"So," said Ginny, "you're saying Voldemort has a child."

They were sitting in Harry and Ginny's apartment, and they had just revealed the contents of Slughorn's memory to Ginny.

"I'm afraid so," replied Hermione, who was sitting next to her. "However, now that you know, I don't think we should dwell on it tonight."

"Why?" asked Harry, giving her his full attention.

"Because," Hermione said, with a mischievous glint in her eye, "I have a surprise."

Hermione stood up and motioned for them to follow her to the smaller living room.

"Hermione, did you do something to our-" Harry asked, but he was cut short by pure wonderment.

The room had been completely redone, and it was covered in baby shower decorations. Ginny squealed in delight.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, running her fingers through the strings of some balloons.

"I wanted to take our minds off of everything," Hermione explained.

"Hermione," Harry breathed, watching his joyous wife dance around the room, "this is amazing."

"Blimey, Hermione," said Ron. "Can you do this for my birthday?"

"I didn't do it alone," Hermione said. She walked over to a big chest in the middle of the room and opened it.

Suddenly, a wizard and witch jumped out screaming, "Baby shower time!" The witch's long, light blonde hair was tied back in a loose braid, and she wore a light pink dress that fell to her ankles. The wizard had messy brown hair and wore a blue and white checkered shirt with beige suit pants.

"Luna! Neville!" said Harry. Luna gave an excited giggle.

"Ginny, do you know what gender the baby is?" she asked.

"We're waiting to be surprised," Ginny said. "I heard you're getting married- congratulations!"

"Thanks," Neville said. "We're planning on having a December wedding-" He stopped suddenly. "Don't let us steal your thunder. Today is all about you and Harry."

Ginny beamed. Harry smiled at her loveliness. She had just turned four months pregnant that day, and Harry couldn't have been more proud.

"I was expecting a few more people," Hermione admitted. "But seeing as they haven't shown up…"

"Who?" Harry asked. Hermione's face darkened.

"All the professors. They all agreed to come, and they haven't," she said.

All six of them looked at each other.

"Do you reckon something happened?" Ron said finally.

"Like what?" asked Neville, but they all knew the answer.

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "No, no, no. Just no. Death Eaters haven't been spotted in years. They're probably at a meeting about-" She bit her lip. They still hadn't told Neville and Luna about Voldemort's child.

"Oh," Luna said. "You mean Voldemort's child."

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"Well it's not like I don't know," said Luna. "You're rather bad at keeping secrets you know."

Harry would have burst out laughing if not for the topic of the conversation. Luna always found a way to amuse him, with her light and creamy approach on things.

"Okay," Hermione said, giving up any last ounce of secrecy. "So clearly secrets aren't our best option. But we really shouldn't ruin Ginny's baby shower with this nonsense."

Harry opened his mouth to agree, but he was cut short by a piercing shriek from the hall outside their apartment.

They all dashed outside and found themselves smack in the middle of a duel. Teachers were dashing to and fro, shooting spells at wizards and witches in black cloaks.

"Death Eaters," Ginny whispered, reaching inside her pockets for her wand.

"Gin, I need you to get back in the apartment," Harry said, blocking her from dashing forward with his arm.

"No way," she replied. "I'm going to help."

"Ginny, please," he begged. "I can't lose you or our child."

Harry caught her gaze and kissed her softly on the forehead.

"Fine," she agreed. "But I swear, if you get yourself killed…" Ginny dashed back through the door, uttering protection spells as she went.

Harry surveyed the room: Ron, Hermione, and Neville had dashed straight into the fight, firing off spells alongside the teachers. Filius was scampering about, ducking and swerving around various attackers. Aurora and Pomona were taking on a Death Eater each, and Sybill was backed up at the end of the hallway, blocking the curses being fired at her with surprising strength.

"NO!"

Harry looked in vain for the witch who had shouted, and found Rolanda barreling towards a pair of Death Eaters with her wand outstretched. The pair she was heading for, Harry realized, were none other than the Carrow twins, apparently having broken out of Azkaban. Alecto had just fired a stunning spell which hit Poppy and sent her flying down the hallway. She hit the wall and crumpled to the ground. Now the twins were heading towards Sybill, who had managed to ward off her attacker and was crouched over the limp Poppy.

Rolanda jumped in front of Sybill and Poppy, shouting, "Protego!"

A shield came up in front of the three witches, causing the unwanted spells to rebound back, just missing the Carrows.

Harry reached for his wand and began to run. Luna had joined the fight, helping Rolanda and Sybill.

"Sectumsempra!" Harry shouted. The unrecognizable Death Eater before him fell to the floor, blood flowing from deep gashes in his body.

"Crucio!"

Harry spun to find Crabbe's spell flying right at him. Harry ducked, and the spell went over his head and to his horror it hit Luna. She withered and screamed. The sight was more disturbing than anything Harry could remember.

"Expelliarmus!" cried a woman's voice. Crabbe's wand flew out from his hands and he chased after it. Luna fell to the floor and didn't move. Harry dashed over to her and relaxed when she stirred and opened her eyes. He left her and turned to the woman who had sent Crabbe's wand flying.

"Professor," he gasped.

"How did they get in?" Minerva asked sharply.

"I don't know," Harry said. "We were having Ginny's baby shower and we heard loud noises from outside."

Minerva swore loudly, much to Harry's amazement. "I knew those protection spells weren't good enough," she said, absentmindedly conjuring a force field in front of Luna, whom The Killing Curse had just missed. Horace came up behind them, panting from his presumed sprint.

"Minerva…" he panted, "the protections were sabotaged. Someone from inside…"

Minerva paled. "On the inside," she repeated. "But who?"

"It's unclear," Horace said, before pulling out his wand and racing off into the fight.

"Where's Ginny?" asked Minerva, rounding on Harry.

"She agreed to wait inside," he told her.

"Okay…" Minerva said distractedly. She threw one last glance at Harry before heading back into the heat of the battle.

Harry quickly stunned a few more Death Eaters. Luckily, most of them had been killed years before, so there were under a dozen fighting. There were four left actively dueling: Amycus and Alecto Carrow, Avery, and Rodolphus Lestrange.

Hermione and Ron managed to take down Avery, and quickly joined Neville, Luna, Pomona, and Aurora in taking on the Carrows. Minerva and Horace were battling Lestrange, and as far as Harry could tell they were winning.

"Harry!" called Hermione. "Duck!"

Harry ducked just as a killing curse flew over his head and slammed into the wall. He rose to see Amycus Carrow fuming in his direction, angry over Harry's near death escape.

"Stupefy!"

Alecto fell to the ground as a beam of red light from Neville's wand hit her.

"That's the end of that," he said, casting an approving glance at the fallen Death Eater.

Amycus was now the last Death Eater standing; Minerva had sent Lestrange hurdling against the wall with a flick of her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" screamed Ron. He looked very impressed with himself as the last Carrow fell to the ground in the Full Body-Bind Curse.

"Well done, Ron!" said Hermione, embracing him.

"Oh, thank goodness you're all okay!" cried Ginny, coming out the door.

Harry looked around at what remained of the hallway. Rubble and debris were everywhere. Poppy was limp on the floor, and Rolanda was clutching her arm, but other than that everyone seemed relatively unharmed.

Disclaimer: I own none of Harry Potter.