Author'sNotes
Well, here it is – the fourth and final chapter of FiveMonthsEnjoy!
ChapterFourAprilShowers & MayFlowers
"Happy Birthday, boys," Arthur said as he handed a present each to Fred and George. The Weasley-Potter family were currently gathered in George and Katie's family room for April fool's day a.k.a. Fred and George's birthday.
"Aw, thanks, dad," said Fred. "I'm touched." He pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. A second later the room was filled with black smoke as the twins opened their presents.
"What – was – in – there?!" George managed to say between coughs. Once the smoke cleared, the boys peered inside the boxes to find them filled with Muggle pranking items and used stink bombs. Arthur and Rona were also found to be the only people laughing.
"She helped me set them up." Arthur pointed to his granddaughter with a grin.
"Rona! That's not nice!" scolded Hermione.
"It's okay, 'Mione," said Fred, he was also grinning.
"Yeah, there are some great products in here," agreed George. "I think we may have enough inspiration to start our new line – Muggle Mayhem!"
After the twins finished opening their presents it was time for games. First was Musical Brooms, and then Pin the Tail on the Kneazle. After that, everyone split up and did what they wanted. Harry and Alroy were seated at the twins' table, playing Go Seek.
"Do you have any Bludgers?" asked George asked Harry, only his eyes visible over the top of his cards.
"Go seek," Harry replied, then turned to his son. "Do you have any Chasers?"
"Here." Alroy handed over his Chaser card unenthusiastically.
Across the room Ginny was talking to Hermione while they watched the younger kids playing.
"I'm almost glad this is going to be over soon," Ginny said, motioning to her stomach. "I'm not sure how much longer I can stand it."
Hermione smiled fondly. "I liked being pregnant." Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, well let me know what you think when you're on your third. Will you?"
The brunette suddenly looked very nervous. Her smile had disappeared and was replaced by a look of worry and terror. "Ginny," she said in a barely audible whisper, "I'm going to tell you something, but you've got to keep it a secret, okay?" Ginny nodded. "I think I'm pregnant."
"You're kidding, right?" Hermione didn't say anything. "But, I thought you couldn't – I mean, Harry told me about the complications last time..."
"I know, that's what's worrying me. My Healer told me it would be dangerous if I got pregnant again, and we used every birth control potion and charm we could find." Hermione sighed. "But I guess even magic isn't one hundred percent reliable."
"Does Ron know?"
"Yes. We agreed not to tell anyone for a while, at least until I'm three months along. It's safer that way. But when you brought up being pregnant ... I had to tell someone."
Ginny moved closer to her friend on the couch. "Don't worry, 'Mione. Everything's going to be fine."
"What're we talking about over here?" Harry asked as he walked up to the women.
"What happened to your card game?" asked Ginny, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, I got kicked out – I think Al just won though," he added hearing his son's cheering.
Looking behind Harry, Ginny could see one of the twins helping Alroy stuff mounds of candy into his pockets, no doubt his winnings. "You let him play for candy?!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. The twins' idea. I think they were planning on winning everything though. I guess they didn't plan on Al being the Go Seek master." Harry laughed and Ginny decided it was best to drop the subject. She could always lecture Harry later, after all.
Easter
"Okay, here are the rules," began Molly speaking to her whole family. They were all standing in the Burrow's backyard, and everyone was holding some sort of basket. "No fighting, no stealing, no pushing and/or shoving, no magic, and no bragging. Does everyone agree?' Everyone nodded their agreement. "Good. And remember to search every room. Let the annual Weasley Easter Egg Hunt begin!"
There was one other rule that Molly hadn't said, it was something that no one really talked about, but everyone knew. If you want to have so much as a chance of winning the hunt, you've got to partner up. This rule hadn't been around from the beginning, mind you, in the beginning there were only eight people searching for eggs, Arthur and his children. Now there were the grandchildren to think about too. And with so many people looking for so few eggs, it quickly became very clear that not everyone could get a decent amount of eggs. That's when the partner system came into effect. Nowadays even two-year-old Carter had a chance of winning the whole thing, with his mother's help, of course.
The hunt started off with Ron and Colleen racing with Harry and Alroy up to the attic. Both Ginny and Hermione had declined when asked to enter the hunt and both their husbands were more than happy to help their children, even though they were the ones that needed help.
Scanning his eyes over the small attic that was once his bedroom, a violet egg lying on his old pillow caught Ron's eye. "You're going down, Potters," he said, placing the egg in his daughter's pink basket.
"Dream on, Wheezy," Harry replied. He and Alroy split up right away and began searching the room; both came back with five eggs in the first minute.
"You realize, this means war," Ron said after noticing their egg count. He then ran around the room and came back with twice their amount of eggs.
"Oh, and here I thought this was going to be a relaxing evening." Harry grinned. "It appears we have a little competition this year, Al."
"Good, I was getting tired of winning every time," Alroy said with a laugh. It was true. The Potter men had been on a winning streak for the last three years. And they'd also had several other wins over the years. Their biggest competitor team was Bill and Genevieve. Both Bill and Harry were excellent Seekers, so doing better than them was a big achievement for anyone in the family, but it rarely happened. So far they were tied on their wins, each hoped to break the tie this year.
In what used to be Bill and Charlie's old room, then Percy's, Fred and Calvin were searching between boxes full of clothes and toys while George and Amy looked under beds and in the drawers. "This is hopeless," Fred finally announced after twenty minutes and only coming up with five tiny eggs.
"We must never give up!" cried Cal from behind one rather large box.
"How did I get stuck with the little General?" Fred asked himself, only loud enough for George to hear.
"Well, let's see," his twin began. "Scott wanted to partner up with Tim. Jeremy had already chosen Wendy. Oh, and Katie and Angelina wanted to show us off, so they chose each other. I'm pretty sure that's how it happened."
"Thanks a lot."
In what was once the twin's room, Scott and Timothy found themselves in a rather sticky situation.
"Pull! I said pull!" yelled Tim.
"I'm already pulling," replied Scott, indeed pulling Tim's shirt and arm.
"Then pull harder!"
Scott stopped for a moment and just looked at his cousin. Tim's feet and legs were covered in a bluish-green slime that had poured out of an urn when one of the boys accidentally knocked it over. He was now stuck to the floor and couldn't move a muscle. Unfortunately for Scott, he could still shout out orders.
"Maybe I should go and get my dad, or Uncle George. They'd probably know how to fix this."
"And give them the upper hand? No way!"
Down stairs, Fleur and Neil were looking through the kitchen.
"Do you see anyzing?" she asked her nephew as she sat down at the table, exhausted.
"There's one on the fridge, but I can't reach," the five-year-old replied as he placed his full basket on the table. Fleur immediately took out her wand and floated the egg into the basket. At that moment Percy and Philippe walked in.
"Mum, wands are against the rules," the boy said as he watched his mother.
"Well, eet is in my basket now."
Percy bent down so that he was face-to-face with his partner. "Phil, can you go and tell grandma that someone's cheating in the kitchen for me?"
"Sure." He was half way out the door when Fleur called out to him.
"Fine, I weel put eet back."
"Put what back?" asked Bill as he and Genevieve walked past Philippe.
"An egg," Neil said. "Aunt Fleur used her wand to get it."
"Fleur! How could you?" said Bill, unable to believe his wife could do such a thing.
"I'm sorry. We weel go outside and speak to Molly now," Fleur said, taking hold of Neil's shoulder and guiding him out the door.
"I can't believe Mum would do that," Gen said once her mother was out of earshot.
"I think that's the first disqualification since Ginny hexed you to hand over all your eggs that one year. Remember?" said Percy, laughing at the memory.
"Yes," replied Bill through gritted teeth. "And I'll thank you not to bring that up again."
In the backyard Neil was reading a book on a patch of grass while Molly, Ginny, Hermione and Fleur watched Penelope wander around the yard with Carter by her side.
"Here!" Carter exclaimed, holding up a pink and blue egg for his mother to take.
"That makes four," Penelope said to no one in particular. "Fifty more and I might beat out someone." Carter only smiled and continued on his hunt.
Back upstairs, in Ginny's room this time, Angelina and Katie were taking a break, sitting on the small bed.
"Merlin, Katie, look at this!" Katie ran over to wear Angelina was standing, looking inside the closet.
"Those can't be Ginny's," Katie said in disbelief. Fully opening the closet doors, light poured in making it almost impossible to not see the old drawings, half covered by hanging clothes.
"She must have made them before her first year." Angelina pulled a sloppy drawing off the wall. It was of a girl with flame-red hair and a boy with black hair, emerald green eyes, round glasses and a gold lightning bolt scar. They appeared to be kissing under a full moon. "I wonder if Harry's seen these yet."
"Probably not. You know Ginny, she was embarrassed enough to admit that she'd had a crush on him for all those years, she'd never want anyone to see these." Katie quickly snatched the picture from Angelina's hands and stuck it back on the wall before closing the doors.
A few rooms away, Arthur was opening the doors to his and Molly's closet while Rona searched through drawers behind him. So far they'd collected twelve eggs from this room, five from the living room, two from the backyard when the race began and seven on the staircase. With all those eggs, the team was pretty sure they were winning.
"Twenty-seven," Rona counted, putting a red polka-dotted egg into the basket.
"Twenty-eight." Arthur added another.
"There's no way Uncle Harry or Uncle Bill can beat us this year," Rona said with what sounded to Arthur like the sort of laugh you'd hear from a villain in an old Muggle movie.
"See anything, Rachel?" said Marnie, crawling across the living room floor to wear her niece was seated.
"Cake!" replied the toddler, pointing to a picture of Molly and Arthur on the coffee table.
"Great, but I don't think an old picture's going to help us." Standing up, Marnie surveyed the room once more, yet saw no other eggs but the ones already in her basket.
"Having problems, mum?" Jeremy and Wendy strolled into the room. Both had huge grins on their faces and were carrying a full basket between them.
"Not at all." Marnie usually wasn't a competitive person. But let's face it, her husband and kids deserted her, leaving her with a baby for a partner! "Actually, Rachel just helped me find another egg," she said, taking a turquoise and lemon stripped egg from behind the picture on the coffee table. "That's the last in the room."
"Then what's this?" Wendy walked over to a book shelf behind her mother and pulled an egg from the bottom shelf.
"Oh, well, that must be the last one, then."
"Remind me why I'm doing this," called Charlie as he stood up carefully.
"Because we've got to win!" Angel said.
"That's easy for you to say, you're nice and safe on the ground. Have you ever told you that I'm afraid of heights?"
"Stop pouting and start looking for eggs!"
"Oh, man. She'd bossier than Percy!" he said to himself as he slowly walked over the roof's shingles. "I swear if I don't find any eggs up here I'm going to ki – hey, what's that? You're kidding me. On the chimney? Angel, I found one!"
An Hour Later
"Can I please have everyone's attention?!" The backyard suddenly became very quiet as everyone waited for Molly to announce the winners. "With fifty-two eggs, plus one of the three golden eggs..." people started groaning as the realized that she wasn't talking about them. "Marnie Weasley and Rachel Potter are the winners."
"What? I demand a recount!" shouted Bill over his family's cheering. "She beat me by three eggs!"
"Yeah, and I had to climb on the roof!" cried Charlie.
"Face it, guys, my daughter just has a natural talent for seeking," Harry said with a wide smile.
"Natural talent, my foot. He's probably been training her for weeks!" Ron said jokingly.
"I could say the same about Rona. She came in third, you know," Harry replied.
"So, what? That couldn't have anything to do with me being her partner?" Arthur's voice came somewhere in the back of the crowd.
All the fighting and joking eventually led the early morning hunt into the night and everyone was forced to stay for Easter dinner on Molly's orders.
April Twenty-Eighth
Things had been going well in the weeks that followed after Easter. Harry and Ginny managed to write the first chapter of their story, Lifestyles of the Rich and the Hated, and they'd been able to convince Felicis Publishers (located in Diagon Alley) to publish the book once they were done. And with the weight of their new job off their shoulders they were finally able to spend some much needed time with Alroy and Rachel. There were only two problems that occurred in that time. One was Ginny going into false labour – twice, and the other was that they hadn't seen any of their family since the holidays.
Ginny walked slowly into the family room holding a tray of three mugs, each containing steaming hot chocolate. First she made her way over to Alroy who was reading his new books n the corner and handing him a mug. Next she went to Harry, playing with Rachel in the middle of the floor.
"Gin, I thought Lynette told you to relax," Harry scolded as he grabbed the tray form his wife.
"Oh, so it's Lynette now, huh?" Ginny laughed, awkwardly trying to sit down on the floor beside Harry. "And for your information, she said I should take it easy – not be on bed rest."
"I'm just worried."
"And I'm not? Harry, you know me, I can't just sit back and do nothing."
"I know, but you're due next month!" Harry was close to begging her to stay in bed now.
Ginny had a thoughtful look on her face all of a sudden, and it scared Harry to think of what she might be thinking of. "I'll tell you what, if we can have a barbecue with the whole family, I'll stay in bed for the rest of the pregnancy. Deal?"
Harry didn't like this one bit. "A barbecue? Can't we just wait until Scott's birthday to see everyone?"
"But I'm due on the fifteenth and Scott's birthday is on the twenty-fifth."
"Exactly." Harry chuckled and Ginny glared at him. "Oh, all right. We'll have the barbecue. But remember your promise – you'll stay in bed for the rest of your pregnancy."
"Of course." Ginny looked happier than Harry had seen her in weeks.
"So, when should we have it, anyway?"
"I'm thinking May first or second."
Harry looked confused. "But, Ginny, that's only thirteen or fourteen days before you're due."
"Exactly," she giggled.
May Second
It was still dark out when Ginny woke up. Rolling onto her side to look at her digital clock, she could barely make out the blinking red numbers telling her it was only five in the morning. She slowly got out of bed, trying her best not to alarm Harry. He'd been extra paranoid lately and desperately needed his sleep. Making sure not to walk on any creaking floorboards, she found her way to the joining bathroom blindly.
Several minutes later she came out and began walking back to her side of the bed when she started having back pains, something she'd become accustom to. Knowing there was no way she'd be able to go back to bed in pain; she turned around and headed for the door instead. Slowly and quietly Ginny moved from room to room making sure Alroy and Rachel were still sound asleep before going down stairs to the kitchen.
Ginny winced as the light came on in the vast kitchen; it was way too early for so much light. She opened the fridge door automatically reached for the chocolate cake on the top shelf. 'No,' she told herself. 'That's for the barbecue.' Slamming the door, she moved over to the pantry and grabbed a bag of crisps. Lazily, she sat down at the kitchen table, conjured herself a glass of ice tea and began eating. After a few minutes her back started hurt again and she tried to think of a way to take her mind off of the pain.
This time she conjured a piece of parchment and a quill and began writing down all the things she needed to do after her snack to prepare for the barbecue. But Ginny's idea of a distraction wasn't working, the pain was now spreading to her stomach and she started realizing that they weren't going away as quickly as they were before. 'Oh, Merlin,' she thought. 'I'm in labor!'
Running up the stairs as best she could, Ginny stayed calm, even as she walked into the master bedroom to get ready. "Harry!" she called as she grabbed a yellow maternity dress and ran into the bathroom to get dressed. "Harry! Get up!"
"Huh? What's going on?" he replied sleepily, his hand feeling around the end table for his glasses.
"It's time," she said, slipping on a pair of flip-flops from the foot of the bed now. It took harry all of five seconds to pull his own shoes, comb his hair, grab hold of Ginny's over-night suitcase in one hand and her arm in another and Apparate to St. Mungo's.
"Harry! Ginny! Is everything okay?" asked Casey running up behind them.
"Everything's fine," Ginny said. "By any chance, is Healer Lynch here?"
"She's in her office." Casey was then designated to lead Ginny safely to Lynette's office while Harry Apparated back to the house to get Alroy and Rachel, and, of course, notify the family that there wouldn't be a barbecue that day.
What seemed like days passed. In reality it was only an hour and a half or so. Casey had found someone to cover the rest of her shift so she could sit with Alroy, Rachel, the Weasleys, Longbottoms, Lupins and Healer Thorn in the waiting room. Meanwhile, inside room 118, Harry and Ginny were in for a little surprise.
"Oh dear," muttered Lynette.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Ginny asked, she voice cracking slightly. The first delivery had gone fine as far as she and Harry knew and now they were just waiting for something to go wrong.
"Nothing, everything's fine." The Healer was smiling now.
"They're okay?" Harry couldn't believe it. He'd been worrying all this time for nothing.
"Of course. I just made a slight mistake."
"Mistake?" Ginny tried to look over Lynette's shoulders at the assistant Healers who were handling her children, but she could hardly move.
"Yes, nothing serious or anything." Lynette took a baby wrapped in a soft pink blanket from one of the assistants and handed it to Ginny. "You have two healthy babies."
"Thank goodness," Harry said, looking down at his daughter.
"Yes," the Healer agreed, handing the second baby to Harry. "But you might want to think about changing one of the names." It was at this point that Harry and Ginny noticed the blue blanket wrapped around the baby Harry was holding. "I don't think Bethany or Nathalie will work for him." Both Lynette and Ginny started laughing, Ginny more out of relief of knowing her twins were healthy.
"Well," Harry finally said. "I suppose we could still use Bethany for her and just switch 'Nathalie' to 'Nat' for him."
Ginny scrunched up her face in disgust. "I don't like that one. I think we should go with one of the names we chose before. What were they? Dylan, Joseph and Theodore?"
"Yeah." Harry paused for a minute to look at his son. "I like Joseph. Joseph Arthur Potter."
"Me too." Ginny smiled. "So then, what do we name her? Bethany or Nathalie?"
"I don't know. Which one do you want?"
"Truthfully? I don't think either name fits her."
"Then what do we name her?" Both adults began thinking back to their name lists to find something that could work. It was Ginny that reached the answer first.
"Ileana Molly Potter."
A few minutes later friends and family were allowed into the room to see the twins. Harry and Ginny were happy to see smiles on both of their older children as they looked at their siblings for the first time. As Joseph and Ileana were being carefully carried around the room to meet everyone by Molly and Lynette, Ginny pulled Harry down close to her and began whispering in his ear so that no, especially her mother could hear.
"Do you really want more kids?" she asked in a serious tone.
Harry searched for a sign of some sort of a trap. He found none. "I don't know." It was the truth. "Do you?"
Ginny smiled sweetly, as if ready to ask for something. "Yes."
The End
Author's Notes:
I hope everyone enjoyed Five Months. I'm not really sure I like that ending; I was kinda planning something a little different where Ginny says "If I ever tell you I want more kids, send me to Azkaban" or something like that. Well, what's done is done. Now's it's your turn to tell me what you thought of the ending, or any part of this story. What did you like? What didn't you like? Do you want another sequel? If so, what do you want to happen? Okay, enough rambling. It's your time to REVIEW!!!
Love y'all,
Miz Liz