Ginny hummed to herself happily as she stood back to appraise how her project was coming along. Harry was at work, but she had some time off due to the Quidditch offseason, so she was trying to surprise him when he got home. They had just moved into their new home after returning from their honeymoon and she was arranging their favorite photos on the wall of the front hallway. Most of them were taken during their wedding, and each one made her happier than the last.
When she uncovered the final photo in the box, she got distracted, just standing there for a while, grinning and bouncing on her feet like a schoolgirl. She was fairly sure she would never get used to looking at it.
It was a photo of Harry and Ginny sharing their first kiss as a married couple. She always knew that the polite pecks one usually saw at weddings would never do, so she hadn't even waited for the end of "you may now kiss the bride" before nearly knocking Harry over when she leapt into his arms and kissed him senseless, the mildly shocked look of the officiant captured in the photo. Harry and Ginny still sometimes sparred over who deserved credit for their first kiss in the Gryffindor common room, so Ginny wanted there to be no question about this next milestone for them.
Ginny looked back up on the wall and her smile turned into a frown. She was running out of space, and she didn't want it to be too crowded, so she was going to have to start prioritizing. Some of the photos were of Ginny, Harry, and all their friends and loved ones over the years, but she admitted that she was being particularly biased in favor of the scenes from their wedding, where everyone looked radiantly happy.
Her eyes settled on what she had always considered to be her favorite picture, if not her favorite possession in the world: the photograph of Harry and Ginny kissing after winning the Quidditch Cup. Years later, their photo selves still couldn't decide who got to make the first move.
Ginny smiled fondly and took the old picture back off the wall. There had been a time when it had been more precious to her than anything. She had spent the darkest moments from that year in Hell gazing at it. But now, she had to admit that the wedding kiss picture she held in her other hand was her new favorite. She still felt happiness when she looked at the old one, but it was mixed with sadness, for many obvious reasons.
Ginny needed to make room, and they really didn't need two photos of them snogging immediately greeting any visitors to their home, that was overkill even for them. The old photo didn't really present who they were anymore, they had both been through so much since then. The girl in the Gryffindor Quidditch robes she saw was still inside Ginny somewhere, but she was just going to be a smaller and smaller part of her as time went on. And the Harry in the picture was the boy Ginny had fallen in love with, but he wasn't the man she had married.
She put the wedding photo up on the wall and placed the old one back with the spares, in a blue cardboard shoebox. She picked it up, about to move to another room, when Kreacher appeared next to her with a pop.
"Kreacher apologizes for interrupting Mistress," the elf croaked, bowing low.
"My name is Ginny, Kreacher, we've been over this," she said patiently. "The only person allowed to call me that is Harry, and only in very specific contexts. Now, what's up?"
"Your mother just floo-called, she requests your presence at the Burrow."
Ginny groaned. She knew it wouldn't be long after they got back that her mother would demand some time to scold Ginny for things like not wearing enough sunblock and inquiring into when she and Harry were having children, since after all they had been married for two whole weeks.
She closed the lid of the box with the extra pictures and headed to the fireplace. She was done with this room anyway, she would find a spot for the other photos tomorrow.
Nineteen Years Later….
The whole frame of the house shook as Lily wrenched the front door open and slammed it again, almost making the pictures in the front hall fall off the wall. She stomped up the stairs so fast that she was slamming the door of her bedroom by the time James arrived from the kitchen to see what all the noise was about.
The rest of the family finally caught up to the livid teenage girl and Harry, Ginny, and Albus opened the door much less violently and stepped into the house.
"Well this is certainly a happy Easter, innit?" asked James with a smirk. "My first year out of school, and without me you lot can't even make it home from the train station without going at each other's throats. I always knew I was the glue of this family."
"Lils and Dad had a row because he found out that she has a boyfriend," said Al with a grin.
James's mouth dropped open and his eyebrows shot up as he looked at his father.
"That is not the reason!" said Harry irritably.
"That's sort of the reason," said Ginny, also amused.
"For that last time, that is not what this is about!" said Harry defensively.
As they talked, Harry and Ginny followed James back into the kitchen, and Ginny started pouring her husband some tea, hoping to calm him down. Al, meanwhile, brought his trunk up to his room to unpack for the Easter holidays.
"You know, I really wish my friends could see this," said James, sitting down at the table and biting into a biscuit, "One look at this old-fashioned side of you would destroy the 'cool dad' image you try so hard to maintain. Oh! Are you gonna lock her in a tower? That would be hilarious."
"I told you, that's not what this is about," said Harry grumpily. He took his cup of tea from Ginny, who patted his head affectionately, trying not to laugh.
"I'm not the kind of father who forbids his daughter from dating," Harry continued. "I'm not an idiot, I knew she would reach this part of her life eventually. But she's still young, so she might not understand how careful she needs to be of boys who won't consider how certain actions can impact her."
"Oh, so she's not a child, she's just naive and needs protecting," laughed James, "I can see that went swimmingly. Did this boy actually do anything?"
"He kissed her goodbye when they got off the train," said Ginny.
"He snogged her in the middle of bloody Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters!" said Harry loudly, throwing up his hands. "Surrounded by countless people! Listen, I don't care about it — I swear I don't!" he added with frustration at their skeptical faces, "but the rumor mill can be truly, dangerously harsh to teenage girls. And you know how much I wish this wasn't true, but it is relevant that she's my daughter. We were lucky the papers have finally lost interest in following us to the platform every year, but if any of the people that were there today go to them with news about her dating life, they'll be like sharks smelling blood. All it would take is one photograph and one slow news day at Witch Weekly and Lily's love life is front page news."
His voice grew darker and he scowled down at the table.
"I wouldn't be surprised if that was exactly what he was getting at," he grumbled. "Trying to get fifteen minutes of fame."
That was when Ginny couldn't hold it in anymore and she burst out laughing. Harry scowled even further that his wife wasn't sharing his perfectly reasonable concerns.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," said Ginny hastily, "But love, don't you think you're taking your Big Bad Auror routine home? That's a pretty cynical assumption to make, you don't even know this boy."
"EXACTLY!" yelped Harry, getting more exasperated. "We don't know him, and neither does she! We've never heard of him before, she wasn't even friends with him before they started dating!"
"Well you can hardly hold that against him, Dear," said Ginny calmly, sitting down with a cup of tea. "That's perfectly normal. Not all boys hang around a girl for years before noticing that she is, in fact, a girl."
She loudly slurped her tea as Harry pursed his lips at her.
"Wow, you walked directly into that," said James with his mouth full. He sensed the energy in the room and took the rest of the biscuits with him into the living room.
"Harry," said Ginny, with no sarcasm this time, "I seriously doubt she cares about what strangers say about her. I mean, as long as—"
"What, as long as the people close to her know the truth, it doesn't matter what the entire rest of the public thinks, she can just ignore it?" Harry finished in a mocking voice. "Come on, Gin, we've never been ones to tell the kids comforting lies. I'm well aware of how the press and public's opinion of you can mess with your life. I had to learn that the hard way, I would prefer our daughter didn't have to."
Ginny sighed and reached out to squeeze his hand. She knew that when he had made up his mind to worry about something, nothing was going to stop him, so she didn't bother to try to reason with him, she knew something would smack some sense into him eventually.
Lily paced back and forth in her bedroom like a lion in a cage. She felt so stupid that she had actually come back instead of staying at Hogwarts for the holidays, she should have known her dad would pull something like this. Something so….him.
She couldn't remember a time when she had felt so talked-down to and patronized. It would have been better if he had shouted. If her dad had done the whole cliché, chest-beating, alpha-male "Don't Touch My Daughter" routine, like Uncle Ron had when Rose started dating, she could live with that. Instead, he just calmly lectured her about things like "privacy" and "reputations" as if she were an idiot child. That told her that his reaction wasn't from some hotheaded male emotions, her father just genuinely thought that little of her, that she was a stupid little girl who didn't understand how the world worked.
Lily needed to find something to do with her hands before she started pulling her hair out and screaming. She decided to take out her knitting. The repetition always relaxed her. She opened up one of her dresser drawers, where she kept a stash of supplies for when she came home from school, but she groaned louder than ever when she found her needles but no yarn. Her mum must have used it while Lily was away.
Not giving up, Lily poked her head out of her bedroom door, making sure no members of her family were in the upstairs hallway to try to talk to her, and stepped out. She was sure she'd find some yarn somewhere in the house, but it was anyone's guess as to where. No one in her family had ever been particularly well organized, things were always getting shoved under beds or into trunks "just until we find a place for it," and never seen again.
She opened up the hall closet, which officially was for linens but was filled with random junk, Lily started looking through any odd bag, tin, or box for what she was after, her frustration building more and more until she was throwing things out and reaching the very back of the closet.
Her fingers hit on something, and she pulled out a blue cardboard shoebox. She wrenched the lid off and nearly threw the box down in exasperation when she saw that it was just a bunch of old photos, but she stopped and her franticness was interrupted when she saw she didn't recognize them.
She reached into the box and took out the photo that was on top to look more closely at it.
Her eyes widened in realization, then narrowed again with dangerous intent. Finally, she closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath, so that she wouldn't crush the photo in anger.
She was determined to save it for when she saw him.
Back downstairs, the four other Potters were all around the kitchen table. Al was excitedly telling Ginny about his high marks in his classes, James was still stuffing his face with biscuits, and Harry was still quietly sulking.
However, he was jerked out of his mood when the kitchen door flew open with a loud BANG. Harry's instincts took over and he jumped to his feet. He was reflexively reaching for his wand when he saw that the intruder was just his daughter, though judging from the way she was staring daggers directly at him, maybe he did need his wand.
"YOU!" Lily said venom in her voice.
Harry raised his eyebrows and looked his daughter up and down. "Me," he answered.
Lily stepped into the kitchen and pointed a finger at him, "You bloody hypocrite! You have the nerve to lecture me about privacy—"
"Dammit Lily, it's not a lecture, it's advice!" Harry barked loudly, his patience finally snapping, "I know you kids like to think you know everything, but there are some things you learn from experience—"
"Oh, experience!" Lily repeated scathingly, "Oh yes, I've become well aware of what kind of experience you have, Dad!"
Then, with a flick of her wrist, she sent a photograph sliding along the table, stopping right in front of Harry.
Harry looked down, and was nearly knocked off of his feet by the wave of mixed, forgotten feelings and memories.
In the photo, teenage versions of Harry and Ginny were repeatedly sharing their first kiss. Intensely, passionately kissing, in the middle of the Gryffindor common room, with countless people surrounding them.
And not a single hint of privacy in sight.
James and Albus leaned over to see what the photo was, then turned to look at Harry, both grinning in a way that reminded him of Fred and George. Ginny wasn't paying anyone any mind. She had picked up the picture and was smiling lovingly at it while biting her lip, lost in memories.
All of Harry's "strict father" bluster evaporated and he suddenly felt like a cornered animal.
He fidgeted uncomfortably, running a hand through his hair. "This….this isn't the same," he said quietly.
Lily erupted into delirious laughter. "Oh, of course it's not the same! See,when I snogged my boyfriend, I didn't actually have an audience, nobody was looking at us. And I also didn't make sure to do it during a bloody photoshoot!"
"Look, there's a lot of context that you're missing here," Harry offered, "It's just one photo, it doesn't tell the whole story—"
"Oh, are there more photos?" asked Lily, "Is this the tame stuff? What, were you shamelessly walking around groping her arse in public too?"
"Hmmm, not unless you count the trees by the lake shore as 'public,'" said Ginny thoughtfully, stroking her chin. James paused with a biscuit halfway to his mouth, put it down, and pushed away the plate, having suddenly lost his appetite.
"The point is — what you don't understand — you still really shouldn't…" Harry was wagging his finger at Lily authoritatively, but she just stood there with her hands on her hips and her chin tilted up, knowing she had him.
Harry looked sideways at Ginny, still gazing at the photo, and figured he had nothing left to lose.
"I am not a hypocrite!" Harry told Lily, "Because that scene in the photo wasn't even my idea, your mother was the one who kissed me!"
Ginny was yanked out of her reminiscing and her head jerked up as their first "fight" as a couple picked up right where it had left off.
"Oh, now you want to give me credit?" said Ginny, still smiling, "Nuh-uh, Potter, too late for that! Like you said, you were the bold romantic one, I was just trying to celebrate my Quidditch victory."
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Gin," said Harry dismissively, "I hate drawing attention to myself, you know that, I was just attacked by a fangirl with a crush."
"You're trying to start a fight with me to distract from how much deep shit you're in with Lily," said Ginny, "It's not going to work."
"Damn, it was worth a shot."
"Besides," said Ginny, flicking the picture at him, "Lily's right, no matter who kissed who, you certainly weren't concerned about my reputation at that moment, one picture says that much."
Harry looked down at the photo, and he saw that his teenage self had stopped snogging his new girlfriend. Instead, he was glaring piercingly directly out of the frame at his older self, like he couldn't believe that he had grown up to be the wanker of a middle-aged man he saw. He shook his head and returned his attention to the girl in his arms, and Old Harry felt himself relax as he was reminded of the Truth in the photo.
He thought back to the weeks following that kiss. He had been the subject of more rumors and gossip than ever, but for the first time, he genuinely hadn't cared. All of the slander in the world wouldn't have changed the way Ginny looked at him, and that was all the mattered.
He looked around to his sons snickering into their hands, his wife looking at him like he was an adorable idiot, and his daughter wearing a triumphant smirk.
"Oh, alright," sighed Harry, "You lot have made your point, I'll try to lighten up."
"Good!" said Lily, beaming cheerfully now that she had won. She bounced over to Harry, kissed him on the cheek, and picked the photo up off the table. She was heading back out of the kitchen when Ginny stopped her.
"Where are you going with that?"
Lily turned back, surprised. "Oh, er, I guess I was just going to put it back in the box I found it in."
"You will do no such thing," said Ginny. She stood and took the photo from Lily.
"I'm going to hang this up in the front room," she told Harry with a wink. "Right in a place of honor."
Harry threw his head back and groaned. He knew it would be a few more decades before he lived this down.
I thought the last chapter had the story ending on too much of a downer, so I put this together.