Disclaimer: My cats are afraid of my parrot.
A/N: My disclaimers rarely make sense anymore, because I don't see the point. We all know nothing belongs to any of us who write on this site. If it did belong to us, we wouldn't write here. Just wanted to point that out.
Chapter Six
Back Off, Lady! This Dance is Taken
Ginny stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was just huge. Her babies were due any day now. Harry was staying so annoyingly close to her, all she seemed to be able to do anymore is think. He didn't want her walking far, or carrying anything, or standing too long, or stressing about anything. She supposed it was sweet of him to be trying, but there was no middle ground. He went from never there to never gone.
"Ginny? Where are you, hon?" Harry's voice drifted up the stairs.
For a brief crazy moment, Ginny fought the urge to not answer and hide.
"I'm in the babies' room."
Seconds later he appeared at the door.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I didn't like the way it looked so I rearranged all the furniture," she snapped.
Harry glanced around the room, causing Ginny to laugh bitterly.
"Harry, I'm kidding. I know better than that. Honestly, I'm not trying to kill myself. You don't have to watch over me that closely."
"I don't want you to overexert yourself," Harry explained.
Ginny forced herself to calm down and not scream at him.
"Harry, you've hired people to do everything for me! I haven't got to do anything for myself in a month! How am I going to 'overexert' myself?"
Harry looked at her as realization dawned.
"I'm sorry. You were used to doing everything for yourself and I kind of took that away, didn't I?"
Ginny sank into the rocking chair. "I don't even know why you thought you needed to."
"Well, someone told me that multiple births could be premature, especially during the first pregnancy, if the mother does too much."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "So you took it to an extreme. Who told you that?"
"Cho said…"
"Cho!" Ginny cried. "Again it's Cho! That woman is trying to ruin my life!"
Harry looked taken aback. "Ginny, I don't think…"
"The night of our wedding party, she cornered me in the bathroom and told me that she would get you away from me and she'd be the winner in this little contest."
Harry shook his head disbelievingly. "She was upset that night, she knows we're happy."
"That would be all fine and well," Ginny shouted, "if you hadn't married me because of the babies!"
"Ginny."
"When she came by the night you took off work, do you want to know what she said before you were even in the room?"
"Ginny…" he warned.
"She wanted to know why I forced you to live in this hovel, and not in the mansion you deserved."
Ginny felt a small pop as she said this, and swore colorfully as her water broke. Harry seemed to freeze.
"Go call my mother, Harry. Tell her to let everyone know. I'm going downstairs."
Harry stood there, gaping.
"Now, Harry!"
Then he was gone, running through the house like a madman. Ginny moved slowly down to the living room, where just as she was going to sit, the familiar chime rang through the house. Ginny went to the door to find the one person she could have cheerfully done without on the porch. Out of weariness and spite, Ginny didn't open the door wide enough for her to come in.
"What?" she snapped.
Cho looked at her hatefully. "Where's Harry?"
"Busy."
"We need him at the office, now."
"Back off, lady. This dance is mine."
"What are you babbling about, you low bred baby mill?"
Ginny was tired after her fight with Harry. She was also cranky, not to mention her water broke. That should explain why she did what she did next. Of course, another explanation could just be that the woman on the porch had it coming.
Ginny flung the door open.
"I'm in labor, bitch!" she shouted, and then proceeded to punch Cho in the nose and knock her on her rear.
"You disgusting, foul, trashy little…I'm bleeding! I'll call you up on assault charges!"
Ginny stepped back and went to shut the door. "Go ahead," she sneered. "Who are they going to believe? The woman who everyone knows is trying to break up a marriage, or the brand new mother of three?"
With that she shut the door and headed back to the sofa, just as the first contraction hit. It wasn't so very bad. But Ginny knew it would get a lot worse.
Sixteen hours later, at St. Mungos, it was worse. It was much, much worse. Ginny was a screamer. And a ranter. She would send Harry away, claiming he didn't want her mother to be with her. Then she'd cry for Harry. She blamed him for all the pain and told him he never got to touch her again. Once she told him that he couldn't even hold a door for her. She'd apologize and cry and beg everyone she saw to just make it stop.
Even when she sent him away, Harry never went farther than the door. He was scared out of his mind. Ginny, his wife was in terrible pain, and he had done that. This was why he never drank after that night. He would never drink again. He promised Ginny that everything would be okay, that he would make everything okay. He gave her ice chips and rubbed her back, and reminded her of her breathing, but inside he was falling apart.
"Harry?" Ginny cried after sending him away.
"I'm here, I'm right here," he soothed.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed.
"You didn't do anything," he insisted.
She nodded. "I punch Cho in the nose before we left the house. She was mean and she wanted to take you away from me."
Harry knew he'd have to explain things at the office, but for now it didn't matter.
"It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay with you."
"Promise?" Ginny whimpered as another contraction began.
"I promise," he said as it quickly intensified to the point she wasn't listening. "I love you."
Two more hours passed, before a mediwitch came and announced that Mr. And Mrs. Potter were the proud parents of two little boys and one little girl. The waiting area, filled with Weasleys, erupted into cheers so loud that security had to shush them. They were waiting for it, though. The same thing happened every time a Weasley had a baby.
Harry was sitting beside the bed where Ginny was resting. He was still pondering over the words he had said in the delivery room. He gazed at the three tiny people in the cradle next to the bed, and he knew he had spoken the truth. He stood by his original agreement. If Ginny wanted to leave, he wouldn't stop her. If she asked him to leave, he wouldn't argue. Somehow, somewhere along the strange path that he had traveled with his wife…he had fallen in love with Ginny Weasley Potter.
As he pondered that truth, his little girl grabbed his forefinger as though she was congratulating him on finally seeing it.
Reviews
There aren't as many to answer this time.
Jaquelyne: How about this one? I had to punch her just once. It was needed.
Lourdes: We didn't have any Internet at our house for three months. I'm sorry I didn't update, but I am now!
Sarahamanda: I'm glad you liked it. I tried to update as quickly as possible.
Aschowin: Thank you. Cho will get everything she needs to get…she got a little of it in this chapter.
Crity2re: I exceeded your expectations? Wow. I just try to write was feels like it belongs. Thanks for the compliment.
LaurelinElentari: I'm flattered. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as the others.
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