A/N- No, Dora is not alive, that was a mistake on my part. I intended for Teddy to primarily live with his grandmother, with Harry/Ginny taking him for occasional weekends or longer when she needed rest. This is turning out to be a little AU- I read a headcanon that said that there was a muggle village near Hogsmeade that Muggleborn students liked to sneak off to, hence the date described late in this chapter. If anyone knows the source for this headcanon, please let me know so I can credit. This fic is primarily about Harry, Ginny, and Arthur- But I wanted to include Molly's response to seeing the two of them. This is probably the final chapter- We'll see what happens though. Let me know what you think!

She had never been a morning person, in truth. So, it was no surprise that Harry was the one to find the note from the spritely barn owl that had replaced ancient Errol. It was addressed to both of them, though he recognized the tidy scrawl on the front of the envelope. Harry contemplated his options. Which was better- To open it now, quietly dispose of the note if it contained something that would make Ginny unhappy? Wait for Ginny and let her decide, and risk her family somehow upsetting her? Logically, he knew he could not deprive Ginny of this first communication from her mother in a year. That logic could not override the innate desire to protect Ginny from this familial pain that he knew brought her such grief. Perhaps, he thought, his chance to protect her was to not allow her to become estranged from her family. His mulling over these thoughts was mercifully interrupted by her approach. Her bright hair was pulled into a once sleek ponytail that was disturbed by sleep. Though he couldn't see them, Harry knew she was wearing her favorite black pyjama shorts, covered by one of his tee shirts she had slept in.

"Morning, sunshine."

"Shut up." She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee to drink black while sitting on the counters, leaning against the cabinet next to her.

"How awake are you?"

"Enough." Ginny perked up, no doubt wondering about all the wonderful opportunities a beautiful Saturday afforded the couple. "Why?"

"I'd lower your excitement a bit- We got this this morning from your parents."

Her face fell as she took the note Harry offered.

"Well, that's less exciting than two-a-side quidditch or dinner with Ron and Hermione." She turned the note over in her hands, examining her name written in her mothers scrawl.

"I mean, those are both still options. But not quite what I was getting at just yet."

"Why don't you give them a ring and see if they want to meet us tonight?"

Harry took the hint and kissed her forehead before he left the room.

Ginny braced herself before she tore open the envelope and unfolded the piece of enclosed parchment.

Ginny and Harry,

As usual, we'll be having dinner on Sunday evening. I wanted to reach out and let you know you're both welcome to join us tomorrow, or at your leisure.

-Mum

As Ginny read through the brief note several times, she considered the facts of the note. It was stiff and formal- Though after a year of no contact, could she hardly expect more? Regardless of the tone though, it was written by her mothers own hand. And it was an actual, legitimate invitation to an event at the home she had grown up in. Harry and Ginny had been invited to meals and events held by her brothers and their wives or girlfriends. They had seen Bill, babysat Victorie, visited with Charlie when he came home for Christmas, and took turns checking on George at the store when he had finally returned to work. Eventually though, it became clear that any function that Harry and Ginny attended was categorically ignored by her parents. As he returned to the kitchen, Harry walked slowly and hoped to see Ginny's reaction to the letter before she put on a brave face for him.

"They said they'll meet us at seven- I was thinking we could get Thai food? But they didn't have any ideas either so we can really do whatever you want."

"Thai sounds good," she said as she handed the open parchment to Harry. He read it carefully, trying to organize his thoughts before he responded to the note.

"Do you want to go?"

"Not particularly, I cannot think of anything that sounds less comfortable than recreating our two year old fight about us getting married. But I think we should do it."

"We'll do whatever you want, Gin," Harry said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Let's go. What do we have to lose, really?"

Harry chuckled and kissed the top of her head. She was right, really.

"Ginny! Harry! Are you guys here for dinner?" Bill reached out to hug Ginny before he shook Harry's hand. They stood at the apparition spot and looked down at The Burrow while rustling up the courage to face her parents and this possibly uncomfortable meal that awaited them.

"Yeah, I guess mum didn't mention it. But she sent us a note and invited us, so I thought we'd show up and see what happens."

Victorie reached for Harry, who loved to make faces and hold the babies. Fleur smiled, handed over her daughter, and kissed Harry's cheeks.

"Bonjour, 'Arry, Ginny!"

With Victorie on his hip, Harry wrapped his other arm around Ginny.

"Might as well get it over with, eh, Gin?"

"Hello, dears!" Molly smiled as her eldest child walked in, surely to be followed by her first grandchild. But her smile tensed when she realized who was carrying Victorie, and behind him was Ginny. She wiped her hands on her apron before trying again. "Well, hello! I'm so glad you all could make it!"

"Mēmē!" Victorie hadn't learned many words yet, but her French was more advanced than her English and she had learned many names of family members in French, and these terms delighted the family.

Molly softed, smiling more kindly and reaching to take the child from Harry.

"Do you need any help, mum?" Ginny stepped forward to stand beside her husband, addressing her mother for the first time.

"Oh no, that's fine Ginny. Why don't you all go into the sitting room and say hello to your father?" With that, Molly turned her back on her children and fussed at the stove, finishing side dishes and desserts for the dinner.

Ginny subtly looked up at Harry who met her glance with a shrug. Perhaps the invitation to dinner was the most they could expect under the circumstances, though the pair hoped some of the formality would fade quickly.

"Hi, dad." Mr. Weasley approached Ginny as she spoke. He reached out as though to embrace her before hesitating, not sure what the proper greeting was for a child disowned by the actions of the parent. However, Ginny walked closer, and hugged her father.

"Hello, Ginny. Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Just annoyed, mostly. After head injuries you have to take a week off, and I'm bored stiff."

"You know, that policy is for your own good- It's important to you and to the team to recover fully before risking any further injury."

"I know, I know dad. I just didn't plan on having this time off-"

"Good, that means you can use the time to recuperate."

"I will dad, I promise."

She went to sit on the couch, and watched as Harry sat on the floor to play with Victorie who had followed her parents into the sitting room. They built a small tower of blocks, Harry handing over each block while Victorie studiously balanced them atop each other. Though the interaction with Mrs. Weasley had been uncomfortable at best, Ginny felt hopeful that she might once again have a relationship with at least her father. That in itself was something.

"Dad?"

"Mhmm?" Arthur did not look up from his paper. Christmas was fast approaching, and many of the Weasley siblings were otherwise occupied. The Burrow was uncomfortably quiet. Molly fussed in the kitchen, preparing fudge and meals for people that never intended to celebrate the holidays at The Burrow. However, Ginny had chalked up her mothers strange behavior to her method of coping.

"I want to tell you a story, I think you'll really enjoy it. But the thing is, I broke a lot of rules in this story." Arthur adjusted his glasses, and placed the newspaper on the couch next to him.

"I see. And you're asking for amnesty?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's see. Are these rules you broke, ones you continue to break?"

"No. It was a one time thing."

"Alright. Were you alone when you broke those rules, or would I be obligated to inform any other parents or guardians of their child's rule-breaking?"

"There was someone else with me, but no, you wouldn't have to tell their parents."

"Did you take precautions to make this rule breaking escapade as safe as possible?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, I suppose under these circumstances I can grant amnesty." Arthur smiled. He had wrongly believed that having a daughter would be a break from the constant chaos of his sons- But Ginny had largely inherited the chaotic nature of the twins.

"Last year, on a visit to Hogsmeade, Harry showed me a muggle village nearby. We went to this thing called a Move- no that's not right. A movie, maybe? Anyways, it was in this huge room and there was this giant picture screen. We watched this story about a mermaid, but Muggles think mermaids are a lot different than they really are. It was a kids movie, but it was so cool. Harry told me that someone draws all the pictures and then they take all the drawings and make them a moving picture, but it's not exactly like our pictures. Anyways, it was fun. I thought it was something you'd really enjoy."

Arthur contemplated his two routes of response- Inquire about the amount of one on one time his daughter had spent with Harry, or focus on the point of the story.

"That sounds incredible- I'd love to see something like that someday."

"It's not hard- all you do is buy tickets with muggle money and then go in!"

"I guess I could figure out Muggle money to be able to do something like that. I think I would rather enjoy that." Arthur paused for a moment, wondering if he could inquire about the nature of the relationship between Harry and Ginny. "Were you and Harry… Spending a lot of time together?"

Ginny looked down at her hands. She couldn't ignore the question entirely, but she still found it difficult to discuss her brief relationship with Harry.

"Yeah. We were seeing each other."

As he noted the past tense, and the sad look in his youngest child's eyes, he clarified: "But you're no longer seeing him."

Wordlessly, Ginny shook her head.

"May I ask why not?"

"He said it wasn't safe for us to be seeing each other. Apparently it's for my "safety", or something."

Arthur had always thought well of Harry, but his devotion to Ginny's safety touched Mr. Weasley.

"Well, that was probably the right decision." Arthur peered over his glasses, and watched Ginny closely as he said the words.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Perhaps things could be different, later. Who knows?" It broke his heart to see his child so sad, especially when the point of Ginny sharing the story was to cheer him up. When she did not respond, he tried again. "Ginny, do me a favor and don't tell your mother about this. You won't get the same amnesty from her, and she'd be devastated to know you and Harry are no longer an item." Ginny smiled at her father and knew the truth of his words. "And no more outings to the muggle village- Understand?"

"Yes, dad."

"Good." Arthur picked up his paper and pretended to read, watching closely as Ginny's smile fell and she resumed picking lint off the afghan on her lap.

One by one, each member of the family arrived. Ron with Hermione in tow, fully briefed from their dinner last night. Percy was next, arriving alone. George arrived last, and looked slightly better than when Ginny had seen him last. At minimum, he had gained a bit of the lost weight. While Percy was terrible at hiding his surprise about Ginny and Harry's presence, George mercifully acted as though their presence was anything but noteworthy.

"Hey, Gin-Gin." George sat next to her on the couch, and offered no other remarks. Though she knew logically she should not have a favorite brother, George was the brother she was closest to. The age difference between the two was one that allowed them to play and interact together, but not so close that they competed in the way that Ron and Ginny had as young children. She threw her arms around him and hugged him, but obliged when he disentangled himself from his only sister's embrace.

"Dinner's ready!" Molly's voice rang from the kitchen.

As they sat down for dinner, Harry had a sudden panic about where to sit. Clearly, it was best to be next to Ginny. But should he sit next to one of the other brothers, to hide from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and hope to not cause any friction between them and their prodigal daughter? Or sit with Hermione, and create a united, married/almost married into the family line of defense? His fears were quelled when Fluer sat two seats away from the chair he was closest to and she plopped little Victorie between them.

Conversation was hardly easy at the table. They passed dishes, made quiet comments to the people sitting closest to them, but no one dared address the giant squid in the room. Neither Harry nor Ginny directly addressed Mrs. Weasley, mutually remembering the last time they had tried to broach a difficult topic and the resulting feud.

"Well, thank you all for coming tonight. I'm so glad that we could be together again, as a family." Was it just them, or was there some kind of underlying implication that Harry and Ginny should have been there all along? Though Harry had his own anger streak, it had tempered substantially since marrying Ginny and subsequently soothing over the conflicts Ginny had a tendency to create in an effort to speak her mind.

"Yes, it's really nice that we can all be here together. Thank you for inviting us, Mum."

Dinner passed in much the same fashion, awkward silences and misconstrued conversations.

Much to the disappointment of both Harry and Ginny, all the Weasley children left soon after dessert. Before they knew what had happened, Harry and Ginny were left alone in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley.

"Well, thank you both for coming. It was nice to see you again." Molly avoided their glances, staring at the empty plate in front of her.

"Yeah. It was nice to see you, Mum. Thanks for dinner." Ginny rose and started to walk to the door, Harry following closely behind.

"Wait, both of you," Molly stood up, looking towards the couple who had turned their backs to the door. "Arthur showed me the wedding picture you had given him. It's a lovely picture. I'm sorry… I'm sorry we missed it. We should have been there." She looked down at her hands, tears welling in her eyes.

Unsure exactly how to acknowledge the apology, Ginny hugged her mother. "It's alright mum, I understand."

Molly, who knew her young daughter could not possibly understand the pain of losing a child to death, and then alienating another in her grief and missing her wedding, simply hugged her daughter back and hoped that possibly someday they could build back a closer relationship.