"Mommy .. who are these people?"
The voice of her daughter caused Ginny to snap her head up in surprise, looking at young child softly.
"What people, sweety?" she asked, lifting Samatha up and placing her onto her lap, noticing for the first time that she had been carrying an old photo album. There was only one picture on the page Sam had the book open to, in which about 30 people bustled around, smiling laughing and waving.
"All these people .. how do you know so many?" Ginevra laughed at her 6 year old and glanced down at the picture, immediatly smiling.
"These are the people that helped Voldemort meet his end .." she explained. Ever since the Dark Lord had been vanquished with the help of Dumbledore's Army, nobody had been scared to say the 'forbidden name.' Quite the contrary, actually. People now laughed at it.
"Wow .. these people must be very powerful. But who are all they?" Ginny sighed at Sam's question, still staring at the black and white photograph taken by, who else, Colin Creevey in her Hogwarts days.
"These people are my best friends .." she started, adjusting her daughter in her lap so she could get a better view of the album. Ever so carefully, she ran a finger down the middle of it and grinned. "These people are heros."
After a brief moment of silence for Ginny to collect her thoughts, she took a deep breath and pointed to the person nearest the bottom left corner,
"Colin Creevey. He's the boy who took this photo, actually. This here is his brother, Dennis Creevey." she moved her finger to the boy who's shoulders were engulfed by Colin's arm. "I've forgotten how tiny the two used to be. Quite the handful, those two were. Always had excess energy to burn." she laughed, slowly moving her finger to the girl next to Dennis.
"This here is .. well .." she thought for a moment, "I can't believe I've forgotten her name, but she was a Hufflepuff. She was a very brave one too, as Hufflepuffs are usually considered to be shy and timid. Always had her hair in that black plaited braid though .." she chuckled.
"Ahh .. you know these two boys very well .." she mused, laughing at the photo of the two boys giving each other rabbit-ears.
"Uncle Fred and Uncle George!" exclaimed Samantha, bouncing up and down in Ginny's lap excitedly.
"Yes .. they're your uncles. Just as crazy then as they are now. This is their best friend Lee Jordan. You've met him once or twice before. These three were always the life of the party .." she laughed, remembering all the trouble her twin brothers and their friend had caused back at Hogwarts, particularly that swamp they had put in the hallways during her 4th year.
"These three are more Hufflepuffs. Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Hannah Abbot. Those three were about as nice as you could get. Always been friendly, they have." Ginny muttered, eyes now looking glassy, the expression on her face made her look as if she was still back at Hogwarts, daydreaming in another boring History of Magic class.
"Mommy, who are they?" Sam asked, pointing to a pair of boys at the far right side on the bottom row.
"Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas." she grinned, "Neville always was one of the sweetest guys in Gryffindor, it's a wonder he wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff .." she laughed, "Dean and Neville were great friends .. I remember when they finally were able to do a Patronus Charm .."
Ginny moved her finger up to the second row, finger now under the face of one of three Ravenclaw boys, all of them laughing and nudging each other playfully, waving to the camera every once in awhile.
"Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot. All of them Ravenclaws, these two as well, Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe. I remember Anthony, Michael, Terry and Cho were all likeable enough, but Marietta .." Ginny shook her head, "Marietta snitched on us when she decided she didnt like the way things were going. She got a nasty surprise after that." Ginny laughed, remembering how Marietta's face had broken out in huge boils that spelled out "SNEAK"
"That's Zacharias Smith." Ginny said, moving her finger over to the next person, "Never really liked him too much either, always questioning everything and not trusting anyone." she shook her head disappointedly, "He turned out alright though. In the end it was Marietta that was the snitch, not him."
"These three are Lavender Brown, and Parvati and Padma Patil. They're twins." she said, moving her finger across the last three in the second row. "Parvati and Lavender were the best of friends. Both in Gryffindor, and admired Professor Trelawney, the old Divinations teacher. Can't see why though, she was a little batty .." she shrugged, "These three were always likeable enough, never had any problems with anything and usually caught on to the lessons fairly quickly." Ginny moved her eyes to the last row. The top row. All Gryffindors except for one.
"These three are Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnit, and Angelina Johnson. All Gryffindors, and were on the quidditch team. Angelina was actually the captain that year. Those girls were always on top of everything we were learning." She moved her finger to the two smaller, younger girls beside Angelina and smiled down at the photo ..
"Mommy? Is that you?" Sam asked, pointing to one of them.
"Yes sweetie .. that's mommy, and that other girl is Luna Lovegood. She was a Ravenclaw, but just as good as a Gryffindor. I remember once she wore a hat with a huge lion on it that actually roared during one of the quidditch games." she laughed, shaking her head.
Ginevra's eyes finally wandered over to the last three remaining people in the picture. Her favorite three people in the world.
"Mommy .." gasped Samantha, "That's Daddy! and Uncle Ronnie! And Auntie Hermione!" The little girl grabbed the photo album and brought it closer to her face, grinning with happiness as she observed the three figures laughing, talking, waving, and smiling.
"Yea .. there's your daddy, Uncle Ronnie, and Aunt Hermione." she beamed down at the picture. "Did you know that Daddy ran this group? He was the one that was teaching all of us all the spells we needed to know. Aunt Hermione helped, of course, and so did Uncle Ronnie."
"Wow .." Samantha lowered the photo album again and smiled at her mom.
"Hey Gin, whatcha doing?" Ginny's head snapped up and smiled. Her husband, Harry Potter, was standing in the doorway, behind him was her brother, Ronald Weasley, and his wife, Hermione.
"Oh nothing .. just reminiscing .." she said, smiling at the three people in the doorway before her.