voice sounding very tired. "What did you find?"
Without looking at her, I handed her the envelope with her name on it in Harry's writing. I held Ron and Hermione's up for Ron to take; he instead stared at them in mortified shock. My eyes stung with unshed tears.
"I can't read this," Ginny whispered.
"Me neither," Ron agreed.
I could barely breathe, let alone speak, at that moment. For some reason the loss of Harry, Sirius, and Tonks all weighed heavily on me at that moment.
Ginny's hand gently caressed my shoulder. "Remus?"
Words were lost to me. Ginny soon wrapped her arms around me, hugging me from behind. Her pregnant stomach was pressed firmly to my back. Ron had placed his hand reassuringly on my shoulder, and his other around Ginny.
How long we stayed like that I have no idea. It wasn't until I felt the baby move that I was brought out of my brood. "What was that?" I asked dumbly.
Through her tears, Ginny smiled. "That was the baby moving." She grabbed my hands and gently placed them on her stomach. It wasn't long before the baby started move again and then kick with enthusiasm.
I was in awe of the tiny life inside of her. "That's incredible!" In that moment, emotions I didn't know I possessed overcame me.
"You know what? Let's just call it a day," Ron suggested, shoving the envelopes into his robe pockets. "Let the ministry finish going through this and packing it up and we can go have dinner at the Burrow. I can use one of Mum's home cooked meals right about now."
Molly was thrilled to have her two babies home for an evening. We were all covered in soot and ash, but she just shooed us outside for a good Scourgify. Merry and Nat found it really humorous that as adults we had gone out and gotten so dirty.
It looked as though there was going to be a family dinner at the Burrow as Percy and Penny soon showed up, followed by George.
It pained Ginny to see George without Fred. He was only a shell of his former self; the notorious Gryffindor prankster, joke shop owner extraordinaire. He was fairly tall, but his years out of Hogwarts and not being a Quidditch Beater had made him slender, almost lanky.
"Hey George," Ginny said as she sank into the couch. "How's business been?"
He smiled, although his smiles hadn't been sincere in years, and never reached his eyes anymore. "Good enough, I suppose."
"Come up with any new inventions lately?" she continued, hoping that someday he would be the George Weasley everyone knew and loved.
"No, haven't done any experiments in a while," he answered. "So what's new with you? Read about you all the time in the Daily Prophet." He then looked at me with a sly grin.
"Oh, you know," she started casually. "My belly's getting so big I can hardly put on my own shoes. My house was blown to smithereens by my ex-boyfriend. Oh, and let's not forget to mention the fact that I was supposed to be in it when it went up in flames. And by the way, I'm having a torrid affair with Remus."
Three pans hitting the ground in a clatter could be heard from the kitchen, while Arthur and Percy looked at me in a mixture of horror and shock. George just grinned madly, knowing full well what his sister was on about, as did Penny.
"I thought we had agreed not to tell your family until after the baby, Red," I deadpanned. It was all I could to keep a straight face, but somehow I managed.
Ginny got up from the couch and sat on the arm of the chair that I was sitting in. She entwined her fingers in my hair affectionately. "Well, how can we continue to keep it a secret with all the reports in the Daily Prophet?"
If she only knew what she was doing to me in reality. To defer my attention, I picked up a copy of the Quibbler that was sitting on the floor next to the chair and looked at it intently. Thankfully, no one thought that it was unusual that I was reading it upside down.
"What's a torrid affair, Daddy?" asked Meredith very seriously.
This caused George to roll off the arm of the couch into the couch itself, raking with laughter. George was laughing so hard he was hugging his stomach fiercely. "Red?" he finally managed to sputter. "Please tell me that…."
A maniacal grin slowly took to Ginny's lips. "Yes George," she began saucily, "Red, as in Little Red Riding Hood."
"GINNY!" Molly shouted as she rushed out of the kitchen. "Meredith, Nathaniel, into the kitchen this instant."
"But Granmum," Nathaniel started, "I like the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'."
"NOW!" Molly insisted, shooing her grandbabies off into the kitchen.
Arthur was trying hard to suppress his laugh, but Molly shot him a contemptuous look anyway. George reminded me of his younger days all folded up on the couch in uncontrolled laughter; even Ron was getting a good chuckle out of the rouse.
"But Mum," George reeled in laughter. "Little….Red…." He was unable to complete his sentence as laughter had consumed him yet again.
"Ginevra Molly Potter!" Molly screeched at her very pregnant daughter. "And you," she wagged her finger accusingly at me, but at a loss for further words.
"Molly?" I mouthed, looking up at Ginny from the magazine in my hands. Ginny couldn't do or say anything at present as she was laughing so hard tears were cascading down reddened cheeks.
"Molly," Arthur started slowly, trying to carefully formulate his words. "We've all lost quite a lot."
Molly looked as though her entire world had just been scandalized. "But he…" This time it was Arthur who cut her off abruptly with a harsh glare.
"Oh, well, that's good news then, isn't it dear?" Molly stammered as sat on the arm of the chair where Arthur sat.
"Mum," Ron started with a goofy grin on his face. "She's only joking. You know that don't you?"
"Oh, well, of course she is," Molly spluttered. "Nothing against you, Remus. Why, you're almost family. Just, just..."
I held my hand up to deter her from further explanation; although I'm not sure I really wanted to hear it anyway. "It's quite all right, Molly. We are both just getting really fed up with all the speculations."
Dinner afterwards was delightful; Molly hadn't lost her touch. The dinner conversation ranged from the upcoming election of a new Minister of Magic, to Fleur insisting Billy attend Beauxbatons Academy instead of Hogwarts.
Arthur and I had excused ourselves to the living room and engrossed ourselves in a deep conversation about Muggle methods of travel, since I had flown on an airplane once.
"Well, you are staying here tonight dear. Aren't you?" Molly's voice carried from the kitchen.
"No mum," Ginny answered tiredly. "I'm going to go back to Remus' until the weekend."
"Well, I just don't understand why you won't stay here?" Molly said as she entered the living room, tossing her hands up in the air animatedly. "Shouldn't she just stay here, Arthur?"
Arthur knew that this was one of those times that no matter what his opinion, he had better agree with his wife. "There is plenty of room," he said, remaining as non-committal as possible.
Ginny just smiled. "I know, Dad, but I'm fine. Besides, Draco has security already set up around Remus'."
Molly searched for a flaw in her daughter's argument, but could find none.
*TBC ~ coming up…Remus in a towel, need I say more? But if I do…another birthing class, the full moon, and…Ginny and Remus get caught in a compromising position *gasp*.