Hey guys! WOW! I got such an awesome response to the last chapter! I'm glad you liked it, that really made me pretty happy :) Thanks so much to all who reviewed, I hope you like this one! To anyone who's new or somehow missed it the last chapter, this is a CONTINUATION of CaseyLove's original story, which can be found on her profile. It is a requirement that you read The Unexpected Heir and her beginning of The Unexpected Heir Part 2 before you read this. Thanks!
Disclaimer: Idea belongs to CaseyLove, characters and anything you recognize is JKR's :)
Chapter 7: On The Road Again
A week of safety and serenity passed after Harry, Ron, and Hermione were reunited with Ginny and James. Harry spent nearly every waking moment playing with James, which Ginny found to be absolutely adorable. Lupin, Ron, and Harry would sit and discuss the Daily Prophet at night after James had been put to bed, and more often than not the women would often join them. The news, though growing steadily darker, had no effect on the cheer that seemed to emit from every wall of the house.
Right up until the Thursday after Harry, Ron, and Hermione had returned.
It had started off as a normal enough day. James had woken Ginny up at around 6:30, and she'd fed him and then headed downstairs for the day. Tonks, who was currently getting the "nesting urge" that Ginny herself had experienced, was up as usual, and was making tea when Ginny entered the kitchen with James.
"Wotcher, Ginny," she said cheerfully. "And how's my little nephew today?"
"Wide awake," Ginny replied, stifling a yawn. "As usual."
Tonks grinned. "Sounds about right for him."
Ginny agreed, and sat down just as the kettle whistled. Tonks hurried over to prepare it, and the two women sat quietly in the early morning peace.
Eventually, the sounds of everyone else stirring could be heard from upstairs, and soon enough, Harry, Lupin, and Hermione came stumbling into the kitchen.
"Good morning," Lupin said tiredly, rubbing his eyes and kissing Tonks' cheek gently. "Sleep alright?"
"I did," Tonks beamed. "I was up at 5:30 moving everything around in the living room. I think the furniture looks much better now."
"If you say so, dear," Lupin said, slightly bemusedly.
"Morning, Harry," Ginny said as he slid into the spot next to her. "Did you ever go to sleep last night?"
"No," he admitted. He and Lupin had sat up rather late talking about the sudden increase of Muggle attacks by the Death Eaters. It was a subject that was rather sore for Hermione, and Harry and Lupin had waited until she had gone to bed to discuss it. As a result, they had been up past midnight talking.
Ginny knew all of this and gave him a sympathetic smile, then dumped James on his lap. "Here, have a baby to cheer you up."
Harry smirked at her, but cradled James in his arms closely and cooed to him. Ginny watched him, thinking that he was absolutely adorable when he played with James. It was one of the reasons she hadn't tried to spend more time with her son over the past week.
"I made some porridge!" Tonks announced proudly. "And it's not burnt, sticky, runny, or bland. Well, it's not exaclty tasty, but I have cinnamon and some other spices over here for you to add to it!"
"Did someone say porridge?" Ron asked sleepily, entering the room and plopping down at a chair. "Hermione, can you get me some?"
"No," Hermione replied loftily. "You may get it yourself."
"Come on, Hermione, I'm tired!"
"You wouldn't be so tired if you'd gone to bed last night instead of choosing to sit and eat your Christmas candy from last year," Hermione replied sternly, ladeling herself some porridge, "so therefore, I do not feel sorry for you."
"Ginny?" Ron asked, glancing in her direction. She simply gave him a look and he sighed. "Fine." He heaved himself out of his chair and headed for the large bowl of porridge on the counter. "But I'll remember this the next time you-"
He never finished his sentence, for at that exact moment, a loud crash sounded from outside. Instantly, everyone was on their feet.
"What was that?"
"I don't know!"
"Go look!"
"I'll go!"
"No, you stay here, I'm going!"
"I am perfectly capable of-"
"Stop it!" Lupin yelled, and everyone quieted down instantly. "All of you be as quiet as you can, and I will go look and see what's wrong."
No one argued, and he quickly slipped out of the door and headed down to the front window. James fussed quietly and Harry rocked him back and forth to try and comfort him. He'd just stopped fussing when Lupin returned, his face pale.
"Death Eaters," he said quietly. "I don't think they know we're here, but they're attacking the Muggles on either side of the house and across the street. A few of them are pointing at the empty space here. I don't know if they-"
A huge BOOM shook the house, and Hermione ran out of the kitchen. James started to cry again, and in the surrounding clamour, Lupin had to shout to be heard.
"Everyone, get out! Go! Now! Get to a safe location and don't contact us! GO!" Another loud BOOM resounded, as if to emphasize his statement. Harry reached over for Ginny and grabbed her hand.
"Hold on, and don't let go this time!" he said to her. Ginny tightened her grip on his hand and looked around for Ron.
"Come on, you idiot!" she yelled at him, seeing him by the door. "We have to go!"
"But Hermione went upstairs!" he yelled back. "We can't leave without her!"
"She'll come back, Ron! Come on, we've got to get out of here!" Ginny yelled, but her words were drowned out by the two more successive loud BOOMs. James was crying for real now, and dust was starting to fall from the ceiling. The Death Eaters surely knew by now that they had found a Wizarding house, and they were attacking the protective enchantments Lupin and Tonks had in place.
"HERMIONE!" Ron yelled. "HURRY, WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
"James, shh, James, calm down, it's okay," Ginny said, reaching over to gently stroke her son's cheek. His little face was bright red, and he was screaming and wailing as though he was being tortured. Harry gently rocked him from side to side, but the continuous BOOMs were doing nothing to calm him.
Finally, Hermione appeared in the kitchen doorway and grabbed Ron's hand. The two of them ran to Harry, Ginny, and James. Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand, redoubled her grip on Harry's, and felt the world disappear as they left Lupin and Tonks' for good.
When the crushing darkness had lifted, Ginny found herself lying on a forest floor next to Harry. James was still screaming, and Harry was already sitting up and cuddling him. Ginny sat up and took him from Harry.
"Hey, hey, shh, it's okay, James, shh," she whispered, holding him close to her. She bounced him gently up and down, just the way she knew he liked it, but it did nothing to stop his crying.
"Harry!" Hermione called from somewhere to their right. "Harry get over here now! I need help!"
Ginny and Harry turned as one to see Hermione kneeling a few feet away over Ron. She was fussing with his sleeve, and he was twitching, making strange gulping noises.
"What happened to him?" Harry called, already screambling to his feet. Ginny followed, still trying to calm James.
"He got Splinched," Hermione said, tears in her voice. "I-I don't know why-he must not have been fully focused on the Apparition-Harry, get the dittany out of my bag!"
Ginny took a few more steps forward and gasped. Ron's upper left arm was torn away, revealing the flesh and bone underneath it. The blood was redder than Ginny had ever thought possible, and soaking his sleep shirt and the ground around him.
"Hermione, where is the stupid dittany?" Harry asked, rummaging around a small beaded bag in frustration.
"It's in-"
"Accio Dittany," Ginny said, whipping out her wand and pointing it at the bag. It flew out and almost hit Harry on the forehead. "It's right there."
Ignoring her remark, he scooted over to Hermione and handed it to her. She tried three times to pull out the stopper but had to have Harry do it because her hands were shaking. When he had opened it, she poured three drops onto Ron's shoulder. He flinched and yelled each time, which didn't help James.
"Come on, James, calm down," Ginny said softly, walking around in a circle bouncing him. "Shush now, we're alright. Come on, James, just be quiet!"
He continued crying to no avail. Ginny, feeling embarrassed and humiliated and angry that she couldn't even get her own baby to stop crying, continued to try to calm him, her voice rising, until finally, she marched over to Harry.
"Here! Take him! He obviously likes you better because I can't get him to shut up!" she half-yelled. Never before in her life had she felt so ashamed.
"Ginny," Hermione began, looking up from Ron (who had finally quieted down), "it's okay."
"No, it is bloody not okay!" Ginny said, feeling hot tears prick her eyes. "He never stops crying recently, it's always something, and I can't even comfort my own child! I'm a horrible mother!"
"No, you're not," Harry said.
"Accio Soother," Hermione said, and a small item flew out of her small beaded bag and into Harry's hand. "Try that, Harry, I loved those as a child."
"Oh, yeah, these things!" Harry said, and put the small, rubbery-looking end into James' mouth. The baby was so surprised he stopped crying and stared at his father. Slowly, he began to gently suck at the thing until, finally, he settled down peacefully into Harry's arms.
A full minute of silence passed before Ginny finally spoke.
"What the hell is that and why didn't I have one before now?"
Hermione laughed. "It's a soother. Babies suck on the rubbery end and it calms them down. I packed it before I left my parents' house, but I never got the chance to give it to you."
Ginny sighed. "Well, at least we have it now." She looked around at the trees and leaves surrounding them. "Where are we?"
"The woods where they held the Quidditch World Cup," Hermione replied. "It was the first place that popped into my head. I have everything we need for camping in my bag, but I don't have any food...I figured we could put up some protective enchantments."
"That sounds like a great idea," Ginny said, standing up, wand in hand. "I'll get on that and you can put up the tent." She strode off about twenty feet, then raised her wand and cast a few spells. She moved a few feet to the left and began casting spells there, too, slowly making a large circle around the campsite while Hermione worked on setting up the tent.
Ginny had just finished with the spells when she heard the crunch of a twig behind her and turned.
"Sorry," Harry said. "I wasn't trying to startle you."
"It's alright," she said, stowing her wand away in her pocket. "I'm sorry for flipping out on you back there. It's just...I feel like James is really clingy around me, but he's also crying all the time...this parenting thing is just so hard!"
"I know," Harry replied, "and I'm sorry-so sorry-that I wasn't here the past couple days. Tonks told me it was pretty hard for you. We're just so young, Ginny, and...I love James to death, but I do wish he'd come a couple years later."
"I know," Ginny sighed. "We should have used protection."
Harry shrugged. "Well, maybe, but I can honestly say I'd rather have you on this mission with me than not."
Ginny rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same. "Baby or not, you'd have been hard-pressed to stop me from coming."
Harry just laughed. "Yeah, I know. You can be kind of pig-headed about some things."
"Pig-headed?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Harry nodded. "Well, Mr. Potter, I really don't think you should have said that."
"I'm going to pay for this in some subtle way later, aren't I?" he asked, shifting James to his shoulder.
"It's not going to be all that subtle," Ginny replied, smirking at him. She had just leaned in to kiss him when Hermione called to them.
"Hey, can one of you two come help me get Ron in the tent?"
"I'm coming!" Harry called. "Here." He handed James to Ginny and kissed her forehead gently before hurrying over to help Hermione lift Ron into the tent.
Once the three of them had disappeared into the tent, Ginny looked down at James and was surprised to find his big brown eyes looking back up at her.
"Hey, there, buddy," she said, sighing. "I'm sorry I freaked out on you. Like I told your dad, it's just really, really hard to be sixteen and taking care of a little human being. Like, what if I break you? I mean, for all I know, you'll get to be my age and we'll fight all the time."
James gurgled and Ginny sighed. "I guess there's no point in worrying about that right now, is there? I mean, you're like two weeks old. I don't even want to think about you at sixteen. But don't you even think about getting a girl pregnant, okay?"
James stared at her very solemnly, and even though he was a baby, Ginny got the feeling he was listening to her-maybe not understanding her words, but hearing her voice.
"Okay then," she said, then tickled him gently. "I guess we should head inside, huh? They'll probably be wondering what I'm doing with you."
Right on cue, Harry stuck his head out of the tent, looking for them. "Come on in, Ginny, check it out!"
"Coming!" she called back. "What did I tell you?" she murmured to James as she walked. "Your dad's a bit of a worrywart."
"Hey!" he objected, close enough to hear her. She smirked.
"We make quite the couple, huh? You're a worrywart and I'm pig-headed. Wonder how James'll like that when he's older."
"Isn't it usually the opposite?" Harry asked. "Aren't you supposed to be the one all worried about the kid?"
"Don't you pull gender stereotypes on me," she retorted.
"Sorry."
"Whatever."
And then he leaned down to kiss her, soft and sweet, and when he finally pulled away and slung an arm over her shoulder, he informed her that he wouldn't have it any other way.
Bit of Harry/Ginny at the end for you :) Hope everyone liked it! Please take the time to leave me a review, they give me incentive (and make me happy :)!
Lovelovelove -D-