The last thing Harry expected to find when waking up that morning was Ginny Weasley lying next to him. He had yet again woken up in another strange place, but he thought he had seen life with Ginny already and did not expect to be woken up by her cold toes touching his warm ones. She was looking up at him, her pale skin glowing against her bright red hair. To say she was stunning was an understatement.
She shuffled over and placed a soft kiss upon Harry's lips. Her smile was contagious, and despite his guilt of kissing another man's woman, he smiled back at her. She rested her head on his chest, pushing her body against his and hugged him. They laid there for a few moments before he heard crying coming from somewhere in the home they were in.
Ginny sighed, "I guess that means it's time to get up,"
A baby? Harry thought to himself.
"Can you go get James so I can wake Albus up? It's time to nurse him," She smiled tiredly.
"Yeah, alright." Harry smiled. He saw a bassinette next to their bed and as Ginny turned away to pick up the little bundle that lay inside, he left the room to go find their son, James.
They had named one of their children after his father, and another after Professor Dumbledore. He couldn't believe it, he adored the thought.
It was rather easy finding James, as he was crying louder than Hagrid snored at that point. He lifted the little baby out of the crib and held him closely, the way he would have held Teddy. James seemed to be one years old and he was beautiful. He couldn't help but feel distracted as he rocked James back and forth to calm him, his mind was deep in thought about what the universe was telling him.
He felt happy with Draco in the previous glimpse. Confusion was all he could think about now that he wasn't home yet. Was the universe telling him Ginny was the right option? Or was it telling him Draco was? Or did he have a choice?
He shook his head, focusing on the little human in his arms. James was much more calm now, Harry made his way back into the master bedroom where Ginny and Albus were. She was nursing him and smiling up at Harry.
"I really hope it's a girl this time, I don't want 7 children like my mum," She laughed softly.
Ginny was pregnant again?
Three children, just like the first glimpse. Would they remain happy in this life, or divorce in the end like the other life? She glowed so beautifully, Harry couldn't take his eyes off of her. Was this the life he could have? Of course he knew Ginny was beautiful, but Harry was quickly realizing that he wanted to have a family. Could he even have a family with Draco? Did he want to have a family with Draco?
He tried to push Draco out of his mind, and focused on the family in front of him.
"I hope it's a girl too," Harry smiled, sitting down on the bed next to Ginny.
She summonded a warm bottle of milk for him and handed it to Harry to feed James. He was a natural at feeding babies, he had plenty of experience with Teddy. This felt just the same to him, since James wasn't truly his son.
~*~HPDM~*~
Nap time finally arrived, the two babies were fast asleep.
Ginny looked exhausted yet somehow still had the energy to wash the dishes. Harry assumed they didn't use a house elf, and mentally cursed Hermione for S.P.E.W, something she'd never let go. He offered to wash the dishes and let Ginny dry, seeing as how in the first glimpse that he was in, the kitchen was the reason his cover was blown.
"Thanks sweetheart," Ginny smiled tiredly, "Saviour of the tired wife." She teased.
She kissed him on the cheek and slowly inched out of the kitchen, "Hey, where do you think you're going?" Harry glared at her playfully. He took his wet hands and picked up some of the foamy bubbles from the dish water.
"You wouldn't dare..." Ginny's eyes went wide.
"Want to bet?"
And she ran. But he still managed to soak her with water and bubbles, and he chased after her. She made it out the backdoor and into the yard, laughing and screeching, until he caught her. She laughed with glee and tried to smack him away as they fell onto the grass.
"Harry James Potter, you prat." Ginny tried to say seriously, "How am I ever to grow old with the likes of you?"
"With much joy," Harry stuck his tongue out at her, "Obviously."
Looking at her, he could tell she really loved him. She reminded him of Lily, his mother from the second glimpse. They reminded him of his parents. And he knew that was a happy life. And yet, something was missing in his heart.
"Oh now look, you've woken up one of the children." Ginny sighed, as they heard a cry from an open window.
"You were the one that screamed," Harry pointed out, laughing as she huffed at him, leaving to get the little crying baby.
Harry couldn't deny that she was the ideal choice for him to make. She was fiery, independant, she had truly grown up. She was tough, having grown up with six older brothers. She had a passion for Quidditch, the same passion that he had. But so did Draco...
He sighed. He didn't want to do what everyone expected him to do. Being with Ginny would be choosing the person everyone expected him to choose. It was as if there was a path chosen for him. Everything felt so cheap and typical to him. He wanted to choose his own life, with no one else helping him choose.
Being in another universe wasn't helping. He couldn't choose someone to be with and to love, when these people were complete strangers to him, mirrors of the ones he truly knew. He knew that he did love Ginny, and could keep loving her. He didn't even know if he were attracted to men. He didn't even know why he had such a hard time choosing Ginny over Draco. Draco wasn't even an option before this trip.
He was starting to feel like the universe was pushing him towards Draco, and Ginny. He wanted to choose for himself. He wanted to go home, to choose what to do with is real life.
~*~HPDM~*~
Hermione had taken the shift of sleeping in Harry's room those three days. She was grateful to be free of snoring for a few nights, promising Ron that she would firecall if anything happened throughout the nights with her pregnancy. Draco didn't want to see any other Harry but his own, so refused to be there. Three days would have been too much to bare.
Harrison, from a life where he was happily married to Ginny Weasley, had finally relaxed and believed the story Hermione had told him. He calmed down and paced around the room, hoping he'd return to his family in three days time.
"Sit down, you might as well get comfortable for three days." Hermione said, nose in a book.
"Nap time is ending back home," He said quietly, "I'm getting dizzy." He held his head.
"What?" Hermione panicked, "What are you feeling?" She thought of her Harry, hoped nothing was going wrong. She imagined the worst situation.
"I can't see, I can't see anything," He rubbed his eyes after throwing his glasses off.
"Just lay down, relax." Hermione was shaking.
And at that moment, Harrison stopped talking. He went limp, and Hermione swore her own heart stopped beating.
She was blinded by a light, blinked three times, and then she saw that his eyes were open, hyperventilating.
"H-Her-Hermione," He finally managed to say through breaths, "Hermione, is that you?"
"Harry!?" Hermione tried finding him in his eyes, hope reaching every part of her face.
"Yeah, yeah it's me," He breathed, falling back onto the bed with a thud, "Oh MERLIN, I'm home!" He took his ring off and threw it across the room.
"Harry!" Hermione sat on the bed, holding her balloon of a belly, bending down to hug him as much as she could reach.
"How did you get back? The other Harry, one minute he was pacing around the room, the next minute he couldn't see anything and stopped breathing."
"I was in this universe... I just decided I didn't need to be there anymore, I... closed my eyes and just thought about it over and over again. The next thing I knew, I was travelling through blackness until I opened my eyes again."
He just laid there for a few minutes, catching his breath.
"Hermione... I think I need a day to myself." He confided in her, "I don't even know what's real anymore."
Hermione nodded, "Of course Harry."
"Can you write to everyone and invite them over for dinner tomorrow night?"
Hermione nodded again, leaving Harry to be alone.
"One more thing..." He stopped her from leaving completely, "Why isn't Draco the one here? He was here when I left."
"He was here every day, waiting for you to return. He didn't leave once. Until the last Harrison arrived." With that, she took her leave, not saying another word about it.
Draco stayed the entire time? Until the last Harrison? The one that loved Ginny.
He was exhausted, but too afraid to sleep; afraid he'd wake up in another glimpse. He pulled the pouch from his pocket and found the journal linked with Marcelline.
He opened the cover and wrote, "I'm home." On the first page. It disappeared and he awaited a reply.
To his liking, Potter replied. "How do you feel?" He wrote back.
"More confused than before."
Potter merely replied, "Good luck."
Harry knew the decision was his, and his only. He felt happy at that.
But was it really? Did either Ginny or Draco even want to be with him? It wasn't up to him, it was up to whomever his heart wanted.
~*~HPDM~*~
Harry sat cross-legged on his bed. He transfigured it to be softer, so that he sunk right into it. He read through the journal he wrote in during his travels, reading his feelings and thoughts.
He missed Marcelline, Forest, and Brin. He missed that large green tree in the back, the secret fort the boys had built for Celine when they left for Hogwarts. He wondered if Potter told them about him.
He missed Potter's mother and father, the ones he wished he had. He thought of Charlotte and Alekzander, his sister and best friend. He felt like there was a hole in his heart now, never to be filled because only they could fill it. They didn't exist in this world. Her multi-coloured eyes burned in his mind.
He thought of Draco, from his third glimpse. He was so gentle, and so fragile. So much different than the Draco he knew. He had to remind himself of his own Draco, smiling at the memories they shared over the years. Always meddling with all types of magic, never doing their Auror paper work, always fantasizing about what they could be doing instead.
Then he thought of Ginny, with her light red hair and bright brown eyes, glowing skin with her pregnancy. She resembled his Ginny greatly, he could barely tell them apart. He knew she could make him happy, she would be playing it safe. Being with her, he was guaranteed a lifetime of ease and control.
He heard voices downstairs, it was almost time to face his family and friends. All the embarrassment, all the questions, all at once. He had taken a long day to be alone and think about what he had learned. He didn't feel ready to face them all yet, but he knew he had to eventually.
He pulled a black soft t-shirt over his head, played with his hair but knew it was useless, and he even left his facial hair which had been growing in rather thick. He pulled a medium blue pair of jeans over his legs and closed his eyes. He was going to see his family again.
He had made his mind his mind.
He put his hand on the doorknob, and stood there another moment. He didn't even know why he was so nervous, but then again... He did know why.
