Disclaimer: Anything you recognise is not mine; it all belongs to J. K. Rowling as we all know
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Chapter Three
A Very Weasley Welcome
Harry smiled as he woke up in a comfortable bed. It had been way too long.
Hearing voices from outside, he spared a glance at the clock on his bedside and saw that the time was ten o'clock. He hadn't meant to sleep so late but then he'd stayed up all night talking to Ron and Hermione, catching up on the last few years.
Flipping back the covers, he pulled himself out of the bed and found his glasses. He threw on a shirt and some pants that Ron had leant him and hurried out to the kitchen.
There, he had to laugh. Hermione was sitting at the table, calmly reading a magazine, while Bella did a drawing. What really got him going was the image of Ron, trying to cook something and feel his little son at the same time, covered in baby food.
Ron looked up, and seeing Harry, he scowled. "Not funny," he grumbled, spooning the mush into his own mouth. "See Paul? It's really yummy, even daddy likes it"
This only made Harry laugh harder as he weakly tried to stay standing.
Hermione smiled. "If you think this is funny, wait until you get to lunch. It's out weekly Saturday lunch and the Weasley wives day off. Imagine six grown men, struggling to cook for and feed their children and at the same time keeping everything in order. I tell you, its hilarious."
Harry grinned at the image. "Can't wait"
Ron looked at him darkly, "Well, yeah, you mate are going to be suffocated by my mother and the rest of the girls. We haven't told them you're back yet; we thought it would be a nice surprise. But trust me, mum is probably going to throw herself at you so I'd watch out."
Hermione scoffed. "Really Ron, the girls wouldn't suffocate him! They'd simply pounce on him, charge at him and throw millions of questions his way while crying or laughing hysterically. It's not as if Harry has anything to worry about"
Ron just smirked, as Harry's eyes grew rounder.
True to Hermione's words, when they arrived at the house a few hours later, it was to the loud scream of Mrs Weasley who rushed out and enveloped Harry in a hug.
"Oh Harry darling, how are you? It's been much to long! You're so skinny! Would you like some food? We need to fatten you up! Come in, come in! You have to see the rest of the family!"
Entering the Burrow, Harry felt the warm feeling of familiarity and homeliness that he'd been missing. Going into the living room, he wasn't surprised to see a mass of redheads chattering away happily.
They hadn't noticed him yet and Ron took the chance to make introductions.
"There, over there is Bill and Fleur, you remember her from the Triwizard tournament don't you? That's their kids next to them, Kyla's the oldest, she's 8, you might remember her from when she was a baby. Next to her is Natalia, she's 6 and Lilia is 3." Ron pointed the three girls out to Harry and he could instantly tell that they were part-veela. The older two had sheets of long, dark auburn hair while the younger looked more like her mother, her long hair a silvery blond in colour.
"Then there's Perce and Penelope, always knew they'd get together. Petria's the one reading, she's 5 and Persephone is 2. Oh, and there's Charlie and Anna, she's the pregnant one, it's their first kid…"
A large bang interrupted Ron's speech and Harry looked over to the source of it and saw Fred and George surrounded by a loud bunch of screaming kids. Angelina and Alicia stood nearby, seemingly unamused.
Ron let out a bark of laughter. "People think Fred and George are bad but their nothing compared to their kids. Fred and Angelina had twins, Sally and Martin, and George and Alicia, would you believe it, had triplets. Kevin, James and Melissa. They even had the kids in the same year; they're all 6. I swear, when you get those five kids together, you can bet there's gonna be something happening. Last week they managed to put about ten bowls of canary creams in different places in Diagon Alley, advertising them as some new sample pastry. I tell you, it was bloody brilliant! People were changing everywhere and no one knew how many of these bowls were around. Fred and George didn't know what to do."
"Harry?" A voice from the back yelled out over the din and everything went quiet.
Harry looked for the source of the voice and saw George's head sticking out from the crowd.
"Oh my god, Harry!" Someone else yelled and Harry felt himself being pounced on again, from all different directions. The adults were throwing questions around and the kids were screaming just for the sake of it.
It was bedlam. It was madness. It was chaos. It was just another ordinary weekly lunch at the Weasleys.
It took nearly half an hour before everyone settled down and Harry felt himself being able to breathe again. So much for Hermione's assurance that he wouldn't be suffocated. Molly and Arthur had taken the kids outside for grandparents/grandkids time before the men took over so Harry and the Weasley's were sitting around the lounge room reminiscing about old times.
Harry was amazed at how so much had changed but at the same time amazed that so much hadn't. Percy was still just as stuffy, Fred and George were still there old prankster selves, even if they were starting to be upstaged by their kids and everyone had welcomed him back into the family as if he was one of them. It was just so overwhelmingly wonderful and Harry was so glad to be back.
He was puzzled, however, as to why Ginny wasn't there. He asked Ron this and Ron shrugged before yelling out "Does anyone know where Ginny is?"
There was a silence as everyone stopped talking and Harry felt eyes fall on him
Finally, Bill answered, "Uh, she flooed earlier to say that she was going to be late…she and Nick had some errands to run or something…but they'll both be here soon."
Harry nodded awkwardly and felt that lump in his stomach again as he quickly excused himself from the group, saying he needed to go to the bathroom. He assured Ron he remembered the way before hurrying up the stairs and leaning weakly against the wall.
'Stop being stupid!' He berated himself. 'It was your own choice to leave, she asked you to stay. It's your own fault that she moved on'
Closing his eyes, Harry could still picture that day he had left…
~*~
Ginny watched Harry packing with tears forming in her eyes.
"You're just going to leave? Just like that?"
"I have to go Ginny. There are still hundreds of deatheaters around who would love to kill me and everyone who matters to me."
"It doesn't matter! If you and I want to be together, who cares about rogue deatheaters, we could go away somewhere, somewhere where they wont find us, or we could go under the fidelius charm or something, you don't have to leave Harry!"
Harry paused in his packing and felt tears pricking from behind his eyes.
"It wouldn't work Ginny. They'd find us. This is the only way I can make sure you stay safe."
"If staying safe means being away from you then I don't want to!" Ginny yelled in frustration, the tears falling heavily now. "Why can't you see that I just want to be with you! That's all that I care about!"
Harry felt a huge urge to walk over to the sobbing Ginny and envelope her in a hug, promise that everything would be okay and promise that he'd stay and that they'd be together forever. Then he remembered Sirius, how he'd died because of Harry. How Dumbledore had thrown himself in front of Voldemort's Avada Kedavra to save him. How his parents had died for him. No, he couldn't let that happen again, it had happened too many times already. This time, he wasn't going to let someone he loved die because of him.
Lifting the now full bag over his shoulder, Harry turned to face her.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "But I promise to come back"
Ginny shook her head. "No. If you go out that door now Harry Potter, I can't and won't promise that I'll be here waiting when you come back"
Harry looked at her, her tear stained face stubborn, her eyes hurting. Her auburn hair flowed out around her face and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He drank the image of her in one last time before turning and going out the door.
~*~
Harry leaned back against the wall. God he was so stupid.
**********
Ginny giggled as Nick playfully tugged her curls and pulled her in for a kiss.
"Nick! We're late as it is and I want to catch everyone while they're still in a good mood!"
"Come on, they can wait a tiny bit longer"
Ginny laughed again but extricated herself from Nick's hold. "No they can't, as soon as the boys take over, its chaos until tomorrow morning. We have to get there while mum and dad are still doing their grandparents thing"
"Oh all right," Nick pouted as they got ready to apparate. "Spoilsport"
He stuck his tongue out and Ginny grinned as the familiar outline of the Burrow began to form in front of her.
**********
Harry could feel unshed tears welling up in his eyes. Quickly wiping them with his sleeve, he tried to compose himself before turning to go back downstairs. He was halfway when he heard her voice.
"Hello? Anybody home?"
He felt his heart pounding in his chest.
Ginny
**********
Ginny entered the living room where her brothers all sat with their wives.
She greeted them cheerfully and went around distributing hugs before sitting down with Nick.
Looking around, she saw that everyone seemed to be looking at her rather strangely. Ginny shrugged the feeling off as she smiled widely.
"I have something to tell you guys…"
"Wait, Ginny," Hermione interrupted, "uh, there's something we should tell you first…"
"No, really," Ginny insisted, "I want to go first"
Ginny waited till Hermione nodded her head mutely and she looked around the room.
Holding up her left hand, Ginny used her right hand to give Nick's a squeeze
"We're getting married!"
**********
Harry felt his eyes widen.
She was getting married?!
Slowly, he sat down on the step. He couldn't go in there. Not yet
**********
Ginny looked around, expecting joyous cheers from her family but everyone was quiet, looking worriedly at each other
"Hey, no congratulations or anything?" She asked, slightly confused.
Bill was the first to recover as he stood and gave Ginny a hug. "I'm sorry Gin, it was just a bit of a shock. Congratulations"
The others murmured in agreement and got up to give both Ginny and Nick hugs.
When everyone was seated again, Ginny looked at Hermione
"What did you want to tell me?" She asked, threading her fingers with Nick.
Hermione looked at her and opened her mouth but no sound came out.
Ginny wrinkled her forehead in confusion
"Hermione, you alright?"
Looking to her sister-in-laws right, she saw Ron glance quickly over at the door that led to the staircase. Looking around at the rest of her family, she saw that they too were throwing worried glances in that direction.
Ginny stood and went over to the door, looking out.
"There's nothing here guys." She said, bewilderment evident in her voice.
She was about to return to her seat when she heard a distinct creak in the wooden floorboards above.
Casting a quick glance at her family who were still fixed in what seemed to be a worried stance, she turned quickly and headed up the stairs
She only got halfway when she realized what they were so worried about
"Harry"
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A/N: Just a note in case anyone is wondering, this is taking place during the summer holidays, hence the reason Ginny is not teaching at Hogwarts. Thanks!
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Thanks to ginnybear86, Cameron, YankeeTorp, Sherry and kelliethehottie for your great reviews
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