I've been taking a Driving class, so I do this when I get home somewhere around 9pm. I type fairly fast most of the time and thankfully MSWord has a spell/grammar check, cause half the time I'm not even sure what I'm typing. Then, I write some more after I get off of the 'net until 3am. I do this instead of draw because I can get it done quickly and it still uses my brain.
So yeah, Astra showed up, glad ya'll liked it! Yeah, Astra's like the only one who could have put Shacklebolt down the way she did. And as for updating, I upload the chapter and whatnot, but I still have to wait till someone reads it for it to get the OK to go up. So kudos to whoever looks through these things!
Chapter Four
Saturday came without much happening after that night with the strange wizard and Sylvia Tempest. Harry picked up his daughter and they looked to Ginny as one with a grin.
"Like father like daughter," she chuckled as she shook her head. She sighed as she looked to the floo powder. "I don't suppose we could use the floo network, could we."
Harry bounced Lily up and down in his arms and shook his head. "No, she's much too young and she could end up getting hurt or lost, or worse."
Ginny sighed. "I hate apparating."
"It's the safest way, barring using a car, which I might add, we don't have at this moment," Harry said before kissing Lily on the forehead.
Ginny smiled at her husband and daughter. He hardly ever had the chance to be with his daughter, due to the long hours of an Auror, but he seemed just content to take over the job of taking care of his child when he was there. Ginny enjoyed watching them together. It reminded her that everything was right in the world.
"Agah!" Lily squealed.
Harry reached out and wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist and kissed her temple. "I love you," he whispered and then they disappeared with a crack.
The garden in the back of The Burrow was vast and was now holding much more than when Harry was fourteen. He saw Bill with Fleur on his arm, chuckling with his brother Charlie, who looked as freckly as ever. He sighted Percy with Penelope coming up to him with a glass of water and George with Nevaeh, who looked very pregnant. Ginny waved to her mother and giggled. "Mum, we're here!"
Mrs. Weasley came trotting out of the house, drying her hands on her apron and squealing with delight. She reached for Ginny and then Lily, hugging and kissing the two of them and then hugged Harry. "Oh my—You three look so wonderful! Harry, have you been taking care of Ginny as you promised?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and Harry grinned. "Yes…mum." Ginny hit Harry's shoulder and he dodged a little late, Mrs. Weasley chuckling as she cooed to her baby granddaughter. "Another girl—makes me so happy!"
There was a crack and Harry turned to see Ron and Hermione, who looked as though she was going to give birth any moment now. She gritted her teeth and stretched her back as she walked over to Harry, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley. "My goodness, child, you should be sitting down. RON! Go and get your wife a chair!"
Ron nodded and ran off in a hurry into the house and came out quickly with a chair. "Place it on the ground, Ron! She's not going to sit in your arms!"
Hermione protested slightly, but she was definitely eyeing the chair with greedy eyes. Harry chuckled at the automaton look on Ron's face, as though he almost ceased to truly exist and was now just one big nervous twitch. Hermione sat down carefully and patted Ron on the hand gently. "Thank you, Ron."
Ron mumbled incoherently and bobbed away, twitching at every movement around him. By now, Harry was bent over laughing and Lily was squealing with laughter because daddy was being funny. Especially when he was dodging blows from Ginny. "It's not that funny—all right it is that funny, but he's not like you, so stuff it!"
"HARRY! GINNY! YOU'RE HOME!" Mr. Weasley came trotting over from the shed and grinned broadly as he hugged them both and then cooed to Lily, who loved the attention.
"How has work been for you, Harry? Alistor isn't being too rough on you, is he?" asked Mr. Weasley when he finally looked over to Harry.
Harry shook his head. "No…not at all. I've come to expect quite a lot of what he does to me coming from him."
"I hear Moody tackles you every morning you walk into the offices," said Ron with a slight grin.
Harry felt a little heat rise in his cheeks. "Ah.. yeah. He does and lately, I've been getting better at figuring out where he's coming from."
Ron grinned and clapped Harry on the back. "That's our Harry! He could pick up on Moody coming from a mile away!"
"Did I hear someone say the H-word?" George came up behind Harry and grinned evilly. Harry had enough time to turn and smile a weak smile before being tackled by another Weasley hug. "Oi! Charlie! Bill! Percy! Harry's here!"
It was like a stampede, every brother left their women in the chance to pounce onto an already building heap on top of Harry. It was like a dog-pile only now it was a Harry-pile. "Gerroff me!" Harry grunted.
One by one, the brothers got away from Harry and grinned, Bill and Charlie shaking his hand and hugging him once again. "The grandly respected father of our Ginny's first baby," Bill chuckled.
"Indeed! Ever since last year when she was about ready to go, we've been planning a good, brotherly hello for you when the next family picnic happened with all of us here," said Charlie with an enormous grin.
Harry grunted indignantly. "You lot could have broken my neck."
After that, they filtered to the table and sat down, Fleur smiling at Harry as he passed her. "Hello, 'arry. Eet eez good to see you again."
"What do you think of what was reported, Harry?" asked Percy from a couple seats down, pushing a roll into his mouth as politely as possible while still pigging out like a good Weasley.
Harry looked to Percy. "Oh.. the killing of that wizard? James Seaport?" Percy nodded and Harry wondered if he was even allowed to say anything. "Ah.. well.. I don't actually get much information other than watch and wait, really." It was the truth, after all. The only thing he'd ever been told was that he was on patrol.
"Any clues as to who killed him?"
Harry thought about the wizard he and Astra battled and shook his head. "None."
The rest of dinner went fairly quietly. Harry seemed to not be asked as many questions now. They seemed to accept the idea of their new "family-in-law" as being an Auror and that he would tell them things when he had the ability to.
However, that didn't stop Harry from staring at his food broodingly and try fitting puzzle pieces together without vital clues. In the end, it was giving him a headache and making him irritable. A breadroll hit him on the head and he looked to Lily situated on Ginny's lap. She was staring straight at Harry as though she knew what was going on in her father's head and wanted him to feel a little better.
He stood up and walked into the house, finding himself at a row of pictures and that clock of the family. As he watched it, he gained a new sense of guilt in his stomach as he saw one hand was missing from the clock. Fred. He hadn't thought about Fred since he'd married Ginny. Indeed, he had little time to think about people. He wondered about those that had been killed by Voldemort's cronies in that ridiculous countdown that meant nothing other than an excuse to kill people. "I'm sorry, Fred," he muttered and leaned his head against the clock.
"You really shouldn't blame yourself, you know, Harry," said a familiar voice behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know it was George. "He said his good-byes to us all before he disappeared. He even made Draco jealous when he'd kissed Astra," George chuckled.
"I didn't catch on in time, George. Because of my lack of ability, Fred is dead," Harry said as he finally turned around. "I'm now a part of this family, but I felt the loss before then."
"Harry, you've always been a part of this family. Hell, Fred and I had been campaigning for years to get you and Ginny together!"
Harry chuckled. "And then Astra and Nevaeh pulled together an entire operation to have me and Ginny together as well as Ron and Hermione."
"Not to mention yours truly and Fred, while she pulled in the reserves, namely Cho, to pull it all off," said George. He stared at the clock and smirked faintly. "I think that was when he was truly falling for her; seeing her pull together something so big just for the sake of friendship and love. We all had a hand in making this future of ours, and she was one of the key people. She was only second to one other person."
Harry looked to George curiously. "Second only to you, Harry. You did the most work," George said with a grin.
Harry grinned and shook his head, looking out the window at Ginny, Hermione, Ron and all the other Weasleys. "No… I had friends. I had all of you with me," he said faintly.
George grinned and clapped Harry on the back before he walked back out, hugging and kissing Nevaeh when he ran up to her. Harry grinned and walked outside. Hermione was attempting to calm an incredibly stiff Ron, but every time she even LOOKED uncomfortable, he twitched violently. Bill was no where to be seen, but he heard a very musical and feminine giggle somewhere to the side in the garden. Charlie had disappeared. Percy was talking with Penelope and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were talking to them.
Ginny walked over and wrapped an arm around Harry, hefting up Lily on her side. Harry smiled and lifted Lily into his arms, holding her to him and kissing her forehead, making baby faces at her. Ginny giggled. "Like father, like daughter. She's going to have you wrapped around her little finger when she's older."
"And that's a bad thing?" Harry grinned. He let her swat him on the shoulder. It wasn't hard. She never hit him hard.
"What were you and George talking about, Harry?"
Harry looked over to George, who was holding Nevaeh from behind and had his hands on her belly, rubbing it gently, and probably feeling the baby move. He smirked. "Friends…. The family… the future."
Ginny laughed. "Is THAT all? Why not talk about the meaning of life and why the universe is a universe."
Harry kissed Ginny on the lips, holding her to him as he deepened the kiss just a little. He pulled away gently and kissed the tip of her nose. "I love you. I love our Lily. I love our family."
"Harry? Are you all right? You've never been so prosaic before," Ginny said with a bit of concern coming into her voice.
He grinned. "Never better." Ginny was about to swat him again when they both stopped…and sniffed.
Lily started crying. Harry grunted and took the diaper bag from Ginny and walked into the house. Ginny grinned as she watched her husband walk off. He adapted well to having to take care of a child as well as a family. She knew he wouldn't tell her what was wrong immediately, but in his own time. He tended to brood and she tended to bug him in sweet ways until he gave in. She would get the truth out of him…eventually.