Chapter 7
Harry hated waiting, but that's exactly what he was doing
again. He looked around at the
unfamiliar surroundings of Ginny apartment and decided that sitting still was
not an option. He had never been so
nervous in all his life and sitting wasn't getting rid of that energy at all. The pictures that looked back at him form
the mantle didn't move or wave at him, but he still couldn't take his eyes off
of them as they were all of the two people he wanted to see most in the world;
Ginny and Jimmy – and neither of them were here right now. Harry was waiting for their return.
When Harry and Ginny arrived at her apartment earlier, there
had been many uncomfortable pauses in the conversation, as neither had really
known what to say to the other. Slowly,
Harry spilled out the details of Voldemort's fall and of how he came to find
her. And she in turn replayed the story
of how she discovered she was pregnant and came to live here in the United
States. It was all rather awkward. Both stories brought great concern to the
face of the listener and many times each had apologized for not being there for
the other one. It was getting quite
silly actually. When did their
conversation become so formal, Harry thought?
But soon the conversation rolled around entirely to Jimmy as
Ginny shared photo after photo of the son Harry had never known. She tried telling him all the stories she
could think of, but Harry knew he had missed so much that it would take a long
time for him to really get to know his son. He was aching to talk to him. It
was indescribable. Harry had never felt
this way about anyone ever before. As
much as Harry loved Ginny, he had never felt anything like what he was feeling
towards Jimmy right now. Jimmy was his
own flesh and blood. Jimmy was here on
the earth because of Harry…and Ginny…and the love they had for each other.
This brought another ache to Harry's heart. Ginny…she wasn't the same. Well, what did you expect, he thought! Of course she wasn't the same. She was a single mother making her way in a
very cruel world. But it was more than
that. She seemed closed off to
him…almost reluctant to be close to him. He thought about the kiss they had shared and felt so foolish! Why had he done that so suddenly? He shouldn't have forced his desires on her
so quickly! But he wanted her so badly
it hurt! He had hoped that she would
have kissed him in return, thus deepening the kiss and showing him he was
welcome here, but instead, she had seemed distant.
Pacing the kitchen and playing with random Muggle electrical
devices, Harry tried to calm his nerves. He shouldn't have let Ginny talk him
into waiting here! She had to go and
pick up Jimmy from school. Harry had
wanted to go along, but Ginny thought it would be better if she had a chance to
chat with Jimmy alone before she introduced them to each other. What did she need to say to him? Hey kid…your dead-beat dad has finally
showed up? Tossing the tin opener
aside, Harry became angry with himself. Why had he ever left her? And
how would he ever win her back?
The front door opened and Harry froze. They were here. They had arrived. This
was the moment he had been waiting for…
He rounded the corner of the kitchen to find Ginny standing
with a small boy hiding behind her, curiously looking around her side. Harry leaned over to get a better look at
him. Oh God… His heart raced in excitement, fear,
nervousness, and overwhelming love.
Ginny, smiling nervously herself, placed a hand on Jimmy's
shoulder and whispered to him, "Go say hello."
Slowly, looking up at him with those big green eyes Harry
recognized as his own, Jimmy took a few steps closer. "Hi," he said softly.
"Hi," Harry answered back, feeling his face flush.
"Mommy says you're Harry."
Harry nodded, "I'm Harry, yes."
"Really?"
"Really."
Jimmy licked his lips, thinking about what this meant and
trying to size up the man standing in front of him.
Harry bent down so he was able to look at Jimmy in the eyes
on his own level. "You know, I wouldn't
mind so much…if it was all right with you…" Give me strength! "…if you wanted to just call me…dad?"
Harry heard Ginny give a sharp intake of breath at his
statement, but didn't take his eyes off his son. His son! Jimmy
looked back at him curiously. "You talk
funny…like Mommy."
Harry gulped down his fear, "Yes, that's because we're both
from England."
"Is that where you've been all this time?"
This is so hard! Why
did it have to feel like this? "Yes, and I'm sorry about that."
"Are you gonna stay here?"
"Yes," he hopped he was welcome to stay, but added, "For a
while at least." That turned out to be
the wrong thing to say.
"So, you're gonna leave again?" Jimmy bit out.
Shocked Harry quickly said, "No, I'm not going to leave, I
promise you that. I want to be as much
of a part of your life as you are willing to let me be."
Jimmy squinted at him, "Promise?"
"Promise."
A pause and then Harry experienced the most glorious thing he
had ever felt. Jimmy wrapped his small
arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Harry fought back tears of joy at the sensation of actually holding his
son for the first time. No one had ever
told him it would feel like this. That
he could love someone so much even though he hardly even knew him! His heart was pounding in his chest from
joy. He chanced a glance up at Ginny
and noticed her eyes were filled with tears. At that sight, he felt his own tears fall down his face.
***
Dinner proved to be quite eventful as Jimmy kept asking all
sorts of question about where Harry had been and what England was like, never
stopping one second to let Harry relax. Ginny had told him Jimmy knew nothing of the magic and they had both
decided to wait and tell Jimmy about that in a day or two. One shock at a time Ginny had said. So Harry was having to alter his stories
just a bit as to not included anything that Jimmy would become suspicious of.
Towards the end of the meal, Ginny had stepped away for a
second to answer the phone, leaving Harry alone with Jimmy for the first
time. Jimmy smiled over at him and
asked, "Can you tell me how you met Mommy?"
Harry smiled back mischievously, having been given the chance
to tattle tell on Ginny. "The first
time I actually met your mother, was the first summer I spent time over at her
family's house. Her brother and I had
become best friends, and I guess he had been talking about me coming to
visit. I didn't really know this, but
your mother had the biggest crush on me right from the start." Jimmy giggled at this and Harry continued. "I arrived early one morning and I guess no
one told your mother I was coming that day, because she came down in her
nightdress, stood in the kitchen door way, let out a shriek at seeing me, and
ran up to her room to hide!"
Jimmy fell into a fit of laughter as Ginny reentered the
room. "What on earth are you telling
him?" she asked.
"Oh, just how you used to be so shy around me." He leaned over to Jimmy and said, "The next
time I saw her, she was peeking out at me from behind her bedroom door."
"All right now, that is enough." Ginny was turning red.
"She even sent me a love letter on Valentines Day!"
"Now, stop it!" she laughed. "You tease, but look how long it took you to even notice me!"
"Now that is not true, as it is quite impossible to ignore a
cute little red-head following you every where you go."
"Mommy, is that true?" Jimmy asked through more giggles.
"Unfortunately, yes, I had quite a crush on your father when
I was younger."
Harry forced a smile at her, but didn't like the sound of
what she had just said. I HAD a
crush…HAD…did that mean she no longer felt that way about him? Harry didn't have much time to think about
it as Ginny spilled out some of her stories about Harry. "Besides," she said, "your father was too
busy flirting with a certain Asian girl by the name of Cho Chang to pay any
attention to me."
Harry's jaw dropped, "I was thirteen, Ginny!"
"Yes, and he didn't even ask me to the Yule Ball. I had to go Neville Longbottom."
Jimmy snorted at the name. "Longbottom?!"
"Well, he was nice and all, but he was rather clumsy."
"And you think I had a better time with Parvati?"
"That's not the point, you asked Cho first."
"Yes, but she already had a date."
"Still, you never asked me."
"I was fourteen then, Ginny! What do you want me to admit? That I was stupid?"
"Yes!"
Harry rolled his eyes at her. "You know my life revolved around Quidditch at the time, Gin, and
she was a brilliant Seeker!"
"No she wasn't! She
shadowed you around, and could never keep up with you in a game."
"Well maybe if she had had a Firebolt and I had had her Comet
360, then she could have been faster than me, no problem."
"HARRY!" Ginny said
startled. They had been talking about
Quidditch in front of Jimmy! Hopefully
he didn't catch on to what they were saying, but they needed to be more
careful. Harry immediately felt guilty
for letting the conversation go as far as it had. Not just because they had
actually mentioned magic in front of Jimmy, but because he was starting to
regret the lost time he had spent in his youth without Ginny.
Hoping to smooth things over, he softly said, "The important
thing to know, Jimmy, is that I eventually came to my senses and realized what
a remarkable woman your mother was…and fell madly in love with her." Ginny blushed at his statement, and Jimmy's
eyes darted from his mother to his father and back again, grinning widely at
them.
"Can I ask one more question?" Both of his parents now looked
over at him. "Why do you call her
Ginny?"
Harry's eyes locked with Ginny's. "Sweetheart," Ginny took a deep breath. "I've told you many times that we came here so that we would be
safe." Jimmy nodded at her. "Well, to be really safe, I changed my name
so that it would be difficult for anyone to find me."
"You mean, your name isn't Gwen?"
"No, dear, it's Ginny…Ginny Weasley."
Jimmy didn't seem to like the sound of that. "So I'm not Jimmy Williams? I'm Jimmy…Weasley?"
Harry's eyes caught Ginny's again as the same thought must
have passed between them, but it was Ginny who verbalized it. "Actually, your name should Jimmy Potter…after
your father."
Jimmy looked up at Harry and then back at Ginny. "Potter?"
Harry placed a hand on Jimmy's shoulder, "You're named after my
father, James Potter."
"Really?"
"Yes, so you can have the honor of being named after your
grandfather, if you'd like," explained Harry.
Jimmy smiled. "I
would like that, but do I have to go by James? I like Jimmy better."
Harry and Ginny both laughed and Ginny said, "We wouldn't
call you anything else, dear."
Harry's heart seemed to swell with pride as he looked at his
son. Jimmy almost knew the whole truth
now, and Harry couldn't wait to be able to talk to him about magic and Hogwarts
and Quidditch! There was so much he
wanted to share with his son that there didn't seem to be enough time in the
world for all of it. In fact, it was
only a short while later that Ginny was taking Jimmy up to bed. Harry stayed behind for a moment, as Ginny
said she wanted a chance to talk to Jimmy alone. Harry watched as his son started to head down the hall to his
room, followed by Ginny.
Jimmy turned quickly to Harry, "You can come to my room in a
minute and say good night."
"I will!"
"Oh, and will you be here in the morning?"
Harry's smile fell. "Of course I will."
Double checking the information, Jimmy asked again, "So,
you're not going to leave?"
"No, I'll be here." Harry's heart rate quickened as Jimmy disappeared into his room with
Ginny. Jimmy thought he was going to
leave. Why would he think that? Why wouldn't he think that? Naturally Jimmy would be concerned about
Harry leaving. He wondered if Ginny
felt the same way.
I have no intention of leaving, but if Ginny doesn't want me
to stay…then I'll go. Please let her
want me to stay. Please let her allow
me into her life! I couldn't bear it if
I had to live another day without her…and Jimmy!