Disclaimer: Harry Potter is from the creative genius that is J.K. Rowling.
I am not her. This is merely a fan fiction to tide us over until Book 6.
A/N: I highly recommend going to JKR's website www.jkrowling.com. There's some pretty interesting background, especially on Dean Thomas. Enjoy! ====================================== ========
"But Kingsley, I just got home a week ago, and Ginny's seven months in two weeks!" Harry protested as he stood in his living room at 2 a.m.
Kingsley had floo called him wanting him to go back out on assignment. There were rumors of a group of wizards dabbling in the Dark Arts somewhere in the Balkins. They were using the Imperio mostly to do various illegal activities. While it was a dangerous mission, it was nothing compared to missions Harry had been on before. He just didn't understand why the Auror department was requesting him on this mission. He was on leave in just two weeks.
"You'll be back before the baby's born," Kingsley said. "I'm sorry but you've been to the Balkins already and know the territory. Your knowledge will be beneficial to the mission."
"Other people have been to the Balkins too!"
"They don't have the same success rate as you Harry. You know that. You should be back before the baby's born."
"How soon? A month? A week? A day? An hour? A minute?" Harry said upset. "I can't leave Ginny to do this alone. We still have the nursery to decorate, the baby shower is in April after Fred and George's birthday, and we still have to pack the bag for the hospital. She can't do this by herself. I won't let her."
"Then I suggest you get her family to help. You're the best man for the job here," Kingsley said sternly. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
Harry watched as Kingsley disappeared. When he vanished, Harry flopped down on the couch. Holding his head in his hands, he began to think about this situation.
"No, no, no," he said angrily. "I am not going to miss the baby being born, but I can't just quit. I'm helping keep everyone safe, and even if I did there's a two month active notice required."
Harry sighed and continued talking to himself, "I'll be back soon. I have to be. Merlin, Ginny's going to kill me."
Little did he know, but Ginny stood at the foot of the stair under the invisibility cloak. She had heard the whole conversation between Kingsley and Harry and seen her husband's reaction. She was enraged they would ask Harry to go back on assignment this close to his leave. She knew Harry was good at his job, but they could call someone back from vacation instead of having him go. She looked at Harry and suddenly her heart ached as she saw a single tear roll down his cheek.
She was going to do something about this.
The next day Harry forced his eyes to open as the alarm went off. He looked at the alarm for a moment contemplating what he was going to say. He would have to tell Ginny about the assignment and that he was leaving that day. He didn't know what exactly he would say, hopefully she would know how much he didn't want to go and wouldn't try to kill him.
He felt bad about having to leave her, and even worse, that he hadn't been able to sleep with his arm around her since he had been home. The baby would kick at him until he moved his arm.
Sighing, Harry rolled over and prepared to tell Ginny the news only to be met with an empty bed. Startled he sat up and looked around. It was then he saw the note on the pillow.
"Harry love, I had to go to the office early to do some work. I'll see you later. I love you and the baby loves you. Kisses, Gin."
Harry sighed and clutched the letter. He wasn't even going to get to tell her good-bye. He'd have to owl her and let her know what was happening. Merlin, he didn't want to leave her like this. With a heavy heart, Harry dressed and got ready to go into the office. After he got more of a briefing he would floo call Ron and Hermione and let them know what was going on. He was sure neither of them would understand.
Harry arrived at the Ministry shortly after 8 a.m. and started to head into the briefing room when he was stopped by Tonks.
"No briefing for you," Tonks said in an almost chuckle.
"Am I to go straight to the Balkins then?" Harry sighed thinking he'd have to owl Ron and Hermione too.
"Oh no. You're to go straight to Kingsley's office. He needs to talk to you."
"Fine," Harry grumbled as he started toward the head auror's office. Knocking on the door, he heard Kingsley said, "Come in" in a strange tone.
Harry clutched the wand in his pocket in case something was amiss. Opening the door, he saw the older Auror was pale and shaking.
"Kingsley? Are you all right?" Harry said cautiously looking around for anything amiss.
"Fine," he choked out. "There's been a change of plans Harry. You are needed in the Unspeakable Department. There was a special request put in. You'll be working with them until your leave."
"But I'm not an Unspeakable. Are you sure you're all right?" Harry said nervously.
"Just a bit shook up," Kingsley said wearily. "This order comes from someone high up in the Unspeakables, and I was, er, persuaded to call Ralston in from vacation to take your place in the Balkins. You better hurry. The Unspeakables don't wait for any man, including you."
Harry started to leave, but before he did, he turned to look at Kingsley one last time. He was still seated at his desk and the pained expression on his face was slowly leaving. Nothing seemed to be amiss and if there were Death Eaters in the room, Kingsley would have said something odd. Chalking it up to indigestion for Kingsley's behavior, Harry closed the door and smiled. It looked like he wouldn't be going anywhere after all.
Harry whistled while he made his way down the stairs to the Unspeakable floor. There was more security here than on the Auror floor. He wondered if that was because the Ministry didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to attack his department or if Ginny's department had more important things that needed protecting.
Shrugging Harry opened the door to the Unspeakables department to be met head-on by Remus Lupin.
"Harry! Nice of you to join us," Remus said pulling him into a room a bit down the hallway. "Ginny and I been expecting someone from the Auror division. You're going to help us out on something. Clever wife you've got. She got me in on this project about tracking people by smell. Brilliant actually, unless your smelling socks. Sirus and James had the worst. House elves should have gotten hazard pay for going near them."
"I'll be working with Ginny?" Harry asked as he and Remus entered the room.
"Both of us actually," Ginny said as she sat behind a desk in the office. She looked up to see Harry and smiled broadly. "Harry!" she yelled running and hugging him.
"I thought you were on leave for another week and then you just had another week before family leave," said Ginny feigning innocence.
"I've been called in here to work with you love," Harry said smiling. "I understand you and Remus are working on a tracking spell focusing on a person's smell?"
"Right," Ginny said grabbing a clipboard. "Every individual has a separate smell. Most people's sense of smell is not in tuned enough, although werewolves have an acute sense of smell. Interestingly enough pregnant women can distinguish their husband or mate's smell from others."
"So what do I smell like?" Harry said teasingly.
"Heaven," Ginny answered.
A few weeks later Harry and Ginny were both on leave. It was time for the baby shower, and while traditionally it was an event for women, the whole Weasley family and several others had been invited for the event. There were presents, punch, snacks, jokes and Quidditch (though Harry made sure Ginny stayed on the ground.) The best present, in Harry's opinion, was the room decorate Fred and George gave them. It had four settings and changed the decor of the room from a Quidditch pitch, to Hogwart's main hall, to downtown London and Diagon Alley.
All in all it was a great day, but something was a little off. Using his Auror skills Harry quickly picked it up and went over to talk to Fred and George, who were standing a little too close to the refreshment table for his liking.
"Have you guys noticed anything odd about Kingsley?" Harry asked taking a sip of punch.
"What do you mean Harry?"
"Like he's avoiding Ginny."
"Oh, that," George said planting some Baby Bonbons (that turned the recipient into a baby for 5 minutes) on the refreshment table. "Well you can't really blame him, can you?"
"Yeah, what she did to him was a little inhumane."
Harry looked in confusion. "What are you going on about? What did she do to him?"
Fred and George turned to look at each other before turning back to Harry. "Blimey Harry we thought you knew."
"What?"
Fred flung his arm around Harry's shoulder and led him to a corner of the room with George following behind him. "Didn't you wonder why you didn't have to go on assignment again?"
"They needed me for some testing Ginny's doing for the Unspeakables."
Fred and George just grinned and shook their heads. "That was all our dear Ginny's doing."
"You see," George began. "She heard that little conversation between you and Kingsley the night before you were going to have to leave and decided to do something about it."
"Imagine our surprise when our lil' sister turns up at the shop first thing in the morning demanding a test product," Fred said smiling.
"What sort of test product?" Harry asked, wondering if he should just clear out his desk or if it would be safer never to go back to the Auror division.
"That would be our Chili Pepper of Death candies," George stated.
"So hot it'll burn the hair off your chest," Fred said as if it was the logo. "But perfectly safe mind you for consumption, just really hot."
"So you gave that to her?"
"Well we figured you might have gotten into a row, and you know Ginny. We're not about to get on her bad side, especially when she's preggers. Merlin only knows what would happen to us," George said shuddering. "She can come up with some curses and hexes let me tell you that make Bat Boogey look like child's play."
"Did Kingsley eat the candies?" Harry asked gulping.
"Ah no mate, even better than that!"
Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses. Merlin, this was not going to be good.
"From what we understand, mind you from information from Tonks, Ginny has come up with a spell that — well let's just say isn't pleasant for those of our gender," Fred said squirming.
"She put said spell on Kingsley so basically anytime the baby kicked he would feel a kick in a specific area. Though I heard she warned him to take you off the assignment before she did that, mind you."
Harry looked at them in slight horror, still the baby didn't kick all that much or hard unless Ginny ate , oh no, spicy food. Good Lord this wasn't good.
"How many candies did Ginny eat?" Harry asked his voice cracking.
"Well," George said looking at Fred again. "I think there's a dozen to a box ."
"And as far as we can figure she took two boxes," finished Fred.
"The baby must have been kicking like a chorus line," George said. "Good thing the spell only lasted about an hour."
"Still took a killer beating on the jewels would be my guess. It's a wonder he can still walk or talk right for that matter," Fred said, before patting Harry on the shoulder. "I fear for your safety if she ever gets that angry with you."
Harry sighed and wondered if he would ever live this down at work when he got back from leave. He also prayed that he never got Ginny truly angry.
A/N: I highly recommend going to JKR's website www.jkrowling.com. There's some pretty interesting background, especially on Dean Thomas. Enjoy! ====================================== ========
"But Kingsley, I just got home a week ago, and Ginny's seven months in two weeks!" Harry protested as he stood in his living room at 2 a.m.
Kingsley had floo called him wanting him to go back out on assignment. There were rumors of a group of wizards dabbling in the Dark Arts somewhere in the Balkins. They were using the Imperio mostly to do various illegal activities. While it was a dangerous mission, it was nothing compared to missions Harry had been on before. He just didn't understand why the Auror department was requesting him on this mission. He was on leave in just two weeks.
"You'll be back before the baby's born," Kingsley said. "I'm sorry but you've been to the Balkins already and know the territory. Your knowledge will be beneficial to the mission."
"Other people have been to the Balkins too!"
"They don't have the same success rate as you Harry. You know that. You should be back before the baby's born."
"How soon? A month? A week? A day? An hour? A minute?" Harry said upset. "I can't leave Ginny to do this alone. We still have the nursery to decorate, the baby shower is in April after Fred and George's birthday, and we still have to pack the bag for the hospital. She can't do this by herself. I won't let her."
"Then I suggest you get her family to help. You're the best man for the job here," Kingsley said sternly. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
Harry watched as Kingsley disappeared. When he vanished, Harry flopped down on the couch. Holding his head in his hands, he began to think about this situation.
"No, no, no," he said angrily. "I am not going to miss the baby being born, but I can't just quit. I'm helping keep everyone safe, and even if I did there's a two month active notice required."
Harry sighed and continued talking to himself, "I'll be back soon. I have to be. Merlin, Ginny's going to kill me."
Little did he know, but Ginny stood at the foot of the stair under the invisibility cloak. She had heard the whole conversation between Kingsley and Harry and seen her husband's reaction. She was enraged they would ask Harry to go back on assignment this close to his leave. She knew Harry was good at his job, but they could call someone back from vacation instead of having him go. She looked at Harry and suddenly her heart ached as she saw a single tear roll down his cheek.
She was going to do something about this.
The next day Harry forced his eyes to open as the alarm went off. He looked at the alarm for a moment contemplating what he was going to say. He would have to tell Ginny about the assignment and that he was leaving that day. He didn't know what exactly he would say, hopefully she would know how much he didn't want to go and wouldn't try to kill him.
He felt bad about having to leave her, and even worse, that he hadn't been able to sleep with his arm around her since he had been home. The baby would kick at him until he moved his arm.
Sighing, Harry rolled over and prepared to tell Ginny the news only to be met with an empty bed. Startled he sat up and looked around. It was then he saw the note on the pillow.
"Harry love, I had to go to the office early to do some work. I'll see you later. I love you and the baby loves you. Kisses, Gin."
Harry sighed and clutched the letter. He wasn't even going to get to tell her good-bye. He'd have to owl her and let her know what was happening. Merlin, he didn't want to leave her like this. With a heavy heart, Harry dressed and got ready to go into the office. After he got more of a briefing he would floo call Ron and Hermione and let them know what was going on. He was sure neither of them would understand.
Harry arrived at the Ministry shortly after 8 a.m. and started to head into the briefing room when he was stopped by Tonks.
"No briefing for you," Tonks said in an almost chuckle.
"Am I to go straight to the Balkins then?" Harry sighed thinking he'd have to owl Ron and Hermione too.
"Oh no. You're to go straight to Kingsley's office. He needs to talk to you."
"Fine," Harry grumbled as he started toward the head auror's office. Knocking on the door, he heard Kingsley said, "Come in" in a strange tone.
Harry clutched the wand in his pocket in case something was amiss. Opening the door, he saw the older Auror was pale and shaking.
"Kingsley? Are you all right?" Harry said cautiously looking around for anything amiss.
"Fine," he choked out. "There's been a change of plans Harry. You are needed in the Unspeakable Department. There was a special request put in. You'll be working with them until your leave."
"But I'm not an Unspeakable. Are you sure you're all right?" Harry said nervously.
"Just a bit shook up," Kingsley said wearily. "This order comes from someone high up in the Unspeakables, and I was, er, persuaded to call Ralston in from vacation to take your place in the Balkins. You better hurry. The Unspeakables don't wait for any man, including you."
Harry started to leave, but before he did, he turned to look at Kingsley one last time. He was still seated at his desk and the pained expression on his face was slowly leaving. Nothing seemed to be amiss and if there were Death Eaters in the room, Kingsley would have said something odd. Chalking it up to indigestion for Kingsley's behavior, Harry closed the door and smiled. It looked like he wouldn't be going anywhere after all.
Harry whistled while he made his way down the stairs to the Unspeakable floor. There was more security here than on the Auror floor. He wondered if that was because the Ministry didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to attack his department or if Ginny's department had more important things that needed protecting.
Shrugging Harry opened the door to the Unspeakables department to be met head-on by Remus Lupin.
"Harry! Nice of you to join us," Remus said pulling him into a room a bit down the hallway. "Ginny and I been expecting someone from the Auror division. You're going to help us out on something. Clever wife you've got. She got me in on this project about tracking people by smell. Brilliant actually, unless your smelling socks. Sirus and James had the worst. House elves should have gotten hazard pay for going near them."
"I'll be working with Ginny?" Harry asked as he and Remus entered the room.
"Both of us actually," Ginny said as she sat behind a desk in the office. She looked up to see Harry and smiled broadly. "Harry!" she yelled running and hugging him.
"I thought you were on leave for another week and then you just had another week before family leave," said Ginny feigning innocence.
"I've been called in here to work with you love," Harry said smiling. "I understand you and Remus are working on a tracking spell focusing on a person's smell?"
"Right," Ginny said grabbing a clipboard. "Every individual has a separate smell. Most people's sense of smell is not in tuned enough, although werewolves have an acute sense of smell. Interestingly enough pregnant women can distinguish their husband or mate's smell from others."
"So what do I smell like?" Harry said teasingly.
"Heaven," Ginny answered.
A few weeks later Harry and Ginny were both on leave. It was time for the baby shower, and while traditionally it was an event for women, the whole Weasley family and several others had been invited for the event. There were presents, punch, snacks, jokes and Quidditch (though Harry made sure Ginny stayed on the ground.) The best present, in Harry's opinion, was the room decorate Fred and George gave them. It had four settings and changed the decor of the room from a Quidditch pitch, to Hogwart's main hall, to downtown London and Diagon Alley.
All in all it was a great day, but something was a little off. Using his Auror skills Harry quickly picked it up and went over to talk to Fred and George, who were standing a little too close to the refreshment table for his liking.
"Have you guys noticed anything odd about Kingsley?" Harry asked taking a sip of punch.
"What do you mean Harry?"
"Like he's avoiding Ginny."
"Oh, that," George said planting some Baby Bonbons (that turned the recipient into a baby for 5 minutes) on the refreshment table. "Well you can't really blame him, can you?"
"Yeah, what she did to him was a little inhumane."
Harry looked in confusion. "What are you going on about? What did she do to him?"
Fred and George turned to look at each other before turning back to Harry. "Blimey Harry we thought you knew."
"What?"
Fred flung his arm around Harry's shoulder and led him to a corner of the room with George following behind him. "Didn't you wonder why you didn't have to go on assignment again?"
"They needed me for some testing Ginny's doing for the Unspeakables."
Fred and George just grinned and shook their heads. "That was all our dear Ginny's doing."
"You see," George began. "She heard that little conversation between you and Kingsley the night before you were going to have to leave and decided to do something about it."
"Imagine our surprise when our lil' sister turns up at the shop first thing in the morning demanding a test product," Fred said smiling.
"What sort of test product?" Harry asked, wondering if he should just clear out his desk or if it would be safer never to go back to the Auror division.
"That would be our Chili Pepper of Death candies," George stated.
"So hot it'll burn the hair off your chest," Fred said as if it was the logo. "But perfectly safe mind you for consumption, just really hot."
"So you gave that to her?"
"Well we figured you might have gotten into a row, and you know Ginny. We're not about to get on her bad side, especially when she's preggers. Merlin only knows what would happen to us," George said shuddering. "She can come up with some curses and hexes let me tell you that make Bat Boogey look like child's play."
"Did Kingsley eat the candies?" Harry asked gulping.
"Ah no mate, even better than that!"
Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses. Merlin, this was not going to be good.
"From what we understand, mind you from information from Tonks, Ginny has come up with a spell that — well let's just say isn't pleasant for those of our gender," Fred said squirming.
"She put said spell on Kingsley so basically anytime the baby kicked he would feel a kick in a specific area. Though I heard she warned him to take you off the assignment before she did that, mind you."
Harry looked at them in slight horror, still the baby didn't kick all that much or hard unless Ginny ate , oh no, spicy food. Good Lord this wasn't good.
"How many candies did Ginny eat?" Harry asked his voice cracking.
"Well," George said looking at Fred again. "I think there's a dozen to a box ."
"And as far as we can figure she took two boxes," finished Fred.
"The baby must have been kicking like a chorus line," George said. "Good thing the spell only lasted about an hour."
"Still took a killer beating on the jewels would be my guess. It's a wonder he can still walk or talk right for that matter," Fred said, before patting Harry on the shoulder. "I fear for your safety if she ever gets that angry with you."
Harry sighed and wondered if he would ever live this down at work when he got back from leave. He also prayed that he never got Ginny truly angry.