Chapter Thirteen – Spring's New Birth, Summer's Love
Fleur was radiant, and a soft glow seemed to almost surround her as the time for the baby's birth approached. Bill was a nervous wreck for weeks as he doted on her, doing nearly everything except going to work for her. Apparently curse-breaking was a stroll on the beach compared with impending fatherhood.
The big day finally arrived. Ginny had kept Fleur on her watch constantly, and knew right away when she and Bill were on the way to St. Mungo's. She tracked Harry down, and they got to the hospital shortly after the expecting parents. The Weasley clan trickled in as word spread, along with Fleur's parents and sister, Gabrielle, who was happy for the get out of school for a couple of days free card.
Victoire Weasley was introduced to her extended family a few hours later. With strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and toothless grin, she promptly stole the hearts of everyone in both families. Harry mostly stayed out of the way, and watched his family while they all doted on the adorable little baby and competed with each other for some time with the little charmer.
He knew that after a few days - a week or two at the most - everyone else would get back to their lives, and he could then take advantage of his unemployed status to get to know his precious little niece. Ginny came up to him and put her arms around his waist.
"Plotting your moves for the battle of the baby?" she teased him, and Harry laughed.
"Oh, I've already won that - the rest of you just don't know it yet," he told her confidently. She gave him a kiss, and let him go again.
"Then I guess I'd better get back in there and win a skirmish or two before the war's over," she answered, and Harry smiled and watched as his fiery haired wife proceeded to do that.
There were baby showers that followed, and more help and advice than either Bill or Fleur wanted, but eventually things calmed down, and as Harry had known, everything got back to normal. He took Teddy to see Victoire a few weeks after she'd been home. Once the novelty had worn off, though, the little boy was decidedly unimpressed with the tiny little Witch.
"She can't do nuffin, Unca Harry," he told Harry with a grumpy little frown on his face.
"You were that tiny once too," Harry told him, and Teddy looked at him skeptically. "Honest, Teddy. Everybody starts out that small." The little boy thought about that for a few seconds until some of Victoire's baby toys distracted him, and he went off to play, both the baby and his conversation with Harry forgotten.
Fleur was tolerant of Harry's transparent, simple plan. She took full advantage of the willing babysitter, enjoyed the little treats and gifts he outrageously bribed her with as excuses to come spend time with the baby, and she occasionally let Harry take Victoire for a morning or afternoon outing that gave her time to attend to other things.
Harry may have been spending a lot of time with Teddy and being wrapped around Victoire's little baby finger, but he was also working on some special projects with different people. He had Hermione put a team together to work on a special project for him at the lab, and he worked with Mrs. Weasley on picking out and setting up houses for George and Marietta, and Percy and Penelope. He had to start planning for a first anniversary surprise for Ginny, and a certain Godson's second birthday.
Teddy's birthday was in the middle of the week this year, so Harry picked him up in the morning, and they spent the day together while Andromeda was busy teaching. They went into London in the morning, and then they met Ginny, Hermione, and Ron in Chudley for lunch, where Teddy opened his presents. Ron gave him an official Cannon's uniform, Hermione got him a new childrens book, and Harry and Ginny gave him a Hogwart's Express train set.
When lunch was finished, Harry and Teddy spent the afternoon back at Hogwarts setting up train tracks, a miniature Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and King's Cross station. Once they had everything ready, and Teddy had helped the tiny little students into the train, Harry watched with delight as the little boy sent the train down the track. An hour or so of play later, and Harry was finally able to pick up an exhausted little boy and put him down for a nap, his little train held tightly to his chest.
On May second, Harry and Ginny got up early, met with the rest of their family at the Burrow, and then went on to Hogwarts, getting there just before sunrise, and walking from the gates to the Memorial Stone. There seemed to be fewer visitors there that early, but the grounds were open all day, and there would certainly be lots of Witches and Wizards stopping by to commemorate the second anniversary of the end of the war.
They stayed for about a half hour, talking quietly together about Fred, Remus, Tonks, Colin, and their other friends. There were a few laughs, more than a few tears, and a lot of hugs and kisses as they embraced other friends who joined them to pay their respects. After leaving Hogwarts, they all went back to the Burrow for breakfast, glad to have another hour or so together before it was time to split up again and get back to their own lives.
Harry and Ginny were pretty busy in May. They went to Hogwarts to watch Gryffindor win their game against Ravenclaw, clinching the second Quidditch Cup in a row for their House. Dennis had played an amazing game, but so had Demelza. They'd both really impressed the Chudley Cannons scout, who had both of them signed to Professional Quidditch contracts before the week was out.
The Chudley Cannon's last game of the season was at home, and the stadium was sold out for the match against the Wigtown Wanderers. The Cannon's weren't going to make the playoffs, but a win today would give them a ten-win, ten-loss season. The Cannons played a great match, and Ron only allowed four goals, but the Wanderers' Seeker caught the snitch in the third hour, giving the Wigtown team the win with a score of one hundred and ninety to one hundred and sixty. Ron was disappointed after the game, but everyone else soon had him cheered up.
"Just wait until next season," Harry told him. "With Dennis as your new Seeker, I think you guys are going to clean up."
"Don't forget about Demelza," Ginny told the boys. "She set a new record for most goals scored in one season by a Chaser at Hogwarts. With Ron in goal, and Dennis at Seeker, you're going to make a pretty great combination."
Ron laughed. "Demelza got all of those goals because Dennis gave her lots of time in the games to score them. Maybe if you had a nice boyfriend when you were playing like she does, you could have scored a lot of goals too, but no - SuperSeeker here had to finish games in seven seconds instead of giving you a chance to score some goals first. And I didn't forget about Demelza - the Cannon's are just as excited about getting her on our team as we are about getting Dennis signed up."
Ginny playfully punched Harry in the arm. "Yeah, Harry, why didn't I have a nice boyfriend like Demelza does? Maybe I could've been a scoring champion like she is now." They all laughed when Harry pretended to be hurt, and Ginny hugged and kissed him. "It's alright," Ginny told him soothingly. "I think I'll keep you anyway."
Percy and Penelope got married the second weekend in June. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley showed them their new London townhouse, which was fairly close to the Ministry of Magic, on the weekend before the wedding and they both loved the new home that Mrs. Weasley and Fleur had been working on getting ready for the newlyweds over the past few months.
The wedding was held at a hotel in London. There were many guests from the Ministry attending, and Penelope had a large family too, so it was by far the biggest wedding Harry had been to, though since he hadn't been to many weddings, that probably wasn't that big of a deal. The ceremony was formal and dignified. Percy and Penelope were certainly not as demonstrative about their affections as the rest of the Weasleys, but it was also obvious that they did love each other, and were very happy.
Harry and Ginny enjoyed the dinner, dancing, and time with their friends and family. Harry could have lived without the political discussions that seem unavoidable when you put too many government bureaucrats in one place at the same time, and he was glad that Ginny would regularly come and rescue him from those discussions whenever she saw that he was being cornered by Witches or Wizards who wanted nothing more than to try and take advantage of Harry's popularity to advance some pointless cause of theirs, or even just to be able to throw his name out later to their friends and co-workers.
On Monday, July third, Harry woke up early and slipped out of bed without waking Ginny. He had a smile stuck on his face that he couldn't get rid of while he made breakfast for her. When she came downstairs, he had everything ready. When she saw the table decorated and breakfast ready, she stopped just inside the doorway. Harry walked over, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her.
"Happy Anniversary, Ginny. Would you like to have breakfast or open your present first?" He led her to the table, not needing her to answer the question. Ginny tried for about ten excruciating seconds to carefully unwrap the gift before giving in to desire and curiosity and ripping the paper and ribbons off of the box. Carefully, she lifted the beautiful fairy castle made of crystal and glass from inside, and studied the amazing colour and detail.
"It's wonderful" she breathed softly, not taking her eyes from it. There was a princess with flowing gown and flaming red hair watching from a slender tower as her knight in shining armour stood in the courtyard, with sword and shield fighting a golden dragon that seemed to hover suspended in the air above him, wings in mid-sweep. Ginny carefully set the exquisite piece on the table, and wrapped her arms around Harry.
"Thank-you so much," she told him quietly. "I absolutely love it." She laughed a little as she wiped a tear from her cheek. "I love you quite a bit too," she added with a smile.
"I'm certainly glad to hear that," Harry told her. Ginny handed him his present, and laughed as he skipped his usual careful unwrapping of presents, and instead quickly tore the paper off. There was a small leather-bound case inside of a box, and Ginny was smiling expectantly as he opened it. There was a pair of gold-rimmed glasses inside, and Harry took his old glasses off, and tried the new pair on.
"They're unbreakable," Ginny told him. "The lenses can never break, and even if the frames get bent, they'll just go right back to their original shape."
"They're brilliant," Harry told her, sharing another hug with her. "Thank-you. Hermione is going to love all of the time she'll save not having to fix my glasses anymore," he added. They both laughed, he kissed her again, and then he sat her down and served breakfast.
Ginny and Hermione took the day off, and Ron was in the off-season between the end of the season and the start of training camp. The two couples had decided to spend the morning shopping in London, followed by an afternoon, home time, morning, island time, playing on the jet skis, swimming in the lagoon, and relaxing at the beach on their private little piece of paradise. They ended the day with a quiet dinner for four back at Harry and Ginny's, served by Kreacher and Winky.
Near the end of July, Harry stopped in to see Hermione at the lab. "Is the project ready to go?" he asked her.
"Everything's worked out, Harry, but we won't know for sure if it'll work or not until we try," she told him, and Harry smiled at her. Even now, after all of her successes at school, in the war, and at the lab, and Hermione still never seemed quite comfortable with her own brilliance.
"I have faith in you," Harry assured her. "Just think of what it'll mean for so many people if we're successful." They talked about the last details of their little surprise, and then Harry was off again – this time to go spend an afternoon playing with Teddy. He knew it was a tough job, but somebody had to do it.
Harry arrived at St. Mungo's just before nine in the morning. He made his way to the room where Neville's parents had been staying for the past nearly eighteen years. Neville and his grandmother were there already, as Harry knew they would be. Neville came here every year on his birthday to be with them. When he walked in, Neville looked up at him, and smiled.
"'Morning, Harry. What brings you here today?" Harry smiled back at his friend, and nodded to his grandmother.
"You mean besides your birthday?" Harry asked. Neville laughed a little, but that sad look Harry always saw in his eyes when Neville was here with his parents remained. Harry pulled a chair up in front of Neville and looked for a few moments at his mother and father in their beds.
"Neville, I've had Hermione and a team of her researchers working on a special project for the last several months - something that will hopefully be a pretty cool birthday present for you." He took a breath and continued. "We won't know for sure if what we want to do will work until we try, but we think we have a way to heal your parents." Neville and his grandmother both just stared at Harry in astonishment.
"I don't want to get your hopes up, Neville, but if you're willing to let us, and we'd want both of you to help, we'd like to try this morning - right now - and find out if we can help them."
Neville looked from Harry to his Grandmother, and after a moment, she nodded slightly. "What you want to try can't hurt them, can it?" Neville asked.
"No it can't," Harry assured his friend. Neville's voice was shaking.
"You think it can bring them back to us?" he asked next, and Harry nodded.
"I think we can," Harry agreed. "I think if anyone can do it, Hermione can." Neville took a deep breath and nodded to himself.
"Let's try it then," he decided. "What do Gran and I have to do?" Harry looked up at the doorway, and nodded to Ginny, who had been waiting there to find out whether Neville and his Grandmother were willing to let them try this. She ducked out into the hall, and a moment later, Hermione came in with several Healers from her team, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Luna. Hermione took time to teach the power-sharing spells they would need to Neville and his Grandmother, and then quietly explained to them what they would all be doing.
"Harry will be the focus wizard for us. The Healers will guide him and monitor our progress." She looked around at them. "The rest of us are here not just to combine our power with Harry's, but because we all love Neville and his parents. We think that this love will make a difference - make our magic stronger. Is everyone ready?" They all nodded. "Let's begin."
Harry closed his eyes and cleared his mind as Hermione had taught him. He opened his mind to the others, and felt their magic start to join with his as each Witch and Wizard, wand in hand, incanted the spells that sent pure magical force flowing to Harry. It was an amazing feeling as power and love flowed into him and filled him up to overflowing.
He reached out with his mind to Neville's parents, and felt the solid walls they had built to protect their minds from the unspeakable pain that had been inflicted on them. Harry released the first spell that Hermione had taught him, and surrounded those walls with a gentle, yet overwhelming power never before tried in healing. Hermione had spent hours instructing Harry, and the Healers began guiding him, but Harry seemed to instinctively know what to do, and he was soon working faster than they were able to keep pace with.
The magical force he was using was far beyond anything that any Healer had been able to use before, and they soon began to just monitor what he was doing in a slightly awed silence. Harry was aware of the others, but was completely focused on what he was supposed to do.
He silently invoked the second spell that Hermione had invented, which began drawing all of the pain and fear out of their patients, and the walls crumbled. Harry silently fired the next spell off and supported their fragile minds with the love and power flowing through him and then he used Hermione's last spell, wielding the magic to heal their damaged minds. When he was finished, Harry carefully pulled his mind away from theirs, seeing their minds both expand and blossom to life again.
Harry opened his eyes, and looked at the two patients. He watched as Neville's father, and then his mother opened their eyes - both of them healed and whole, if very disoriented and weak. Neville went to his mother first, tears streaming down his face, while his grandmother went to his father. Harry and the others all stepped back across the room while Neville and his grandmother spoke quietly with Alice and Frank, trying to gently bring them up to date, and explain what had happened to them.
Having a grown up son instead of the infant they'd left behind was likely the biggest shock for them. Hermione was getting quiet congratulations from the others, and the three Healers were excitedly talking about how they could use this to heal other chronic patients. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to sit with Neville's parents after a while, and Neville came over to them, giving Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Harry big hugs.
"You guys did it!" he told them. "Thank-you. After all these years I never thought I would ever get them back again."
Hermione smiled at him through her tears. "You're welcome, Neville. Happy birthday." He hugged her again, and then took Luna's hand.
"Come on, and I'll introduce you to your in-laws to be," he told her.
The last of the bachelor Weasleys fell the second weekend in September, after the back to school rush, and before the first Hogsmeade weekend. Harry and Ginny had gone along with Mum and Dad to show them their new house in Hogsmeade – one of the first in a new housing project that Molly was developing on the outskirts of town. They loved the place, and that they'd be close to Lee and Cho. The couple wanted a small wedding, so just their immediate families, and a few friends like Lee and Cho were in attendance.
There may not have been many people, but the wedding was certainly exciting and fun. There were fireworks that went off after the 'You may kiss the bride' part of the ceremony, and George and Lee had cooked up a new line of wedding party favours that kept the guests jumping and laughing all through dinner. George and Marietta visited with everyone for a while after dinner, and then thanked everyone for sharing their special day with them, and left on their honeymoon.
That seemed to be the family's official end of summer event. The kids were back in school at Hogwarts, and now that the wedding was over, it was back to work for nearly everyone in the family. The Cannons' season opener was a week away, and while the family might be done with weddings and new babies for a little while, there was still a lot going on to keep things exciting and fun.