Disclaimer: Yet still i own nothing
Chapter 5: In Loving Memory
"Hello Love" said Ginny as she walked up behind Harry where he was working at his desk. "What memory are you working on?"
"Our Wedding" he said looking back over his shoulder at her. "That was a great day. Watching you walk towards me, hair shining around your face and shoulders and a single white oriental lily behind your left ear. You know after you fell asleep that night I found that lily on the floor and put an ever-bloom charm on it. Then I stuck it in a memory box. I still have it on my desk at work….Silly hunh."
"No. Its sweet" said Ginny with a small smile that suggested she was lost in a memory. "You are such a romantic….Wait a minute, is that what that lily is? I thought it was a reminder of your mother since you don't have a lot of pictures of her."
"No…It's a reminder of one of the best days of my life. A reminder of what is worth fighting and living for. You know as well as I do that being an Auror is a high stress, high danger job that shows you nothing but the worst of humanity. Without a tether to the good in this world, I would have burned out long ago on all of the horrors I have seen, but you are my sunshine. You and Teddy and James and Albus and Lily, you keep me from getting mired down in the muck."
"And the twins… don't forget the twins" said Ginny barely holding in a smile.
"Twins?"
"Oh, did I forget to mention I am pregnant again?"
All of a sudden, she was in his arms spinning around the room. "So Lily is staying at Ron's tonight. I was thinking maybe we could celebrate," said Ginny breathlessly not even trying to hold in her grin.
"What did you have in mind?"
Later that night….
"So we had better hope that those 2 come out boys," said Harry.
"Oh why is that?"
"Because we have to name them and we don't have a lot of great options left for girls, if we are sticking to the tradition of honoring the dead. The only girls I can think of are Marlene McKinnon, Nymphadora Tonks, Alice Longbottom, and if we skip over the fact that she is still alive, Minerva McGonagall. I don't really fancy any of those names do you?"
"No not particularly."
"But I was thinking if they are boys…What do you think of Sirius Alaster and Colin Fredrick, in honor of Sirius Black, Alaster Moody, Colin Creevey, and Fred Weasley."
"I think those names are perfect, unfortunately we still have to come up with girl names."
"Somehow I foresee this causing more problems than using the name Severus."
"I still maintain that making sure Snape was awarded an Order of Merlin was enough. I mean you hated each other. Besides, I don't think he would appreciate it as much as the medal. But I let it go because it meant so much to you" said Ginny.
"It was Potter's idea?" asked a shocked Snape. "How did we miss that?"
"Well they do have a tendency to discuss things in bed," said Lily with a slight smirk.
"Which I believe is how they got in this position in the first place," said Tonks with a smile.
"And on that note… as I think we know what they are going to be doing for the next couple of hours anyone else feel like fast forwarding to morning?" asked Remus.
"Hold on a minute, they seem to be heading back into the study. I think we missed something in all the yammering," said Moody.
"So I was thinking about what we should do tonight…" started Ginny.
"I have a few ideas," said Harry.
"Yeah, I know all about your ideas Mr. Potter and while I am sure that will happen again tonight I had thought a nice trip down the good parts of memory lane would be fun also," said a hesitant Ginny.
"I don't know Gin there is not much in my life that I would enjoy reliving and the parts I would enjoy reliving you lived through with me," said Harry.
"You have always felt that the only part of you that was worth anything was me and I have always known that you were wrong. So I thought I would show you what I see when I look at you" cajoled Ginny. She wrapped her arms around her husband and leaned into him. "I have a confession to make," said Ginny. "I have been reading the book when you weren't around. Moreover, while it is very well written, I couldn't help but notice a few things. Like the fact that you have written it in 3rd person as if to distance yourself from the memories, which could possibly be just a way to make the story easier to write, but is also appears to the reader that the author is not particularly fond of the subject and that worries me more than I can say. So I thought looking at the life you have led from another perspective might help."
"Ginny…"
"No Harry. I want to do this and you will do it with me or face my wrath," she said with a smile though not entirely kidding.
"Alright love, whatever you want," he said after a long pause.
"That's better… now where to start?" she said as if thinking aloud. "Ah yes, I think this one is the perfect place to begin." She put her wand to her temple and withdrew the memory she wanted and placed it within the pensieve.
"Are we going to get in and see what they are looking at or stand here staring at their bums?" asked Fred.
They were standing at the side of a stage that was erected in front of what used to be Malfoy Manor. There was a huge crowd of people and Harry was making his way across the stage to the center before speaking.
"First I would like to welcome you all to the dedication ceremony of the Fred Weasley Memorial Hospital and the House of Phoenix Tears. When I first got the idea for these interconnected buildings and organizations, I was standing over the grave of my dear friend Fred. A man I had long considered a brother. That is when I heard a woman talking about how her family had lost everything in the war. Only to realize that what she was talking about were material possessions. I could no longer stand there in front of the grave of a 19 year old and listen to her talk about her ruined house. However as I approached the graves of my friends Remus Lupin and his wife and her father, I noticed her mother kneeling in the grass holding her grandson and crying soundlessly over the graves of her entire family. I realized that this was a woman whose entire world had been turned upside down by this war. The remnants of a family that had desperately needed healing, comfort, and a safe place to stay. The more I thought about Andromeda Tonks the more I realized that she symbolized the country's current state. Her family was divided straight down the line in this war. Her sisters and their families were both Death Eaters but her husband was muggle-born and her daughter and son-in-law were members of the Order of the Phoenix. She lost everyone on both sides of the war. That is the situation our country is in. The war pitted family members against each other, to kill each other, out of fear, hate, and ignorance. I realized at that second, exactly what this country needed most was healing, comfort, and safety and I desperately wanted to make it possible. It took the vision and sacrifice of many to get us to this point but here it is the first free wizarding hospital and connected safe house for witches and wizards who have nowhere else to go. So without further ado I give you the Fred Weasley Memorial Hospital and the House of Phoenix Tears."