(Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter does not belong to me. It is all the creation of the wonderful J.K. Rowling and I take no credit for inventing these characters.)

"Everyone to the table; breakfast must be almost ready by now," Ginny told her family as they straitened up and brushed the ash off their cloaks.

"Daddy, wat is we eatin' today?" Zoey looked up at Harry with those hopeful eyes.

Harry laughed. "I don't know. Your mum cooked breakfast this morning. I'm sure it's going to be really tasty though."

Everyone rushed into the kitchen with stomachs rumbling. The plates, cups and silverware were laying themselves out along the six places around the table. Ginny was just finishing up cooking in the kitchen. Harry went to help her. She was cooking what looked like a mound of pancakes and sausage.

"Want some help?" Harry asked.

"I'd love some. You want to go serve the food? I'll be right out."

Harry grabbed the big plate of pancakes and brought it into the dining room. He set it down on the table and let everyone help themselves. Today at the table, everyone seemed rather chatty, so Harry started a small conversation.

"How was Grandma's?" he asked to his children. They all started talking at once. "Whoa, whoa! One at a time," Harry laughed. "Scott, did you have fun?"

"Yeah, we went out to Grandma's orchard and just played around on the brooms. But it was still fun, throwing apples for each other to catch."

Ginny and Harry laughed. "Remember when we used to do that during the summer?" Harry asked Ginny.

"Do I? Of course I do. Although I mostly had to watch until my brothers wizened up to how good I was," she said with a laugh.

"Have you really known each other that long?" Brad asked his parents.

"Well, I was best friends with your Uncle Ron while we were at Hogwarts, and I met your mum when I was 12," Harry responded.

"Well actually, we met when you were on your way to your first year, remember? I was with my mum on the platform."

"Yeah, but we didn't really meet until the next summer."

"I guess that's true," said Ginny, finishing the story. "Long story short, we met when we were just kids… just a year or two older than you, Brad."

There was a soft tinkering of silverware on plates as everyone started to eat again.

"Dis is so yummy, mummy," Zoey squealed as she finished her pancakes.

"Do you still want your tomatoes, then?" Harry asked his daughter.

"No dank you Daddy, my tummy is too full."

Harry chuckled. "Well, why don't you all go and play? I'll clean up."

"You sure you don't want help?" Ginny asked.

"Positive," he said as he started to pick up the plates from around the table. "You just go and relax."

Brad, Scott, and Zoey all ran off to their rooms. Ginny followed them because she knew that Hailey would try to climb the stairs with her siblings and Ginny didn't want her to fall down.

Harry, meanwhile, started to do the dishes, rather distractedly. He was thinking about how and when he and Ginny would tell their kids about what had happened to him in his childhood. He knew they should do it rather soon; Brad was going off to Hogwarts in a few months, and he couldn't go without knowing. But then again, Zoey and Hailey were still really young… it was possible that they wouldn't remember what he told them later in life. Then there was the new baby. Even if he told Brad, Scott, Zoey and Hailey now, he would still have to tell it again to the new little one. "I'll just have to talk it over with Ginny," he said out loud.

"Talk about what?" said Ginny, re-entering the room.

Harry jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. "Oh, just what we talked about last night. You know…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, I was thinking about that myself. It's so hard to choose when to tell them. They're still too young. What's so funny?" Ginny said as Harry let out a little chuckle.

"It's just that, I was thinking the same thing, but then I thought about what Dumbledore said in my fifth year. You know, when he told me about the prophecy and all that. At the end of almost each year, up until my fifth, he told me just a little bit about my past. He said that he only told me what he thought I could manage at the time, and that he should have told me everything earlier."

"So are you saying we should tell them a little bit at a time?"

"Well, yes and no. We should tell them the major story when they're old enough…like when this one is about Scott's age," he said, placing a hand on Ginny's stomach. "And then add more detail later."

"I think that's a great idea," Ginny said and kissed her husband.

"So it's pretty much settled then."

"Except for one thing."

"What would that be?"

"Well, don't you think that Brad will be a little too old by the time we tell them? I mean, he'll be 17 by then. He should at least know a little bit a little bit earlier."

"But see, that's the beauty of it. I've already told him some of the story…the beginning anyway. That's what you caught me telling him yesterday."

"I thought you were talking about something like that," Ginny said with a smile. "But I guess that's good enough for now."

"And, if either of us feels we need to add more detail, we can."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Ginny said, kissing her husband again. She felt that they had made a decision, so she left the kitchen to go check on her children. Harry soon followed her up the stairs.