Thanks for the reviews please keep letting me know what you think and I'll get the next chapter up in the next day or so. As ever, these are JKR's wonderful characters. Telling the Family
"Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,
And Fear, and Bloodshed…
Turns his necessity to glorious gain."
William Wordsworth: "Character of the Happy Warrior"
Voices reverberated around the hallway downstairs, indicating that people were returning home for the evening. Thudding footsteps charged past Ginny's door, and a slamming noise quite close by their heads broke the tranquillity of the afternoon.
"Fred and George," she muttered sleepily, and gave a little yawn.
"We're going to have to tell them, you know," Harry said, shivering suddenly as if someone had just slid partially thawed ice cubes down his neck. "None of your family are going to like this, and that's probably a serious understatement."
"They'll have to like it," Ginny replied grimly, sitting up and shaking her hair back off her face. "At the end of the day it's not their decision. I vote we tackle Mum and Dad first, and once they've accepted it, then we let my brothers know." She chuckled suddenly. "With a bit of luck Mum'll become ferociously protective of us, then they daren't do anything too bad, but I'd advise you to be careful with your food for the next few days, especially with Fred and George around."
"Thanks," Harry said dryly. He grinned and prodded her gently in the ribs. "How come I'm the one getting the blame for this anyway?"
"Who could possibly blame me?" Ginny asked, wearing her most angelic expression. Harry choked.
"Come on, then," he said, getting to his feet and holding out his hand for her. "Let's get it over with. How are we going to do this?"
"It's just before dinner," Ginny mused. "Mum'll be cooking in the kitchen, and these days Dad's often dozing in the living room by now." She looked at Harry and pulled a face. "I'll do Mum; she's more likely to explode. Will you be OK talking to Dad?"
"Yeah," Harry agreed, feeling his heart sink with every step he took towards the door.
"I've got a few things I need to ask him about anyway."
"You'll be fine," she whispered, pulling him into a hug. A low chuckle and more footsteps hurried past, lighter this time, and faded away as they ascended the next flight of stairs. "Ron and Hermione," she identified the sounds and grinned. "Honestly, it's like King's Cross Station past my door sometimes. You want to hear it when Bill and Charlie are home."
They walked slowly downstairs, hand in hand, and paused briefly in the darkness between the two rooms. He gazed down at her, and felt a warmth surge through his veins, knowing that she loved him. Their lips met with a peculiarly tender kiss, each holding onto the other to stave off the impending sense of doom. Ginny eventually pulled away, and smiled at him.
"Good luck," she whispered, squeezing his hand.
"You too," he responded, feeling her fingers disappear from beyond his grasp as she vanished into the kitchen. Knowing there was nothing more to be done, Harry heaved a sigh, and strode directly into the living room, determined to see this through.
Mr Weasley was sitting in the armchair by the fireplace, absorbed in a copy of "The Daily Prophet," which blazed the legend, "Ministry Blunder Causes Mayhem." Harry closed the door firmly behind him and vainly attempted to flatten his hair, but to no avail. He stood irresolutely in the corner for a moment, and then forced himself to cross the room and sit on the footstool.
"Ah, Harry!" Mr Weasley said, lowering the newspaper, and folding it neatly in half. He looked completely exhausted, but his eyes were alert as he examined Harry seriously though his glasses. "How are things today?" he added, concern filling his voice.
"Er…" Harry began, and noticing that his throat suddenly seemed very dry, he coughed and began again. "We… we've been talking. Well, we've been talking a lot really, and…" He broke off. Mr Weasley was quite literally ageing before his eyes; his hair seemed thinner than ever, and worry lined his face.
"It's all right, Harry," Mr Weasley said, sighing to himself. "I'm not blaming you for this, for any of this."
"It feels like it's all my fault," Harry said despondently. "Ginny wouldn't have been dragged into any of this if it hadn't been for me."
"We can't change that," Mr Weasley responded quietly. "We can only work with what we have, Harry, and sort out what we're going to do from here."
"I know," Harry agreed, and then before he could stop himself, he blurted out. "We've decided."
"And?" Mr Weasley's voice became grave, and at the same time a horrified shriek rang out from the kitchen, making them both jump.
"Things are bad out there, aren't they?" Harry asked, running his hands through his hair. "They're even worse than most people know about."
"Yes Harry, they are," he said seriously. "The Ministry is virtually collapsing around us, and it wouldn't take much for He Who Must Not Be Named to seize power, and that's something I never want to see." There was a long pause.
"We're going to do what Dumbledore asked," Harry said slowly. "We've thought it through, and we know it's going to be incredibly difficult, but we still want to."
"I see," Mr Weasley nodded, his face still rather grey as it had been the previous evening. "Have you worked out how you're going to manage the baby and school?"
"Yes," Harry admitted, and outlined his plan to Mr Weasley. He talked of their thoughts about waiting until Ginny's seventeenth birthday, the arrival of the baby after the end of the school year, and his suggestions about how Ginny could still finish school. "We'll need your help," he confessed, "but it can be done, and I will look after her, you know."
"Yes, Harry," Mr Weasley replied. "But you may well not have a choice. You understand better than most people what You Know Who is capable of."
"History repeating itself," Harry murmured.
"Exactly," Mr Weasley said gently.
"We've got two months to find spells to keep Ginny and the baby safe," Harry explained feeling a surge of determination and looking directly at Mr Weasley. "I'll do anything."
"We'd better start looking into it," Mr Weasley said, getting wearily to his feet and heading across to the bookshelves lining the opposite wall. "I thought you'd come to this decision, Harry, and for what it's worth if I'd been in your situation I'd have probably done the same thing. All the same, it's not quite the future I was expecting for my daughter, and it's going to take quite some time to get used to this."
Harry felt awful, a feeling that was magnified by the sobbing sounds emanating from the kitchen. He sneaked a sideways look at Mr Weasley, wondering how he could possibly broach the other topic he desperately wanted to discuss with him. At least with the baby idea, someone else had brought it up, but this concept had been entirely unspoken, and he had no idea how Mr Weasley would react. He repeated the words in his mind, as he had done over and over again throughout the afternoon, and took a deep breath. He had faced far worse things than this before; surely dealing with Voldemort, Dementors and various magical creatures of Hagrid's had to be harder than this? To his surprise, Harry realised he was shaking and hurriedly folded his arms to stop it showing.
"Er…" he began, immediately cursing himself for his eloquence. "Can I," his voice squeaked as it hadn't for quite a few years now. He cleared his throat, hoping against hope that Mr Weasley hadn't noticed. "Can I ask you about… um… something?"
"Yes," Mr Weasley answered, drawing out the word slowly. He sat back down, worn spell book open in hand and regarded Harry.
"It's… well… er… it's…" Harry stuttered, forcing himself to stay where he was, rather than leaping to his feet and running for the door. "I mean…" He could feel his face flushing, and mentally kicked himself.
"Harry?"
"Sorry, it's just… er… yeah, that's it… um," Harry tried again. "Ginny."
"What about her?" her father prompted with a very anxious expression on his face.
"I-I wanted to ask, well I suppose you know that by now, don't you," Harry laughed nervously. "I mean, how could you not know I'm trying to ask you something? Er…"
"Harry," Mr Weasley said warningly.
"Yeah, right. I s'pose by now you know how I feel about her," his insides shuddered as if containing terrified fairies desperate to escape. "I wondered if… somehow… I mean, even maybe in the future if you don't want us to now… but I want to… I really do want to… um… would you… please… let me marry her?"
It was out. Harry struggled to catch his breath and waited in absolute terror for the response. By the time he actually dared look, Mr Weasley's face was entirely impassive.
"Marry my daughter?" each word was picked out with the precision clearness and ferocity of a bullet.
"Yes," Harry croaked, wishing the floor would swallow him up. "I love her and… and I want to marry her."
"I see," Mr Weasley commented, peering sternly at Harry over his glasses, making him wilt like the plant in the hallway. "And what exactly are your prospects young man?"
"P-Prospects?" Harry stammered blankly.
"Yes, prospects," Mr Weasley said briskly. "Are you capable of keeping my daughter in the manner to which she'd like to become accustomed?" A twinkle appeared in his eye.
"I don't know," Harry replied, in complete bewilderment.
"And your future career?" Mr Weasley prompted. "Come now, what are you good at?"
"Just Q-Quidditch," Harry stuttered. "But…"
"And you consider yourself worthy to marry my daughter?" Mr Weasley commented, staring fiercely at Harry once more.
"No, I know she's far too good for me, and there's no way I deserve her," Harry burst out. "All I want to do is keep her happy, and make everything perfect for her. Why should she go through all this and make do with second best? I'd have wanted to marry her even if Dumbledore hadn't suggested the baby, but now that he has, it's just another reason to make it right."
"I'm glad you feel that way, Harry," Mr Weasley's face broke into his usual benevolent smile. "It would have been impossible to let her go to anyone who loved her less. Now, I take it you've not asked her yet, but when exactly were you thinking about getting married?"
"What?" Harry gasped in total shock. "You mean you'll let me? Really?"
Mr Weasley laughed.
"Yes, Harry, it will be a pleasure to have you as an official member of the family, presuming Ginny's happy with the idea, of course." He sat back in his chair and chuckled. "As I only have one daughter, that was my single opportunity of having someone run the same gauntlet I had to when I asked Molly's father. You fared a lot better than I did, I have to say; I ended up accidentally transfiguring their sofa into a wobbling jelly in sheer panic."
"You didn't," Harry laughed.
"I did," Mr Weasley smiled. "Strawberry jelly. I've never yet been allowed to forget it. Worth it, of course, but it's rather fun being on the other end and really making a young man squirm over his feelings for your daughter."
"You definitely did that all right," Harry remarked, grinning irrepressibly. "I really can ask her? Honestly?"
"Of course," Mr Weasley chuckled. "Now, stop asking me before I change my mind."
"I thought her birthday might be a good time to get married," Harry confided. "The problem is, we're really going to have to do everything in total secrecy, otherwise Voldemort could find out."
"That's true," Mr Weasley said thoughtfully. "Especially with the baby, we've got to be incredibly careful. I'll tell you what Harry, leave this with me. I need to see Dumbledore later this week anyway about some Ministry business, and it would make sense to discuss this with him at the same time. That way we're not arousing suspicion about unusual journeys to Hogwarts."
"Thanks," Harry said gratefully, still grinning like mad.
"And might I suggest you let me tell Molly about this? I daresay that may well help soothe matters a little there. Speaking of which, I'd better head through to the kitchen quite swiftly," Mr Weasley smiled, getting to his feet. "Just to make sure murder has not been committed. I'll send Ginny through in a minute."
Unable to believe his luck Harry sank back happily into a chair wondering how Ginny would react when he proposed. The kitchen door was ajar, and voices wafted through
"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed in rather mournful tones. "Did Harry tell you?"
"Yes, he did," her husband replied calmly. "They'll manage, Molly. It's all been worked out sensibly." There was some a muttered exchange between various voices and a few moments later Harry heard the click of the kitchen door, and sat up sharply. A pair of dark brown eyes appeared almost immediately, twinkling impishly at him from around the door.
"How did it go?" she asked, scuttling across the room and curling up comfortably on his lap.
"Pretty well," Harry said, hugging her tightly. "Your dad's being incredible about all of this. It sounded a lot more dramatic at your end."
"It was a bit," she rolled her eyes. "Mum got pretty upset, and I ended up promising her something. I really hope you don't mind."
"Go on, tell me the worst," he teased. "What have you got us into this time?"
"I said we'd come back to the Burrow in July after term finishes so that I can have the baby here with Mum around."
"Ginny, that's perfect," he said in total honesty. "I hadn't even thought about that, but we'll definitely be best off here then."
"We can move to somewhere in Hogsmeade later in the summer, once everything's settled down a bit," she explained, leaning in to kiss him.
"Gin," Harry said quietly. "There's something I want to ask you."
"What?" she asked in an equally soft tone. "Is it about the baby?"
"Not exactly," he began, but was interrupted by two familiar figures wandering in from the hallway, looking distinctly bemused.
"What's going on?" Ron demanded, staring at the pair of them.
"What do you mean by that?" Ginny asked instantly. "Who says anything's going on?"
"Ginny, don't take me for an idiot," he snapped. "How obvious does it have to be? I
haven't even seen Harry for the past twenty-four hours, apart from when I got up this morning and about thirty seconds in the kitchen."
"Why does that mean there's a problem?" she said incredulously. "You don't have to live in each other's pockets all day."
"Ginny, he's sharing my room," Ron explained patiently. "Of course I expect to see him from time to time. And speaking of sharing rooms, why hasn't Hermione been allowed anywhere near your bedroom all day?"
"We've been in there talking about some stuff," Harry explained, glancing nervously at Ginny. "Everything's more-or-less sorted through now."
"Ron's right," Hermione said, frowning at Harry. "This doesn't add up. There's something very strange going on here, and I can't help thinking it's to do with Dumbledore. That was when all this started."
"And why are Mum and Dad closeted up in the kitchen?" Ron interjected, shaking his head. "They never do that, even when they're having a massive row, and they're not doing that now, or we'd hear them."
Harry glanced over at Ginny, feeling the knot of nerves beginning to tighten in his stomach once more. Her face showed similar apprehension. Ron and Hermione weren't going to give up easily and they would need to know sooner or later, but how on earth could they break news like this to them? Ginny nodded.
"You're not going to like this," Harry began, holding Ginny tightly to him.
"I don't care if I like it or not, I just want to know what's going on," Ron protested. "Honestly, the things that have been running through my mind today, you have no idea."
"Dumbledore came to talk to me about why Voldemort has been trying to kill me," Harry explained. "You know we've always wondered about that, well, now I know."
"So why, Harry?" Hermione asked curiously.
"It's complicated, but basically it's because of the equilibrium of the planets when Harry was born, and the fact that this seems to be handed down from father to son in the Potter family," Ginny explained.
"Truitinae Bonitas?" Hermione queried.
"You know about that?" Harry said astounded.
"Yes," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "It was in that section about you in the Dark Arts book I bought in Diagon Alley."
"That'll teach you not to read up on yourself in Florean Fortescue's," Ron sniggered. "Go on then, what is it?"
"It means that Harry can harness a particularly powerful brand of magic to alter the balance of good and evil," Hermione said. "It's quite fascinating to read about, but oh Harry, that would explain all about You Know Who, wouldn't it?"
"That's not all," Harry said bleakly. "There just so happens to be an ancient prophecy stating that only someone from my family can stop Voldemort."
"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Ron asked. "At least it means he's not guaranteed to take over."
"But Harry's the last of his family," Ginny said, looking at him quickly. "What do you think would happen if he does kill Harry? He's had a few pretty good attempts at that so far."
Ron swore softly beneath his breath.
"Harry, you've got to be careful. Maybe we should look into protection spells and…" Hermione began, looking very white and talking at a terrific speed.
"Hermione!" Harry protested. "We've always known he's wanted to kill me, and all that's changed now is that we know the consequences of what will happen when he does. Dumbledore reckons he'll confront me very soon, and because he's so powerful now, this is likely to be the last time, one way or another."
"And if you die…" Ron said in total horror, unable to complete the sentence. There was total silence as all four of them registered the implications.
"Dumbledore suggested a solution," Ginny said at last, her eyes fixed on her brother. "But you're not going to want to hear it."
"Are you kidding?" Ron said instantly. "Any solution to this has got to be worth trying, even if it doesn't work. What is it?"
"Dumbledore said that we should consider," Harry began, and glanced at Ginny, who was still tightly curled up on his lap.
"Having a baby," Ginny finished quietly. "Another Potter."
There was a stunned pause and a sharp intake of breath. Ron had turned crimson to the roots of his vibrantly red hair. His jaw worked up and down, but no sound came out.
"You're joking?" he choked out eventually. "How does he expect you to do that?"
"Same way that everyone else conceives babies," Ginny said dryly.
"But Ginny," Ron protested, hands clutching his hair in disbelief. "You can't. You just can't."
"Can't we?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The colour in Ron's face flooded out entirely, leaving him a similar pearly-white shade to Nearly-Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost.
"You're… going… to?" he said in sheer incredulity.
"Don't be silly, of course they're not…" Hermione began bracingly, glancing up at Harry for support. Her eyes widened and she froze mid-flow.
"Yes, we are," Harry said firmly. "We've talked it through and it's the only way."
"What?" Ron yelled shattering the quietness of the house. "Harry, how can you do this to her?"
"He's not forcing me into anything, Ron," Ginny hissed furiously at her brother. "I happen to think that it's the right thing to do. I want to do it."
"How can you say that?" Ron shouted at her, gesticulating wildly with his hands. "Ginny, you're sixteen. You're my little sister."
"You think I hadn't noticed that?" she retorted, her voice raising a few notches. "Being your little sister doesn't give you the right to run my life for me. We've had this argument before, Ron, and you know you're in the wrong."
"I can't believe you're thinking about this," Hermione gasped, looking from Harry to Ginny and then back again, in sheer astonishment. "What about school?"
"School will be fine," Harry tried to explain, but Ron cut across him.
"I'm not wrong on this Ginny. There's no way you two can have a baby; you still haven't grown out of stealing our socks, and unless it's to do with Quidditch, Harry wouldn't have a clue. How do you expect to take care of an infant?"
"Thanks!" Harry retorted, feeling his own anger mounting inside. "We have actually thought about this you know, and it wasn't an easy decision by a long shot."
"Why couldn't you have decided not to, if it was so difficult?" Ron bellowed.
"You know why," Ginny snapped instantly.
"But your exams," Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "What about your exams?"
"Mine'll be all over by the time the baby arrives," Harry answered. "And as for Ginny…"
"Yes, what about her?" Ron interrupted furiously. "Now you're expecting her to drop out of school are you? Harry, I can't believe you're going to let her do this."
"No," Ginny shot back. "I'll be finishing school."
"And how are you expecting to do that?" her brother yelled. "Quill in one hand, baby in the other?"
"I won't be working," Harry said with determination. "Ginny will finish school, and hopefully Dumbledore will agree to her doing that as a day student, going in from Hogsmeade every day."
"That doesn't sound so bad, I suppose," Hermione said very slowly, still looking rather stunned.
"Not bad?" Ron repeated at top volume. "He's talking about getting my baby sister pregnant and then living with her, and you say that's not bad? Are you hearing this right Hermione?"
"Just shut up!" Ginny yelled back, close to tears. "It's not like that, and you know it's not."
The kitchen door was flung open, and Mr and Mrs Weasley appeared in the living room within seconds. Harry wrapped Ginny tightly in his arms.
"Mum!" Ron appealed to her. "Have you heard this rubbish Harry and Ginny are talking about?"
"Yes dear," she answered, surveying the scene, and smiling fondly at Harry.
"Surely you're not going to let them?" Ron shouted. "I mean, this whole thing is just ridiculous."
"Calm down, Ron," Mr Weasley said placidly. "It's not going to help with you losing your temper."
"Ron, she's going to need you more than ever now," Harry said, clutching a quietly sobbing Ginny to him. "I do too, if it comes to that. If Voldemort finds out about this…"
"So you're putting her in more danger?" Ron shook his head. "I thought you'd have been put off that idea after she almost got killed. Or wasn't that enough for you, Harry?"
"That's not fair," Ginny responded, lifting her tear stained face from Harry's shoulder. "He nearly died for me that day, and you know he did." "Enough!" Mr Weasley said firmly. "Ron you need to calm down. Think it over. Nothing is going to be happening immediately, but we all need to stand together on this one. You Know Who is going to be a threat, but if we are strong as a family, then we will get through this, all of us."
"You've all gone mad," Ron cried, leaping to his feet. "This is… No!" He turned and ran out of the room, crashing blindly up the stairwell.