[A/N: god i really wish this site had an author's note section lmao. anyway, i hope you enjoy the chapter! it's very feelings-heavy and plot-weak, but - alas - this is also true for the entire story, so you shouldn't be surprised by now haha. as always, let me know what you think, and feel free to ask me questions about this over on tumblr (lazyweekendmornings dot tumblr dot com). enjoy! 3
ix.
"I don't know why they're bothering with the trials," Andromeda said, setting her cup of tea back down in its saucer with a decisive clink.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"Well, we know they're guilty, don't we? We should just throw the lot of them in jail," said Andromeda – Ginny still wanted to call her Andy, but she didn't think they were there yet.
It was an unusually sunny day for May, so they were all sitting outdoors. Hermione, Ginny, Andromeda, Ron, and Mum were all sitting at the table with cups of tea. At Andromeda's words, Hermione straightened up, with a righteous look in her eye that was familiar to Ginny. She turned to the side to look at Harry to exchange a smile with him, but he was completely preoccupied. He was on a blanket in the grass, holding tiny Teddy in his arms, and he was looking down at him and seemed to have tuned out everyone else.
"It's important to set the precedent for a fair trial, Mrs Tonks. They're rebuilding the Ministry, they can't lay the grounds for any corruption in the future," Hermione started to say.
"I understand that," Andromeda agreed, seemingly reluctant. "But there is a part of me that wishes we could toss those scum in Azkaban."
"It's what they deserve," Ron agreed, reaching out to grab himself another sandwich.
"Ron!" Hermione sounded fondly exasperated, in the way she only ever sounded with Ginny's brother. "Think about Sirius, everything that happened because of an unfair legal system. If we don't give these people fair trials, it means that innocent people in the future could suffer. We have to be—"
"Be part of the change, yes, I know," Ron agreed. He had on what Ginny thought of as his Hermione smile, where he looked rather like a lovesick puppy, in her opinion. Sometimes she wondered how it had taken those two as long to get together as it had. Looking at them now, giving each other fond looks from across the table in between words, reminded her oddly of her own parents.
"Well, yes, I suppose you're right," Andromeda said, and she looked reluctant to admit it. Ginny had only met her a few times, but she didn't really think Andromeda was the sort of person who admitted anyone else was wrong often. She was different to her daughter in that aspect; the first thing Tonks had ever said to Ginny had been damn sorry I fucked up the damn troll's foot yet again followed by sorry for swearing Molly.
Thinking about Tonks made her suddenly, inexplicably sad. She could imagine her here, at the table, or maybe with Harry and her son on the blanket, turning her nose into different shapes. She wondered if Teddy would like that. He probably would, babies liked that sort of thing, didn't they?
"Harry, dear, you haven't eaten yet," Mum spoke up, interrupting Ginny's suddenly morbid train of thought.
Harry looked up. "Oh. Yeah. Got distracted I suppose."
"Well, dear, you'd better eat something soon, or all the sandwiches will be gone," Molly said.
"Yeah, especially if Ron has his way," Ginny said, turning to raise her eyebrow at her brother.
"Oi! Lay off, I haven't eaten since lunch," Ron grumbled.
"None of us have, Ron, that's kind of how mealtimes work," Ginny couldn't resist saying.
"Be sure not to eat all of them, Ron, Harry still hasn't eaten any," Hermione said.
"I'm not too hungry," Harry said. "And Teddy's nearly asleep, I don't want to disturb him…"
"Nonsense, dear," Mum said, as if it is was the last word. "Is it that you don't like corned beef? I can go in, make some more—"
Harry looked alarmed at the prospect of making Mum do any more work. Ginny decided to take pity on him. "Here, I'll pass you a couple so you don't have to move," she said, and got to her feet. She heaped her plate with sandwiches and carried it over to the blanket.
"Thanks," Harry said, but Ginny was too distracted by the adorable baby in Harry's arms to pay him much attention.
"Here, let me hold him so you can eat," she offered, and carefully lifted the baby into her arms. "Hi, Teddy," she cooed. Teddy was half asleep, and had none of his usual energy, but Ginny still thought he was the cutest thing in possibly the entire universe. He scrunched up his nose and the turquoise in his hair faded to a brown as he drifted closer to sleep, and Ginny was absolutely, totally in love.
She thought she could feel her mother's gaze on her, but she tuned out everything else as she looked down at Teddy, letting him cheer her up from her thoughts of his mother.
Andromeda finally left a couple of hours later, despite Mum's repeated invites to stay for dinner. "No, it's alright, Kreacher will sulk if I don't eat what he's made and Teddy should get to sleep," she insisted, polite but firm. Harry seemed just as reluctant as Mum to let them leave, and Ginny, on her part, wasn't too keen on it, either. The past few days, with the Carrow trial and everything that had drudged up, had been difficult, try as she had to not let it get to her. It was far easier to ignore the sadness and the grief that had lodged itself in her chest with a happy baby nearby.
She was quiet through dinner, although she did look up from her plate of stew to share a quick smile with Harry when Ron reacted to Hermione wiping something off his cheek by putting his elbow in his glass of water.
"We should get started on some work," Hermione announced after dinner, and Ginny wanted to laugh at the look on Ron's face. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Ron," Hermione added, clearly noticing what Ginny had. "Kingsley wanted us to help with the Auror programme, and we should get started. This is our chance to do something good, something useful—"
"We already agreed to help, Hermione," Harry said, sounding amused. "We agreed even before you did, actually. You don't have to convince us."
Hermione's cheeks flushed. "Well, yes, I suppose you're right. But we have some time now, especially since you're meeting Kingsley tomorrow. It'd be nice to tell him we're making progress."
"You're meeting Kingsley tomorrow?" Dad asked Harry.
"I am, yeah. The Malfoy trial's coming up in a week and I've been summoned as a witness, I have to, er, talk to him about that," Harry said.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. At the mention of the Malfoys, Hermione had gone a bit pale, and Ron immediately moved to wrap his arm around her. She was reminded of the fact that there was so much she still didn't know about the last year. Beneath the table, Harry's hand found hers, which did serve to make her feel better. "I'll tell you later," he told her, loud enough for only her to hear, and that helped, too.
"We should get started, yeah. Hermione's right," he added to the others, and looked at Mum. "Thanks for dinner, Mrs Weasley, it was delicious," he said, polite as ever. Ginny practically felt her mum melt.
"No problem, dear," she said fondly.
"I'll help clear up, Mum," Ginny said suddenly, and gave Harry's hand a squeeze before she stood up. There were some days when she felt just fine, or as fine as she could be under these circumstances, and there were days like today, where the idea of going up to her room and being alone with her thoughts was a terrifying one.
Mum gave her a look like she knew exactly what was running through her mind, but all she said was, "That would be lovely, Ginny, thank you."
Hermione, Ron, and Harry stood up, Harry after squeezing Ginny's hand a final time in a way that Ginny knew meant I'll see you later tonight and, after taking their plates to the sink, made their way upstairs to Ron's room. Ginny wondered if it brought up memories for the three of them, being huddled up in the room beneath the attic, plotting amongst each other. At least this time, she reflected dryly, the others knew what the hell they were up to.
She stood up as well and started to clear the table. Mum waved her wand, and the dishes that Ginny carried to the sink started to clean themselves, clattering in a way that was comforting to Ginny. Her dad stood up, and went to the kettle, turning it on with a wave of his wand and getting out old, slightly chipped mugs. She remembered coming home after the Battle, for the first time since Easter holidays, when they'd had to move to Aunt Muriel's. It had been so quiet then, disconcertingly so. And now, with her parents pottering about the kitchen and the dishes clattering to themselves, it felt back to. Normal. After everything they'd been through, she didn't think she'd ever take this noise for granted again.
"If you're sure you don't need any help, Molly," Dad said, once he'd made the tea and set down a steaming mug next to Ginny and handed one to Mum, "I'm going to go sit down. It's been a long day." He looked tired, and Ginny looked at him closely, looked at the dark circles under his eyes and his greying hair.
Impulsively, she leaned in and gave her father a hug, holding on to him for a second or two longer than she usually would before letting go. "Night, Dad," she said.
"Night, Ginny," he said, and kissed her forehead before he let go of her. He kissed Mum and took his tea, walking out of the kitchen to the living room where, Ginny knew, he would end up dozing in the armchair by the fireplace.
"So," Mum said, once it was just the two of them in the kitchen. Ginny recognised her mother's tone, and she braced herself as she carried the final set of dishes to the sink and set them there. She hoisted herself onto the counter, picking her tea up and taking a sip of it as she waited for the inevitable. "You and Harry have gotten very close recently," Mum finally said, in a gentle tone she only ever reserved for Ginny.
Ginny nodded. There was no point denying. "We have, yeah. I love him," she admitted.
Mum surprised her with her response. "I know," she said, and reached out, patting Ginny's shoulder. "How does he feel?"
"He feels the same," Ginny said. Normally, she would've left it at that. Today was different, though. "Mum…" she said slowly, "Remember what you said, about how you and Dad got married right after the first war?"
Mum's expression hardened. "I hope you aren't suggesting that you both are planning to – you're far too young, Ginny, you're not even of age yet, and—"
Ginny knew to cut her off before she could get going. "No, Mum. We're not getting married, god. Not for a while, anyway. That's not what I meant."
Mum seemed to relax. "Good," she said. "It's not that I don't approve of him, though," she added.
Ginny laughed, resting her head against the wall. "I know, Mum. You've practically adopted him."
"He's a sweet boy," Mum said with a fond smile. "And I've seen how you both are with each other. It reminds me of me and Arthur when we were younger."
Ginny thought of what her mother had let slip about what she called her and Dad's 'night-time strolls' at Hogwarts during their final years and thought there was more that she had in common with her mother than she realised. Instead of teasing her mother about that, since she definitely couldn't push it now that she had her mum's support, she said, "Did it help?"
"Did what help, dear?" Mum asked.
"Did it help, being with Dad during the first war. Things were pretty shit, then, weren't they?"
"Language," Mum scolded, but it sounded half-hearted. "Yes, of course it helped. But it was never as bad then as it is now."
"It's over now, though," Ginny said gently.
Mum didn't say anything for a moment. "Last time, I lost my brothers. And this time, I lost—" her voice broke. Ginny hopped off the counter, going up to her mother and wrapping her arms around her. She didn't know what to say. She never knew what to say when her mother got emotional or teary. She had always been uncomfortable with tears. She thought that one of her brothers, George or Percy or Bill, would've known what to do. Fred, she thought with a pang. He would've known what to do.
"I know, Mum," she finally said. Her own voice was thick. Merlin, they'd all really been crying a lot lately, hadn't they?
Mum pulled back after a few minutes and wiped her eyes. "To answer your question," she said, and her voice was clear again, "it did help. It did then, and it will now. Love… it always helps."
"Bit cheesy, Mum," Ginny said.
Mum swatted at her with a tea towel, but she was smiling, and Ginny counted that as a win.