Chapter 5

Ginny, the woman previously known as Eliza, saw her daughter throw open the back door right as she was sending a Bat-Bogey Hex towards Harry. Instantly, Harry began using words she would rather he didn't in front of her daughter. At the same time, Lily just stared. She was first staring at Ginny's wand. Then she shifted towards Harry and his attempt to swat away the flying bogies. Finally, she rested her eyes on Ginny. Ginny felt herself recoil in guilt at the look of both hurt and amazement in Lily's eyes. She quickly took the hex off of Harry.

"Lily, listen –" Ginny began an attempt to apologize or explain or something but Lily quickly interrupted her.

"You're a WITCH!?" Lily all but yelled. "And you never told me! You've been playing dumb this entire time making me explain things that you already knew about! I – I feel like you've been lying to me this entire time and – and – I don't even know you – or something."

Once again, Ginny tried to open her mouth to try and settle things but this time Harry spoke first. "You mean she doesn't know anything about you!? She really thinks you are just an average Muggle?"

Ginny stopped trying to talk because she felt like she couldn't even if she tried. She simply nodded her head in response to both Lily and Harry. No one spoke for a minute after this as if the conversation was in a foreign language and it to be translated. Ginny felt that if listened hard enough, she could have heard the wheels in their brain churning. Finally, they both tried to start talking at once.

"Is he really…" "Does she know…" "…my father?" "…about me?"

Lily and Harry shot each other nervous glances as they answered each other's questions. Ginny, on the other hand, thought that she might die from guilt. She knew her face must be something similar to that of a young child who was just caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

Slowly, Ginny opened her mouth and whispered, "No one knew the truth expect for me."

Harry's face flashed with sadness and compassion. "Why don't we go inside and try to figure this all out?"

Lily led the way back into the kitchen where they all sat around the table. No one was talking. Finally, Lily couldn't take it anymore and blurted out "Who are you?" to her mother.

Ginny looked as though she was about to cry and Lily scooted her chair over to hug her mother. "My name is Ginny. Ginerva Molly Weasley."

"Weasley? You're a Weasley?" Lily asked in shock while silently thanking Merlin that she never had a crush on any of the Weasley boys.

"So are you. Where do you think you get your red hair and temper from?" Ginny said with some amusement in her quiet voice.

There was more silence after this statement as Lily had to fully process who she was. It was quickly broken, though, by her mother's voice again.

"Although, technically, you are a Potter." This time, her voice held no amusement and actually sounded fearful to Lily.

"So it really is true? She's – She is – my daughter?" Harry spoke up in amazement.

"Yes." Ginny, it seemed, had gone back to being unable to fully speak.

"How come I never knew about any of this? About the wizarding world? About … anything?! Why are you living as a muggle away from your family?" Lily could have continued asking more questions but she needed to inhale some oxygen and Ginny took this opportunity to curb what easily could become a display of the famous Weasley temper.

"I'm living as a muggle because I left my family behind. And Harry." Ginny shot a nervous glance towards him but he still seemed too shocked to speak much so she continued addressing her daughter. "I was afraid of what I had done in the wizarding world so I hid in the muggle world and unknowingly took you with me."

"You said before term started that your brothers blamed you for something and that was why you left."

Harry was once again shaken out of silence at this. "They blamed you for something? Ron never mention anything like that to me."

Ginny sighed, "Of course he wouldn't mention it to you. He knew you would take my side."

"What was it then?"

"Fred."

"Who's Fred?" Lily demanded.

"One of my brothers." Ginny hesitated before adding, "He died in the Battle of Hogwarts."

Lily gasped in horror and silence lingered over the kitchen again.

"What do you mean? They never blamed for anything that had to do with Fred." Harry finally said.

"Of course they did! It was my fault that he died!" Ginny practically yelled in frustration and anger, but most of all sadness.

"It was not your fault! Don't ever say that! If ANYONE was to claim fault here, it would be me. And even I am not thick enough to do that. It was Voldemort and his Death Eater's fault and theirs alone!" Harry burst out angrily. He took a few deep breaths and sat back down, not realizing that he had stood.

"But he was attacked when he was trying to protect me. I didn't stay in the Room of Requirement. If I had like I was told, he wouldn't have died." Ginny said quietly again. Lily was rather taken aback by her mother's frequently changing emotions and volumes, almost as much as she was constantly being surprised by her knowledge of the magic and its world.

"If this, if that." Harry said softly. Lily was noticing that their volumes seemed to change together. "If you hadn't escaped, your mother would never have had the drive to kill Bellatrix, and then Voldemort would never have come after your mother, and I would have never had cast that shield charm. Who knows how the timing of the whole evening would have been changed. What if Bellatrix never died? Could I have killed Voldemort with her there to protect him? Who else would she have killed? Think about it that way." Harry paused before continuing gently. "Fred died the only way he would have liked to die. Not only was he laughing, but he was protecting his sister and the world that he loved so much. No one blames you Ginny. They never have."

Ginny took a few slow breaths of air after Harry's speech as if she was meditating. Another terrible thought flashed through her mind.

"If they didn't blame me, why were they all glaring at me and giving me weird looks!?" Ginny spat out stubbornly. "They especially did it when George was saying how Fred and Angelina would sneak out of their flat at night."

Harry only stared at her for a few second before bursting out in laughter. Ginny immediately looked shocked and hurt while Lily was terribly curious as to what could possibly be so funny. It was quite clear that her mother had gotten something completely wrong.

"Why the hell are you bloody laughing at me Potter?"

Harry tried to stop laughing and become serious but couldn't manage it. It took him a full minute or two to regain his composure. "They weren't glaring at you over Fred's death, trust me."

"Oh, really. Then pray tell, what was it about?"

"Us."

"Us?"

"Didn't I just say that? Yes." Harry said amused again at her stubbornness. "They were always giving me weird looks too, actually. And I'm sure I got much worse looks than you did. I even ended up with a bruise once, but I hid it from you…" He trailed off happily thinking about his memories.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Oh, sorry. Right. Well..." Harry suddenly became nervous. "It was because we were – were… Er, the looks were over how we…" He was now looking down at his fingers and shooting awkward glances towards Lily.

And Lily suddenly understood why her mother's older brothers were constantly giving them looks. Hadn't she heard just a few weeks ago Victorie complaining about the exact same thing? Except that had been about her younger cousins… but that was beside the point, boys acted the same way at any age.

"They were giving you the evil eye because you were sleeping together." Lily said deciding to put the professor that was her father out of his misery.

The two adults stared at her statement and how unashamedly she had said it. Lily looked at the both of them in disbelief at how naïve they considered her to be.

"Oh, come on. Its not like I couldn't figure that out. Obviously I turned up somehow, didn't I?" She said rolling her eyes.

Ginny laughed for the first time that day since Harry had arrived. "That's true. And thank goodness for that," she said pulling her daughter into a tight hug. "So they were all glaring over the fact of me being with you?"

"Not quiet BEING with me. They were all happy to see us together. But your brothers weren't particularly fond of you sleeping with me. Although Ron wasn't that bad since he was off doing the same thing with Hermione. But George was definitely the worst. He felt that since Ron wasn't doing his part to be over-protective, he should step it up a notch. I guess that must have been why you felt that it was about Fred."

"And that fact that it really started when he said how Fred would sneak out with Angelina…" A look of realization crossed Ginny's face. "Oh. It was the sneaking out part that the looks were about, not the Fred part." At this, she burst suddenly into tears.

Both Harry and Lily quickly went to comfort her. Lily was utterly stunned to see her mother cry like this, it had never happened before in her memory. Harry on the other hand, realized that this was a step forward to having Ginny Weasley back completely.

In between sobs, Ginny managed to get out one sentence, "I am – SO – sorry – Lily!"

"Oh Mum don't worry. While this one might actually be your fault, I forgive you." Lily said both sincerely and with bit of humour. "I understand why you did it. Plus, you didn't know about me when you left did you? Its not like you intentionally did this. But you did intentionally give me a great home to grow up in and at least I know now. Things will all work itself out. You'll see."

Ginny stopped sobbing and looked sniffling at her daughter. "When did you get to be so smart?"

"What a cliché way to end this moment, Mum." Lily responded teasingly and all three of them laughed before Ginny hugged Lily and whispered her thanks.

"So, er, you know, that means that you are my daughter." Harry said awkwardly to Lily, knowing they would have to discuss that eventually.

"Oh. Well, yeah." Lily said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was after the previous conversation.

"Er, so, are you okay with that?"

"Well, I guess if I had to choose anyone to be my father, you probably would have been my top choice. You are my favorite professor after all." Lily told him seriously.

Harry grinned widely at this. "That's perfect because you've always been my favorite student."

Ginny once again started crying, but this time in happiness. "I'm just – so – glad everything – has worked out – so far," she said in between her tears.

"Everything will work out in the end Ginny. Don't worry." Harry reassured her.

"Professor? I mean… um…" Lily stuttered realizing she wasn't sure how to address the man sitting next to her anymore.

"Why don't you just call me Harry for now until we all figure everything out and get used to the new situation we are in?"

Lily sighed in relief for this easy solution. "Ok, Harry." It was still awkward to call him that after calling him Professor Potter for so long, but the best option at the moment. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"No, not at all," came his quick reply.

"Do you – have a family? Like, with other children?" she inquired timidly as Ginny tensed up at the question.

"No, I don't." Harry said quietly looking only at the table cloth not noticing Ginny's obvious loosening up.

Lily sighed in relief again "Oh, good. Because that would be awkward beyond belief if I had to meet them."

Harry chuckled and then became more straight-faced, "You know, Lily, you can ask anything. There is a lot you deserve to know."

"Okay, I have another question then." Lily turned to address her mother in a much more playful tone. "How do you know how to do a Bat-Bogey Hex!? They are supposed to be rather complex, on top of the fact that its recent discovery and you've been a muggle for the last 15 years…"

Harry promptly burst out in laughter and Ginny nervously grinned.

"What? Whats so funny? It's a logical question."

"Yes very logical." Harry laughed even harder. "Not only does your mother know it, but she was the bleeding witch who invented that infernal hex! It isn't that recent of a discovery, despite the rumours…"

"INVENTED!?" Lily yelled interrupting Harry.

"Oh yes, all of Hogwarts was scared of her becoming angry and casting it upon some poor individual when she went there. You wouldn't know just by looking at her, but Ginny Weasley was one of the most powerful witches out there for her age. She fought against Bellatrix Lestrange in the Battle of Hogwarts even."

Ginny blushed furiously, Lily gawked in astonishment, and Harry laughed some more before becoming more serious and spoke again quietly. "You know, Ginny, you could be that witch again."

"I know. It's just that… Well… I'm afraid to go back."

Harry sat looking thoughtfully at her for a few moments before he spoke again. "Listen, Ginny, I am going for a ritual family dinner at the Burrow on Sunday night. Why don't–"

"Oh no. I couldn't just turn up out of the blue like that! Not after fifteen years!"

"Let me finish!" Harry was both frustrated and amused at the same time. It seemed as if they were almost falling back into how things were before she left. "I didn't mean that you would just pop in and yell 'Surprise!' because that would be a sure-fire way to kill off some Weasleys. No. What I meant was that I could gently bring it up that I had seen you again and I could explain your situation and rationalizing a bit. Then, after your family has gotten over the idea of pummeling you to death for leaving them like that, I can send my Patronus over and THEN you can pop in and yell surprise."

Lily was about to fall off her chair from laughing and Ginny smiled at Harry knowing that he was deadly serious about his plan but she was grateful that he had told it in a way that made her less scared. He did always know how to make her feel better. After some thought and being on the receiving end of Lily's eager stare, Ginny agreed to go.

"Can I go too, mum?" Lily asked, desperately wanting to meet her newly discovered family, even thought she already knew most of her generation, just not as her cousins.

Harry answered instead of Ginny, though. Lily supposed this was partially fair since it did turn out that he was her father. "No, you shouldn't go yet. It is going to be a hard reunion for the whole family. Let them take it one step at a time."

"But I will get to meet them soon, right?"

Ginny was the one to respond this time, "Of course! As soon as I feel… up to it… I will bring you along. And don't worry, I will tell them all about you when I go."

Lily smiled realizing this was a fair deal. "Okay." She paused a bit and grinned, "Soooo, tell me about how you two met." At her parent's shocked and slightly embarrassed faces she added indignantly, "Hey! I have 15 years worth of stories to hear! Better to start sooner than later!"

They all chuckled at this and the rest of the evening was spend reminiscing, laughing, and even crying a few times on Ginny and Harry's end remembering life during the war. Lily had never felt so happy in her life. She finally knew what secrets her mother had been keeping from her all these years and she finally knew who her father was. On top of that, he ended up being her favorite professor; it was rather perfect when she thought about it. The talking continued until the grandfather clock in the hallway chimed midnight and Ginny declared it time for everyone to go to bed. Lily was shooed upstairs but she managed to see that Harry kissed Ginny lightly on the cheek before he apparated away causing her mother to blush.

A/N: Did I say that the last chapter was hard to write? Silly me. THIS chapter was ten times harder! I ended up giving up trying on Sunday and actually rewrote it a few times yesterday. I then started to write it out of order and that made it easier for some reason… And I can't find anywhere that said specifically how old the bat bogey hex was or who invented it, so I'm making it be Ginny for some humour. They always called it HER bat bogey hex anyway… Anyway, sorry for the delay and I hope it turned out alright… Enjoy!