Family.

'I don't know how you did it, Mum. If I'd known what James was going to be like as a toddler I'd never have had Albus so soon. I swear that boy could have given Fred and George a run for their money.' Holding a sleeping baby, Ginny sat herself down in the lounge at the Burrow as she complained as her mother watched her with a fond smile.

'He is a very boisterous boy,' Molly said cheerfully.

'Boisterous? That's a much tamer word than I would use. He never stops moving, never, and I can't take my eyes off Albus for a second in case James plays with him ...'

Molly smiled at her daughter and gently extricated the tiny bundle from her arms. 'Where is James today?'

'I needed time out, so Harry's taken him over to Ron's place. He said he can destroy all their furniture for once.' Ginny let out a giggle at the idea.

'Ginny!' Her mother was scandalised. 'You don't take your kids to other people's houses to wreak havoc – you should be teaching him to be more responsible, not less.'

Ginny's face took on a mutinous cast and she glared at her mother, reminding her again just how stubborn and strong willed her youngest child had always been. 'And you never let the hurricane twins loose anywhere other than here? No-one else was ever subjected to their, what was it, Boisterousness?'

Molly had the grace to blush, and turned her attention to the newest bundle in the family. 'Well, I guess you don't have long before you won't be able to take James over there to be as exuberant as he likes. When is Hermione due?'

'Three weeks. It's so weird to think that Albus and their little one will be the same age and the same year at school. It makes me wonder what sort of adventures they will get up to at school.'

Molly shuddered. 'Oh, I don't want to think about it. But I don't think you have to worry about it with this one. He is the sweetest, most placid baby I have met. And with Hermione as a mother, do you think his age mate will have even the remotest chance to be anything but a swot?'

Ginny giggled. 'Oh, I don't know Mum. There's got to be some Ron in there somewhere, and you know we Weasleys have a talent for trouble, especially if there's a Potter involved.'

Albus began a snuffling cry as he woke from his nap, and Ginny immediately took on the role of mother and retrieved him from Molly's reluctant arms. She watched as her daughter expertly began feeding the tiny child, and marvelled at the knowledge that this woman had once been a tiny creature as dependant on her as Albus now was on Ginny. She had a kind of blurred double vision as she took in the scene and remembered Ginny as the small child. It seemed wrong, silly somehow, that her baby was now a grown woman with two children of her own.

However, Ginny's need for help and support had returned with her motherhood. When she got married it had felt like Molly was losing her youngest child forever, but now that Ginny faced this new trial, she had returned to Molly, desperate for her wisdom. As if on cue, she spoke up.

'Mum? What do you do when the baby needs your attention but the older one wants you too? I mean ... Albus is so tiny, so dependant and yet I don't want James to think we don't still love and cherish him, too.' She smiled with a faraway look on her face. 'Hellion though he is, he's still my baby and I want him to feel loved too.'

Molly looked at her while she tried to remember what she and Arthur had done.

'From misty memory, dear, you just have to be sure to do things with him too.' She smirked at her daughter. 'That shouldn't be hard. That boy is desperate to get on a broom and I know you miss it.'

Ginny's face lit up with the idea of being on a broom with her son. 'Oh, that would be so much fun, and maybe we could get him his own mini broom, you know like the ones I saw at the world cup all that time ago.'

As Ginny began enthusiastically working out what she would do to have some one-on-one time with James, Harry arrived with the small boy in tow.

'We were on our way home,' he said as he stepped out of the flames in the fire place, 'but little firebolt here wanted to come see his grandma, and who am I to refuse him?'

Ginny laughed out loud, a little of the frazzled look she had worn when she arrived dissipating with the sight of Harry. 'You mean you were sneaking a visit to try and get some of Mum's cooking.' Shrugging noncommittally but grinning, Harry turned to watch his son.

James had run straight over to his grandmother on legs that were still slightly wobbly and still made him list a little to the left as he moved. He almost missed her outstretched arms and fell on his face, but used to this from years of experience, Molly had just tilted her body to the right and caught him as he flew past. His infectious giggles rang out and Albus pulled his head away from what he was doing and smiled at his brother.

'Did you see that, Harry? Mum? He smiled! He's only four weeks old and he actually smiled then – oh, he's going to love his brother.'

James pulled himself expertly out of Molly's grip and came over to investigate this new phenomenon. With a look of bewildered awe on his face, he said, 'Bubba 'mile me?'

Molly laughed and said, 'Yes James, he smiled at you. You know, since you're the big boy it's up to you to watch out for your baby brother ...'

Ginny giggled as she saw the look on James's face. 'Don't worry love, you can still have fun and you have a whole lot of good people around to help you out.' She cast a look at her mother, and smiled, letting her know she remembered that long ago talk where Molly reminded her that they had all the support they needed. Molly smiled back, sharing in the moment with undisguised joy.

Molly turned to Harry and asked, 'How is Hermione doing, Harry? Ready to explode yet?'

'Well, she has two bags ready to go to St Mungos in case she loses one, and she has a list on a two-foot-long piece of parchment of how she wants the whole deal to go down. I think she's about ready.'

Ginny tried to stifle the giggles she could feel welling up in her, but she was unsuccessful. 'I think that baby wouldn't dare not come according to her plan and schedule. But I would laugh if she ended up having it at home in her bed after all her big plans for hospital intervention and calming draughts.'

'Don't be mean, Ginny. You know yourself that it's hard work and you do whatever you need to get you through.' Her mother was taking on that familiar old lioness look and Ginny backed down immediately. There were some times when it was still wisest to remember that Molly was her mother and no matter how grown up she felt, Ginny could still be cowed in the right circumstances. She glared at Harry who was smirking at her. He, at least, had more sense than to make fun of anything to do with babies around Molly, and he reminded her of that fact with a wink.

'Okay, little fella, I think it's time we left these lovely ladies in peace and let poor Albus finish his lunch ... off we go ...' and he rounded up James, wrestled him into the fireplace and they flooed away.

Albus snuffled a little as he settled back to feeding, and Ginny smiled up at her mother. 'You know, Mum, as hard a job as this is I wouldn't exchange it for anything. Seeing this one smiling at his brother makes me realise, no matter what may come, we made the right decision to add to our family.' Molly nodded and shuffled off to the kitchen to make some tea, leaving the young mother with her son for some much-needed time alone together. Despite the jarring feeling that Ginny surely couldn't be old enough to be the mother of two young children, Molly felt a sense of pride and achievement that she had reared this girl and helped her develop enough so that she felt able to stretch her wings when she needed to and return to the fold when she needed that. All she could wish for now was for Ginny and her family to stay strong and unified, and after all they had been through, Molly was sure they had all the right ingredients for that.