The train ride home was unusual in that it was uneventful owing to the fact that there were no threats from Malfoy or any of his goons. Several people did come into their compartment and talked to them though. Many of the girls wanted to hear details about the wedding. Harry had been surprised at first at the lack of gossip surrounding their upcoming nuptials. It was normal that all rumors would be spread through Hogwarts within hours but the students had been respectful of their privacy and for the most part they had just given their congratulations without asking too many questions. Hermione and Ginny were telling a group of seventh year girls from all the houses about the fairies that Ginny had ordered when Harry and Ron excused themselves. They had both tried to get into the details for the wedding but had failed miserably to work up a genuine interest.
They went off in search of some other non-wedding obsessed company which meant finding a compartment that was full of men. They came upon a compartment with Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Terry Boot and Martin Wilkes who was a Slytherin seventh year. After the attack of the Dementor attack and the DA meetings that followed the school had become more unified. Harry had heard from Malcolm Flint that Alexander Macnair had been the turning point for Slytherin House. They had held a meeting in their common room that had been run by Martin Wilkes. Alex Macnair was a fourth year that had been very vocal in his support of purifying the magical community. He had often lamented the fact that he was not old enough to be of any use but Malfoy had taken him on as an apprentice earlier that year and had been showing him all of the dark magic that he would need for later. When the Dementors had attacked he had been kissed. The Slytherins had come to realize that their lives meant nothing to Voldemort and that they all would have been kissed had it not been for Harry.
They greeted each of the people in the compartment before taking a seat. Justin smiled at them. "So you are escaping the wedding talk, right?"
They both laughed. "I thought for sure it would annoy Hermione after a while." Ron told them. "She usually has little patience for this sort of thing but she loves it. Barking mad… I just don't understand how girls can be so fascinated by dress robes and fairies."
Harry had to agree. "I tried to get interested. I mean, it's my wedding too but I just can't take any more discussions on the merits of chocolate cake versus white. And flowers… I don't even know what the flowers are but all of the girls are telling me that they are beautiful. Right now all I want to do is pay for it and show up." He sighed. "But let's talk about anything else. How's Susan?" He asked Justin.
Justin grinned. "Feeling huge of course. I think she looks amazing but she assures me that she is fat. Oh and the Patil twins came and got her to go and find Hermione and Ginny so they could talk about the wedding."
Harry and Ron groaned while the others laughed. "It's almost strange knowing that you two are getting married and Justin is going to be a dad soon." Dean told them. "Muggles handle everything differently so I was a bit surprised to learn the differences between the two worlds."
"I felt that way as well." Harry told him. "Now I can't even imagine not marrying Ginny in a week. She has to finish school but then we'll probably have children."
Ron laughed. "Hermione wants to work for a few years before we start and I am perfectly happy with that."
"Daphne has been hinting at wanting to get married." Martin interjected.
Neville looked surprised. "I had forgotten that you two were together. How long has it been?"
"About a year." He told them offhandedly. "I need to ask her father's permission before I can propose and the opportunity has not come up. I'm sure that we will be engaged by the end of July."
Dean groaned. "I'm the only single bloke left!"
"Well it's not like Padma and I have been together all that long. We certainly are not going to get married soon although my gran will be asking me all about it when we get back." Neville told them gloomily. "I still can't even believe that she said yes when I asked her out." He grinned suddenly. "But I am glad that she did."
Dean shook his head. "So what are you doing now that we have finished at Hogwarts?"
"Ministry job." Martin informed them.
"Auror training if I passed potions." Ron said.
"DADA teacher." Harry told them grinning.
"I saw that one coming." Justin said with a laugh. "I have a job at the Daily Prophet."
"I'm working at a greenhouse that is part of a research company for new potions." Neville informed them. "What about you Dean?"
"I'm working for a publisher doing advertising design." Dean told them.
The compartment door slid open to reveal Susan and Hannah Abbott. Harry noted that Susan was looking tired and Justin seemed to have noticed as well since he got up and went to her to help her to a seat. He kissed her cheek and asked if she was all right. "I'm fine, just tired. That's what it's like to be nine months pregnant." She smiled at him reassuringly.
Hannah took the seat that Harry had vacated for her and thanked him. "I'm supposed to tell you two that they are done discussing the wedding so it is safe to return." She told Harry and Ron who grinned.
"Right, we'll be off then." Ron told them and they left to find their future wives.
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"As much as I hate this house I'm glad to be back." Harry informed them quietly as they walked in the front door of Grimmauld Place.
"Yes, I agree." Hermione whispered. "I just wish that we had gotten that painting…" She stopped and turned to look at Harry. "You should try and get Mrs. Black off the wall."
Harry looked taken aback. "I suppose I could try. Why don't you run your stuff up and I'll work on it?"
"Nah." Ron informed him quietly. "This is something I want to see. I hate that old bat."
Harry smiled and took out his wand. "Right then. Uh… Finite Incantatem."
The portrait promptly fell off the wall to everyone's amazement and the old woman started to shriek. "FILTH! WRETCHED SCUM! WHORES! BEGONE FROM MY HOUSE!"
Harry saw red. "SHUT UP YOU HAG!" She stopped and looked at him with hatred in her eyes. "I will chop you into small pieces and burn the remains to ash if you open your mouth again." He informed her. "Come to think of it I might do that anyway." Her demeanor did not change but Harry could tell she was listening. "I will stick you up in the attic if you promise to not leave your portrait to visit rest of the house. Do I have your word?" He asked her and she nodded. "Right. I'm going to float her upstairs. Ron would you put my trunk in my room?" Ron nodded as Harry left with the levitated painting. When he came down the stairs he found them sitting at the kitchen table silently.
"Well." Mrs. Weasley said. "That is certainly a useful thing. I'm glad that we won't have to tiptoe around her anymore. Maybe you'll be able to remove the rest of the nasty things in the house that she permanently stuck to the walls. We really could do a lot with this house to make it a home." Harry grinned
Ginny smiled at her. "Oh yes. I have a lot of ideas for this house. I think that between Fleur and I that we will do wonderful things." Fleur nodded eagerly. She was holding Tyler who was drooling with a smile on his face.
Mrs. Weasley looked a little worried. "Now don't go spending Harry's money to do that. I know he has been giving you money for the wedding."
"Mrs. Weasley it's my wedding to spend it on!" Harry told her exasperatedly.
Ginny took a deep breath and gazed at her mother. "Also, it's my money too now Mum and I think that making this place a comfortable home is a great way to spend our money. Harry wants me to think that the money is mine."
"Absolutely." Harry agreed and kissed her soundly. "You all can do anything you like to this place. I'm sorry I didn't think of doing something before. It's quite depressing here with all the dark images everywhere. Oh I took off the elf's heads when I was taking Mrs. Black upstairs and I put them all in the attic."
"'Bout bloody time." Ron muttered. "It was funny putting the muggle hats on them but honestly it was right depressing seeing all those dead elves on the wall." Hermione frowned but didn't comment.
"Well… well we will look at maybe redoing some of the decorations." Mrs. Weasley said stiffly.
Harry could see that she was unsure of how to say that she was not willing to spend much of his money. He grinned as an idea came to him. He looked over at Ginny and winked. "As along as you try not to spend more than a hundred thousand Galleons then it whatever amount will be fine."
Every mouth dropped open in shock except for Ginny who started to laugh. "You did that on purpose Harry!" She continued to laugh and had to hold her stomach.
Harry also laughed. "Yes I did but I'm also being serious. That is your budget, send all bills to me." Ginny stopped laughed and gaped at him as he stood up. "Ron I believe its time we took a look at the top floor to see if we can't clean out those rooms for us. Bill, Dad, do you want to help?"
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Cleaning up the unused suites on the top floor was quite a chore. The men worked all day on removing the worst of the contamination that resided there before starting to clean it up. Most of the items that were questionable Harry just vanished. It wasn't worth the effort to sort through it. The elder Weasley men took this opportunity to discuss marriage with Harry and Ron. Many of the things they already knew, like holding doors open and pulling out chairs. Bill told them that they should never go to bed angry and explained that the anger will only fester and interrupt sleep if it was not dealt with. Harry had some more questions about sex but was too shy to ask right out so he was relieved when Arthur brought up the topic.
"Did you boys think of any other questions about sex while you were at school?" He questioned in his mild way.
"Uh…" Harry began. "Well you said that I should ask her what she likes but Ginny said something to me a few days ago that made me think that she doesn't really know what she would like." He blushed and looked down.
The other three men stared at him. "Well," his soon to be father in law began. "That is where kissing comes in."
"Sir?" Harry questioned.
Bill grinned at him. "You kiss her everywhere and pay attention to what she likes and then you'll know."
"Uh…" Harry was still unsure. "What do you mean everywhere?"
"Ask her to tell you what feels good and by everywhere I do mean everywhere. Making love to your wife is an amazing experience. It really seals a bond between you. You know about all the obvious places, right?" Bill asked.
Harry's face turned an even brighter shade of red but he kept going. He wanted Ginny to enjoy it. "Yeah."
"Well also different types of touching can feel good so just experiment and make her tell you what she likes. The back of her knees might be a good place to kiss or the palm of her hand. She probably will like her neck being kissed. Have fun exploring before getting down to your part of it." Bill told him as he vanished a large spot of mold from a wall.
Harry shook his head. "I never thought I would be having this talk with my fiancé's father and brothers."
Bill laughed. "I never thought I would be talking about it with Ginny's husband either but you are family Harry and if we don't explain it to you, no one will and I love Ginny too much to let my embarrassment get in the way. You have to know or she's not going to enjoy it and like I said, sex is amazing. You would muddle your way through and enjoy yourself no matter what but it takes a lot most woman to really enjoy themselves."
"Thanks for talking to me about it." Harry told them. "I love Ginny so much and I want her to be happy."
"That's why we're telling you." Bill informed him. "Also it is good to remember that if your wife is not happy then you will probably not be happy."
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At dinner that evening the women were surprised to hear that the rooms were completely cleaned out and ready for furniture. "Wasn't there furniture up there?" Mrs. Weasley had asked them.
"Yes but nothing worth saving. We just got rid of pretty much everything." Harry told her as he took a bite of carrots.
"Well we'll start on those rooms first since we want them done by the wedding." Ginny told him. "Then we'll start to work on the rest of the house if we don't get it done this week. Hermione starts work at the Ministry on August first so I'll have her and Mum's help until then and Fleur says that she'll help us on weekends."
"Oh, did you go back to work?" Harry asked her. He thought she was off on maternity leave from Gringotts.
"Oui." She told him. "I start back Monday." She leaned over and rang a finger along Tyler's cheek. He was sleeping in a pram next to her as they ate. "It will be hard to leave him but Molly is the best one to look after him and I am sure that Ginny will be helping as well." Bill put an arm around her to comfort her. They were her only family now. Her parents and little sister had been killed a few months before she and Bill had been married.
"You don't have to go back." Bill told her quietly. "You can stay home."
She turned and gave him a watery smile. "I know. You are an amazing man William." She kissed him. "But I want to help end this war for him and then maybe I'll stay home. The work we do is important." Bill nodded. Harry knew that they were working with a few others to find out where Voldemort was getting his funding from and to write petitions to the Wizengamot to freeze the accounts. Fleur wrote the petitions for the team and it was vital to ending the war that the money stops making it to the Death Eaters. Harry could see the unease in her eyes about returning to work but he also saw determination. He felt uneasy as well but did not really know why.
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The rest of the week flew by with decorating the house and preparing for the wedding. Fleur had gone back to work on Monday with only a few tears and had promised to come back at lunch and check on him. Mrs. Weasley had just smiled at her and told her to come and check whenever. "New mothers are always very nervous." She had explained to Harry. That was not the only lesson that he learned… money makes life easier. They had all gone to a furnishings boutique that Hermione knew of in Muggle London to buy furnishings for the house on Wednesday. Ginny and Hermione had picked out everything that they could possibly want including new linens and Harry had paid for it with a credit card that Bill had set up for them at a Muggle bank that worked with Gringotts. He was surprised at how accommodating the boutique was about delivery. But since he had spent an obscene amount of money they were willing to arrange for everything to be delivered the next day. This was going to be tricky since the delivery people would not see the house so Harry told them to have it ready and they would pick it all up with a rental truck. The women were ecstatic. Ginny and Hermione were grateful that the house would look nice for the wedding.
Getting the furniture was not as hard as Harry thought it would be. That night Mr. Weasley informed them that the Ministry had a truck they could use and Remus said he could drive it for them. Harry had laughed when he said that. "When did you learn to drive?"
"Sirius, James and I all learned one summer. Your granddad had a muggle car." He informed him.
"Really?" Mr. Weasley said interestedly and they were off on a discussion about Muggle transportation.
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"Why didn't you buy anything for these rooms?" Harry asked Ginny after they had finished setting up all the other furnishings around the house. The rooms that he was referring to were connected to their suite and bathroom and the others were connected to Hermione and Ron's suite and bathroom.
"They are for a nursery Harry." She told him as she rearranged pillows on the bed.
"Oh." Harry couldn't think of anything to say to that.
Ginny grinned at him. "We did buy some furniture for the nurseries but we didn't set it up. We don't really need them completely furnished yet do we?"
He walked over and pulled her into his arms. "I suppose not. And it's not like we are planning on having a baby before you have finished school." He kissed the top of her head.
She pulled back from him a little. "Right, I need to talk to you about that. Come and sit down with me." She pulled him over to the couch that was in their large room. Ginny had made a sitting area in front of their fireplace and had also added some end tables and bookshelves with all of their books.
"Is something wrong?" Harry asked her.
"Not exactly… but it is about our plans for having a baby." She told him looking a little apprehensive. "Mum told me a few days ago that she and Dad didn't exactly plan on having Bill when they did and that they never really intended to have any of us when it happened."
"What?" Harry was really confused.
"It seems that the contraceptive spell just did not work well on Mum. They always used it but she would get pregnant anyway sometimes immediately after she stopped nursing and sometimes the spells would work for a while. It was completely random" Ginny explained before taking his hand. "She went to a Healer about this and they placed the spell on her and then she got pregnant with the twins that month."
"Oh."
"So what they came up with at St. Mungo's is that Mum was just meant to be that fertile and her body was undoing the spells that were set up to stop her from getting pregnant. When I was born the Healers warned her that I might be the same way. The surprising thing is that after me she never got pregnant again even though they were still only using the contraceptive spell." She finished on a sigh.
"Oh."
She smiled at him. "Is that all you have to say?"
"Does this mean you may get pregnant immediately after we get married?" Harry was trying to comprehend it.
"Yes." She started to look nervous. "I… I just wanted to warn you." She looked down at their hands.
Harry could see that she thought he was going to hate that idea but his main concern was not about him. The image of her pregnant, the same one he had had when he watched Melli, flashed in his mind and he smiled. "I'm okay with it if you are. I'm more concerned about you finishing school. What would we do?"
She finally looked up at him and studied him as if gauging his sincerity. "I'm okay with it but I don't really know what we would do. I'm only planning on taking four classes anyway so I suppose that my class load won't be as bad as it could be. Maybe we could hire a nanny if it came down to it. There's more though." She took a deep breath. "Mum assures me that once she had all of us that she was really happy with our family but she and Dad really did not plan on having seven children. We were talking about having four children but we may have more than four. Are you okay with that?"
Harry took his time to think about it. He had lived in a small family and there was not anywhere near the love or community that the Weasley's had. The idea of having a large family was not an unpleasant one. "I think I like the idea but are you okay with it?"
Ginny laughed with relief. "I'm really okay with it; I loved growing up in a large family. I want to work but luckily my job will be mostly part time and odd hours but that means we would need a nanny at least during the school year. I wouldn't be okay with it if we were going to be as poor as my parents. I survived on having all used things but I really wanted to try and give my kids more. Just not spoil them like the Malfoy's did."
"Okay. So how about we have kids until your body decides to stop and we just won't worry about it. We can hire a nanny if we need to. I don't see any reason for why we couldn't." Harry told her.
"You are taking this a lot better than I thought you would." She said before leaning against him. "I thought for sure you were going to be upset. You grew up with only your cousin. I at least had the joy of being in a large family."
Harry laughed. "The only time I had joy was with your large family and all of its chaos. No, I like the idea of a family like yours. Lots of kids to play with each other, lots of laughter and yelling, a set of twins always pulling pranks, and a house full of love."
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A/N: Next chapter is the wedding and my editor is anxiously waiting for it so it won't be too long until you have it. I did a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter and she picked up on it so maybe you will too. If you do figure it out PLEASE don't shoot me! I have a plot that has to work a certain way…
Payne539: Thank you! I like fluff too… that's why I put so much in here.
popey: This one is just a bit longer… I'm glad you like it. Thanks.
Ginny2026: That is an awesome compliment! I'm glad you got that hooked.
Beth5572: Thanks!
Lourdes: I'm all about breaking the mold and trying to be different… so bonding between the houses and some fluff on the train ride! I'm wishing right now that I were a guy… stupid cramps.
Nightwing 509: I found that funny too! If I meet someone like that I want to tell them off. Actually I have a dreadful temper so I probably would.
weselan: yeah… I came up with that and thought 'I would hate to be there' but I know several nutty people who would thrive on it, so there you are.
RyougaZell: Thank you! I shall certainly have Harry try…