Harry happily entered his home. "Gin?" he called, hanging his cloak in the front closet. He picked up his bag from where he had set it down, and walked further into the house.

"Harry, is that you?" called Ginny. "I'm in your office." She often used his home office to write her articles for the Daily Prophet, preferring to work from home than an office at the paper's headquarters.

Harry came into the office; her face brightened. "You're early...aren't you? Wait, what's wrong?" Her face changed to one of concern.

Harry chuckled. "Nothing is wrong, I simply left work early. All our cases are up to date and all my paperwork is done. So I told Nancy I was leaving and to owl me if anything urgent came up. Otherwise I was starting my weekend early."

Ginny sat back in her chair, studying him. "What?" he asked, self consciously.

She grinned. "Captain United Kingdom does it again. All the bad guys locked up AND your paperwork done. You're my hero!" she teased.

Harry shook his head affectionately. "Other guy's wives love chick flicks, rom coms, but my wife, no, she likes the superhero action movies. Love, I am nothing like Captain America."

Ginny ignored him. "Where's your big green friend?" she asked.

"Ron is hardly the Incredible Hulk, and you know he was only green because you dared him to eat that dubious looking ham sandwich from the cool box," he reminded her. "How long had it been sitting in there?"

Ginny shrugged. "He could have said – Merlin, is that the time? I have to go and pick Lily up from school! Damn, I wanted to have this article written before I left," she moaned.

"Stay here, keep writing, I'll go get Lily from school," he offered. Their daughter Lily Luna was their only child still at home, as both James and Albus were in Scotland at Hogwarts.

"Oh, that will make all the mum's knickers get into a twist, especially Whiny Briony," laughed Ginny.

Harry screwed up his nose. Briony Peterson had initially been quite excited to learn her daughter would be in the same class as Harry and Ginny Potter's daughter, and had pushed for the girls to become friends. Unfortunately, the girls had become rivals, each excelling in different areas. When Lily had beaten Iris Peterson in a maths test, Briony had claimed Lily Potter was getting preferential treatment. A meeting was held between the two sets of parents to diffuse the rapidly growing tension between the girls that had divided their classroom. Ginny, never one to back down in defending her children, had dubbed the mother 'Whiny Briony' in private. She found it amusing that this woman still continued to gush whenever Harry came to school events for Lily.

"Well, it'll be worth it to see Lily's face, she loves it when I go to her school, and soon enough she'll be at Hogwarts with her brothers," said Harry, a trifle sadly.

Ginny nodded, fingering a letter on her desk. "She does love it when you visit her at school. Go on then, you best be off. I may or may not have a surprise for both of you when you return," she said mysteriously.

Harry looked intrigued. "Bet I could make you tell me," he taunted, coming towards her slowly, his eyes twinkling with that look.

She held up one hand. "No, don't come any closer. Go, you have just enough time to change before she gets out of school...and I have work to do." She hunched over her parchments, re-reading what she had written.

Harry frowned but turned away, intending to go upstairs and quickly change into something more casual.

"Harry?"

He stopped at the doorway and turned, his eyebrow raised in query.

She smiled that smile. "You definitely could have made me tell you," she told him softly, and winked, then waved him away.

Harry smiled, feeling seventeen all over again and totally enamoured with a young Ginny Weasley. He quickly changed, called out a farewell to his wife, then went outside, deciding to Apparate to Lily's school.

He took his time walking to Lily's classroom, already seeing a large gathering of women – only women – outside, waiting for their respective children. He rested under the shade of a tree, trying to ignore the sidelong looks and hushed, and not so hushed, whispers. Thankfully, there was no sign of Whiny Briony, er, Briony Peterson.

The bell sounded, and Harry straightened. He smiled to see the children rush out, eager to see their parent and go home to begin their weekend. He brightened when Lily's red hair came into view, as she bounded down the stairs, looking left and right for her mother. Her gaze swung past him before doubling back. His heart leapt at the look of sheer happiness on her face when she realised her dad had come to pick her up.

"Dad!" she called, waving, and headed to him. Her red hair had come out of the pony tail she had when she had left the house that morning, and, unlike her mother, she embraced bold colours in her wardrobe, even if they clashed terribly with her hair. Hence, her lilac tee shirt and pink backpack.

"You're here," she announced, pleased, throwing her arms around his middle. She pulled away. "Is everything all right? Is it Mum, or James, Albus?"

"Everything is fine, Lil," he soothed, as they turned to begin the journey home. He threw her backpack over his shoulder. Harry decided to walk rather than Apparate, seeing as there was no hurry this time. "I finished work early and, seeing as your mum was trying to finish her article, I offered to come pick you up from school."

"Oh." Lily waved goodbye to a couple of her friends. " So everyone is fine. Gran, Grandpa?"

"Yes," said Harry. He decided to change the topic. "How was school?"

"Sooo boring," sighed Lily.

"I bet it wasn't that bad, Lily," reasoned Harry.

"Dad, I don't know how school was in the old days when you and mum went – "

"Your mum was homeschooled by your gran," interrupted Harry.

Lily looked triumphant, stopping to look up at him. "That's because school is so boring!" she declared.

He looked amused. "School isn't boring, Lily. Hogwarts is a school, for example, and you want to go there next year, right?" He felt a sudden pang that all his children would be far away from home after September.

"But at Hogwarts you can learn to make things fly. Today I just learned about gravity," she said grumpily, her face scowled in disappointment.

Harry smiled, her facial expression reminded him of Ginny, when he told his wife the store had been out of her favourite flavour of ice cream and he'd had to get a different one. "Good point," he conceded, "but what goes up, must come down," he told Lily.

They turned the corner, crossing a field, their home in sight. " Come on, I'll race you, Your mum said she had a surprise for us," he confided.

"We should have Apparated then," said Lily, but her eyes were alight with the idea of a race. "Ready, set, GO!"

She took off, racing for home, occasionally looking behind her to see where her dad was. Harry took off after her, running at half pace to let her win. It was worth it for the look in her eyes.

"I win, I win," she gloated, dancing some kind of jig as he huffed his way to the front door. "Mum, where are you?" she called, heading indoors. "I beat Dad in a race home," she crowed.

"Well done, Lily," gloated Ginny, coming down the hall from the office. She hugged her daughter. "Your dad's getting soft, the only thing he chases these days is his own Aurors for their reports" She shot Harry a wink over their daughter's head. "How was school?"

"Boo-rring," drawled Lily. "Dad said you had a surprise for us."

"First of all, any homework?" asked Ginny.

Lily shook her head.

"And you're good to go?" Ginny asked Harry.

He nodded.

"Well then... we've been invited out to dinner," announced Ginny.

" Is that all?" sighed Lily, disappointed. " Who is it? Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, I bet."

"Nope," said Ginny.

"George and Angelina?" asked Harry.

"Not even close," teased Ginny.

Harry and Lily looked at each other, then grabbed Ginny and started tickling her. "Tell us!" demanded Lily.

Ginny slapped Harry's wandering hands away. " Okay, I'll tell," she laughed. "How does dinner in Scotland sound?"

Harry and Lily looked at each other, both coming to the same conclusion together. "Hogwarts!"

Ginny nodded. "Hagrid invited us. I figure if we get there early enough, we can go for a fly. All of us!"

"Will we see Teddy, James and Al?" asked Lily, jumping up and down in excitement.

"-And Vic and Domi and -"

"Lil, if you're going to name all your cousins, you'll be here all night. Go upstairs and change, we'll leave soon," chided Ginny.

Lily bounded up the stairs, whooping at the thought of a trip to Hogwarts to see her brothers, her godbrother and Hagrid.

"Good thing I got off work early," said a suspicious Harry.

"Yes, well, your assistant Nancy and I agreed an early start to the weekend is just what you need," revealed Ginny, impishly. She ran her hands up his chest. "You know, Captain America has a shield, even Thor has a big hammer but you..." She was practically purring.

"What?" he asked.

"That pink back-pack is really doing it for me, if you get my drift," she winked.

He threw back his head and laughed.

A/N recent work from blvnk