Harry didn't remember getting in bed, though he woke there the next morning. It was one of those ephemeral, lovely mornings when getting out of bed seems like a crime. The breeze from the open window was cool, the covers were cozy and warm, and Ginny was soundly asleep next to him, warm and soft, smelly sweet and spicy and distinctly Ginny. He rolled to catch her in his embrace when the memory of last night hit him directly in the gut. Suddenly he couldn't breathe, his heartbeat reverberating through his entire body. He gasped for air, trying his best not to disturb Ginny. They had stayed up for hours as Ginny explained just how it had all gone down. They had talked, they had cried, they had just laid silent for a while on the floor.

At last, he began to breathe again, trying to remain calm by matching his breathing with hers. She shifted in her sleep, further into his embrace. His heart squeezed. A ray of early morning sunlight hit her face, illuminating her features, as if from within, in a golden light.

She had told him the whole story last night, once he'd realized what had happened. The two of them stayed up for hours. They had talked, they had cried, they had just laid silent for a while on the floor. Harry felt so guilty now, knowing that he had caused her so much stress that - no, he couldn't even think the words. He felt so ashamed. How had he not noticed this whole time? His mind began to swirl. Had the baby gone because he'd been scared? Because their child knew that they weren't ready?

He shook his head, trying to erase the destructive thoughts his mind had plucked from obscurity. He buried his face in her hair, trying to lose himself in her gentle scent. Ginny stirred, humming in appreciation as he began to softly kiss the back of her neck.

"Good morning to you, too," she whispered, reaching her hand back to pat his cheek. "Harry, wait a second." She rolled over so they were face to face, and lovingly finger combed his messy hair.

"How are you?" Harry whispered.

"I'm…I mean, I've been better, that's for certain." She smiled at him wryly. "And you?"

His eyes fluttered. "You could say that I've been better, too. Come here, I need you." He whispered huskily, pulling her closer by the waist.

"Hold on," she pushed back gently with a hand on his chest. "I think we should see if Dr. Albright can see us today. She already knows about…the situation, and I think talking to her will help you make sense of it."

"Yeah," he said, softening. "That does sound like a good idea." The air caught in his throat, and he gasped.

"Oh Harry…" Ginny caressed his face. "I'm so sorry."

"You're sorry?" He gasped. "You didn't do anything -"

She cut him off with a kiss, and they tried to heal each other in the best way they knew.

Later that day, Ginny, Harry, Lily, and James sat in Dr. Albright's cozy waiting room. Dr. Albright's office was located in the lower level of her charming home, just off the main street of Hogsmeade. It was a place Harry and Ginny had visited many times, and they had long ago read through all of the older issues of Witch Weekly and The Quibbler. Lily and James, however, were feeling a little less than comfortable.

"You're sure she won't mind us coming in unannounced?" Lily asked.

"No, she's got an open door policy for Harry. She's extended it to me in the past, and I'm sure she'll do the same for you." Ginny waved her off.

"I don't know, I feel bad just dropping in. Maybe we should go." Lily stood and James joined her.

"Why don't we just take a walk around and come back later, love? I'd love to see Hogsmeade again," James suggested kindly.

"That would be lovely, would you mind, Harry?"

"Not at all! We'll likely be done in about an hour. Have fun, you crazy kids!" With a wave and a promise to be back soon, they were off. In the bright late summer light, the village of Hogsmeade seemed to shimmer like a mirage. They strolled hand in hand through the empty streets. As the school year had yet to start, the little village was theirs to explore without the prying eyes of stray students.

"You know, it's amazing just how little this place has changed," James remarked quietly. "I don't think I've been here since graduation, but it still looks exactly the same."

"I know. The Wizarding World moves so slowly. If this were a muggle village, it would be almost entirely different. I think that's one of the qualities I like and dislike the most about magic." Lily replied.

They stopped in Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, and Lily giggled as James picked up a rosy bronze metal quill.

"Look familiar?" He smirked at her.

"Of course," she replied, taking the quill to examine it. "You gave me one of these for my birthday fourth year."

"And just what did you do with it, madam?"

She suppressed a smile and placed it back on the display. "As I recall, I threw it back at you and missed. It bounced off the wall, and ended up braining Peter instead."

James' smile dropped in favor of a scowl. "Wish it had killed the fucking bastard," he muttered.

"James," she hissed in protest, as his harsh words had caught the attention of the cashier, and dragged him out of the shop. They walked in silence for a while before she spoke again.

"I still have it, you know. The quill."

"Do you? I thought it was dented after that."

She nodded. "It was. Still is. At the time, I hated that it came from you, but…it still worked. I told myself that it would be a shame to waste such a nice quill. Looking back, I definitely kept it because I had a crush on you."

"All the way back in fourth year? Merlin, Lily, we could been together for ages!" She just laughed.

"Since second year, if we're being honest. I actually had a little crush on Sirius first year, but once I noticed his best friend, I was done for. I think that's why we fought so much. I just liked having an excuse to talk to you."

"No kidding! And all this time I thought it was because I was an arrogant prick." James smirked, and swung their intertwined hands.

Lily laughed, pulling him backwards through the door to the Three Broomsticks. "Oh, don't get me wrong; you were an arrogant prick. But a very cute arrogant prick." She winked at him.

They ordered two Butterbeers, and sat at the bar, with their backs to the door. They had just finished when someone entered and began calling in their direction.

"Oi! Ginny, Harry, what're you doing here?" A short young man with blonde hair began to approach them, but stopped when they turned to face him.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were somebody else. Sorry to bother you." He turned and started to head towards the bartender instead.

"No trouble, I suppose we do look a bit like them," James chuckled and turned back to his drink.

"Wait, sorry," Lily got up suddenly. The man stopped. "Are you…by any chance, are you Neville Longbottom?" A flush spread up his neck.

"Uh, yeah, but I don't really have time for an autograph, I'm kind of meeting someone."

"Oh! No, no. I didn't…we were friends with your parents. You look just like your mum. Sorry to bother you." She sat down once more. Neville took a timid step towards them.

"You knew my mum? How?" He was entranced, looking at her longingly.

Lily smiled. "She was a couple years ahead of us at school, and Alice and I spent a lot of time together when she was pregnant with you."

"What…what was she like?" His voice broke, and James pulled a stool over for him.

"She was a really wonderful woman. Whip smart, passionate, a little shy, until you got to know her better. I've never met anyone kinder, or more devoted to fighting for what she believed in. And she was one of the best duelists I've ever seen. She almost danced when she fought. She was so excited for you." Lily took his hand in hers. "And from what I've heard, she would be very, very proud of you."

"And your dad? Frank was so goddamn funny! Always so positive. He tripped over his own feet every single day of his life and always got back up laughing. I remember him being quite good with plants. He always had a few in his dormitory, as many as Dumbledore would allow. He was a damn good fighter too, had a mind for strategy like you wouldn't believe. He was a peacemaker at heart, though. Always breaking up fights. Between his diplomacy and his passion for justice, he could have been quite a good Minister of Magic." James told Neville.

Neville sat, mouth agape, taking it all in. "Who are you, two, exactly?"

Suddenly, a brilliant white light flashed briefly in a booth in the corner. James and Lily jumped, but Neville merely scowled.

"Damn reporters. I'd better get over there and make sure they don't run that in the Prophet." He got up quickly, and turned back to them. "Thank you…you can't imagine how much this means to me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart." He jogged off to track down the photographer as Lily and James waved goodbye.

"What a sweet boy." Lily remarked as she began to count out sickles and knuts.

"What a cruel world," James replied sullenly.

Dr. Sarah Albright greeted them warmly when she finally finished with her client. Harry got settled in her office while Ginny chatted with the older woman in the waiting room. The office itself was rather bland, containing only her desk, a few bookcases, a loveseat for clients, and the ancient leather armchair from which she conducted all of her sessions. She took her seat now, and trained her laser like focus on Harry. He gulped. Dr. Albright was a kind woman, but always made him feel a little bit like he'd been caught sneaking around after hours at school.

"So Harry, how have you been since we last spoke?"

"Well, a lot has certainly happened. I got this letter on my birthday -"

"Harry, I didn't ask what happened. I asked how you've been. I don't want your schedule, I want the truth," she reprimanded.

He put his head in his hands, leaning forward on his knees. "Excited. Scared. Confused. Happier than I've ever been. Sadder than I've ever been, too."

She nodded, and made a note. "That's a whole lot for a couple months. Alright, now you can tell me what happened."

He explained the situation with his parents, and about Ginny's pregnancy. She was silent for a while afterwards. Harry shifted in his seat.

"Well, you were right, that is quite a lot. And so unfortunate that the two events should happen so close together. It must have been very strange, considering becoming a parent just as you finally meet your own."

He laughed lightly. "I think 'very strange' is putting it mildly. I feel a bit like a child trying to be an adult when I think of the baby, and an adult trying to be a child when I'm with my parents. And poor Ginny…when I think of what I've put her through with all this…" He shook his head, a distant look in his eyes. Dr. Albright hummed thoughtfully.

"Speaking of Ginny, do you think she's still outside? I'd like to talk to you both," said Dr. Albright, crossing to the door. After popping her head out briefly, Ginny joined Harry on the loveseat.

"Thank you for joining us, Ginny. I'd like to just talk for a moment about your pregnancy, if that's alright with you." Ginny nodded hesitantly. "Wonderful. From what you've both told me, it doesn't seem like you're communicating your feelings with each other."

"No, we're talked about it." Harry protested.

She turned to face him. "Alright. Then tell me, how does Ginny feel about losing her child?"

Harry glanced sideways at his fiancee. "Well…sad, obviously." Ginny glared at him, astonished.

"Just sad? Anything else?" Dr. Albright pressed him.

"Um…I know she was scared to tell me. I think she was scared I'd leave her, but I'd never do that, Gin," he reassured her. Ginny just rolled her eyes at him.

"Ginny, is that true?" The doctor asked wryly.

"No! I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to ruin your time with your parents. You finally had something wonderful happen to you, something you deserved for so long…I couldn't break your heart while you were still adjusting to that."

Dr. Albright glared at him with an eyebrow raised. "Mr. Potter, you may have saved the world, but you have a lot to learn about how it works. Very rarely is anyone just sad. Our feelings are extremely complex, especially about events that shift the way we perceive ourselves. I would say this is one of those events, don't you? How did you experience the shift into parenthood?"

"I was so happy, but so scared," Harry replied hesitantly. "For the first eleven years of my life, I never had a good parental figure. I was so worried that I would finally have a family, and I'd screw it all up. Like how I finally figured out Ginny was the one for me, and I screwed it up by breaking up with her before the Horcrux search." Harry hung his head.

"Okay, let's compare that situation to the current one. Did you completely 'screw it up,' or are you sitting next to her with a ring on her finger?" Dr. Albright shot him a piercing look over the top of her rectangular glasses.

"Oh." He blushed. "So you're saying that even if I did make mistakes, I would get it right over time."

She smiled at him. "Quite. And you, Miss Weasley, how did you perceive yourself as a parent?"

"Well, I think very similarly to Harry. I was very excited, and very scared. After I lost the baby, I beat myself up a lot because it almost felt like I had worried it away. I was disgusted with myself for almost being relieved that it was gone, but I'm feeling much better about that since our last talk. I feel awful about it, but I really resented you for a while, Harry. The more I thought about out talk in the basement, I felt like you had encouraged me to keep the baby when you weren't even ready yourself. It made me so angry, because I kept thinking that you had only proposed because you felt like you had to. I realized I was being stupid after a while, but it did open my eyes to the fact that we may be going a little too fast for me."

"You…Ginny, I can slow down. I don't want to lose you." He turned to face her, concerned.

"I'm not breaking up with you, you idiot. I think," she turned to Harry and held his hands. "After really considering where I am right now, I think I'm not ready to have kids for a while. Maybe even a couple years. I feel too young, I don't think I can handle it yet. And I feel like we should take the time together to be young and have fun, maybe see the world a little bit. Settle into our careers. We've got some lost time to make up for, wouldn't you say?"

Harry nodded. "I would. That sounds great Ginny. I think I feel the same way. It was a bit too much too soon. Let's just be us for a little while longer." He pulled her into a hug.

Dr. Albright smiled. "Now, was that so hard? She's a complex person, just like you. No one has single dimension emotions. You don't really need me for this, you know. If the two of you remembered to talk honestly and listen to each other, I think you'd be fine."

Harry and Ginny both laughed. "That's really it?" Harry wondered aloud.

She shrugged. "This is a very normal problem. I know those aren't in your wheelhouse, both of you, so this is new territory. But please believe me when I say that you are very clever, very kind, and very capable of overcoming it. You are young, and you've been through more than most people have in a lifetime. The problems you have coming your way will most likely not be life or death, so you'll need to work together to adjust the way you react to them.

"Getting married isn't just about love. To put it in terms you might understand better, think of it as building a team for an important mission. If someone on your team needed help, was wounded, you wouldn't want them to hide it, right? That would put all of you at risk. You have a smaller chance of defeating the enemy when you're a man down. When you're hurting, and you keep it to yourself, you put your team, the team of Harry and Ginny, at risk. The kind of problems you have coming your way can only be solved through teamwork." She sat back in her chair. "You have to trust the love you have for one another. Trust that your partner will still love you, warts and all. Otherwise, why even bother?"

A little while later, Harry and Ginny stood chatting with Dr. Albright in the waiting room, when she brought up Harry's parents.

"We didn't talk about it much…you got them out, didn't you?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Harry replied. "In fact, they should be meeting us here in a just a couple minutes."

For the first time since he had met her, the doctor's veneer cracked. She looked as if she'd just had the wind knocked out of her, and a tear skittered down her faced, uncontrolled. Harry carefully helped her to a chair, and knelt next to her.

"Are you alright, Dr. Albright?" Ginny asked, taking her hand.

"I…I'm sorry, Harry. I should have mentioned…" She stammered, forcing herself to get the words out. "This is wildly unprofessional…" Harry was just about to comfort her, when a voice interrupted from behind him.

"Sarah?"

Lily and James stood in the doorway, rooted to the spot. Dr. Albright began to cry in earnest.

"Lily! It really is you!" She ran and hugged the other woman hard, both crying at this point. James regained his composure, and waited his turn before embracing her as well.

"Brighty! I can't believe it's you. How the hell have you been?" He cackled joyfully.

"You guys…know each other?" Harry asked as they separated, his mother keeping one arm around the other woman' shoulders.

"These two were absolutely inseparable at Hogwarts. I practically had to get her blessing to ask your mother out," James replied jovially.

Lily wiped her eyes, and laughed. "I can't believe it. I thought I'd never see you again after you left for university. I have missed you every single day, you darling girl."

"You're one to talk!" Sarah rebuked. "I only thought you were bloody dead for the last twenty years. You might have left us a note, babes."

"How come you never mentioned that you knew them? Is that why you took me on?" Harry broke in quietly.

"It's complicated, Harry. Our sessions aren't about me, and besides…it's hard to talk about, even now. You know how hard the past can be to relive. The way I figured it, I got to enjoy them for so many years, the least I could do was help you try to live without them."

Lily took her hands, and looked her old friend in the eye. "Thank you, Sarah. Thank you for taking care of my boy."

"Oh my dear friend…it was the very least I could do. My only regret is that I didn't help him sooner." Dr. Albright sniffed, took a look at the clock, and said regretfully, "I really must be going, I'm so sorry. I've got to check on a patient tonight. When can I see you again?"

As Lily and Dr. Albright made arrangements to meet up again, James came to stand with Harry and Ginny.

"Unbelieveable. We really thought we'd never see her again after graduation, didn't hear from her for years."

"Sounds like there's a juicy story there. What happened?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, it's juicy, alright. She and Sirius danced around each other almost as bad as Lily and I did. Started dating fifth year, and never once looked back. Then a week or so before graduation, they break up. Sarah announces she'd going to a muggle university, so she'll be out of touch for a few years. Sirius never mentioned her again. There's a juicy story there, alright - but it's not one that I know."