Aboard the Hogwarts Express back to school, Harry was sitting beside Ginny watching her play with Ember. They had considered spending several more hours alone at Grimmauld Place before apparating back to Hogwarts, instead of taking the train, but decided it might be good to have the time on the train to get used to being around people again. They were sitting in a compartment with Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Neville.
"Oy, Harry," Ron said, interrupting Harry's thoughts. "Would you stop looking at my baby sister like you've seen her naked? Its disturbing."
"But that's the point Ronald," Ginny said cheekily. "He has seen me naked."
"I know, but I'd prefer not to be reminded of it," Ron said irritably.
"How should I look at her?" Harry asked, amused.
"Like a dear old friend," Ron said, "whom you've never seen naked."
"Never gonna happen," Neville interjected. "They're married now, that's just how he looks at her. Not a thing you can do about it."
Everyone looked in surprise at Neville, who shrugged and said, "Haven't you noticed? Married people look at each other in a certain way. Like they know what the other is thinking at all times and like they know all each other's secrets."
Harry and Ginny shared a smile at this point, thinking about the week they'd just spent and Neville said, "See, just like that."
"I think it's sweet," Hermione said happily as she watched her friends.
"How was your honeymoon?" Luna asked dreamily.
"Perfect," Ginny sighed.
"Where did you go?" Neville asked.
"We went to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands," Harry said. "Kingsley lent us his family's beach house there."
"It was beautiful," Ginny said.
"Do you have pictures?" Hermione asked.
"No," Harry said. "We didn't remember to bring a camera."
"Did you do any sight seeing?" Ron asked.
"None," Harry said. "We spent almost the entire week on the beach."
"Almost the entire week?" Ron asked.
"Well it rained one day and we spent most of that day in bed…I mean, inside," Ginny said, purposely trying to get a reaction out of Ron.
Ron was very purposely staring at his shoe and pretending he hadn't heard Ginny. Harry, on the other hand, flushed and said, "Gin, that's not true, we didn't spend all day in bed."
"You're right," Ginny said with a sly grin at her husband. "There was the couch and the bathtub too…"
"Enough," Ron bellowed,. "I do not want to hear about all the places you two shagged on your honeymoon."
Hermione, Luna, and Neville snickered at Ron's discomfort as Ginny turned to Harry and innocently asked, "I wasn't talking about shagging, were you Harry?"
At this moment, Ron plugged his ears with his fingers and sang, "La la la, I can't hear you."
"Lighten up, Ron," Ginny scolded. "You'd think after all the teasing you and everyone gave us over Christmas, you could stand be teased yourself."
"I agree," Luna interjected. "You and Hermione are so public about your love life; I'm surprised you can't stomach to hear about your sister's."
"What do you mean by public, Luna?" Hermione asked nervously.
"Well, I assume that since you shagged in the large flowing bush just below Ravenclaw Tower during the first week of school, that you're comfortable with sharing your love publically," Luna said.
"Ronald," Hermione hissed, "you told me that no one could see us in there."
"I'm sure no one on the ground could see you, but we had quite an excellent view in Ravenclaw Tower," Luna said. As everyone besides Hermione and Ron was too busy laughing to comment, Luna continued, "If it is any consolation, it looked like Ronald was quite skilled at what he was doing."
Hermione lowered her flaming face into her hands and moaned, "Oh no!"
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
When they arrived back at Hogwarts, Headmistress McGonagall was waiting for the four head students in the entry hall. "I'm here to show you to your updated head's dorms," she explained. They followed her up to the same hallway where one of the doors now read, "The Potters." She opened the door for them and explained how to change the password to one of their own choosing. "Your suite now contains just one bedroom, but it is substantially larger than the bedrooms you had before. Additionally, there is a small kitchen in your suite to allow you to dine privately from time to time if you so wish. It will be kept stocked by the same house elves that clean your suites. The panel that opened between the head dorms before has been removed. If the four of you want to meet, you have to do it in one dorm or the other. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger will need to be invited into your suite. I will leave you to explore your new home in private."
Harry and Ginny ducked into the dorm and, before they closed the door behind them, heard McGonagall say, "I will escort the two of you into your suite. There are several rules we need to go over in regard to the two of you living together in light of your relationship."
Harry and Ginny dropped their bags just inside the door and moved further into the suite. The overall feel of the room was much the same as it had been previously. It was a cozy stone room decorated in red and gold like the Gryffindor common room was. The sitting area was arranged around a large stone fireplace. The study area was different though. Previously, the wall there had opened into the other dorm room. Now a large cork board occupied this wall and their desks, which faced each other, butted up against it. The door for the bedroom was next to the fireplace and another door for the bathroom was several feet down, closer to where they had come in and beside the small kitchen that was placed where the second bedroom had been previously. The kitchen had a large box like a fridge that magically kept the food cold since the castle had no electricity. There was also a small stove similar to the one in the Burrow's kitchen as well as several cupboards with dishes and cooking implements. A table with 4 chairs was just outside the kitchen area.
"Ready to see where we'll be sleeping for the next 6 months, Mr. Potter?" Ginny asked seductively, carefully putting emphasis on the word 'sleeping' as if that was the last thing they'd ever spend doing within.
"Can't wait, Mrs. Potter," Harry said, as he dropped a kiss on her neck. She spun then and he put his hands on her hips, letting her lead the way.
The bedroom was not what either had expected, but at the same time, amazingly perfect. There was a large stone fireplace on one wall which was cracking merrily and warming up the rest of the large room. In front of the fireplace were two plush armchairs with a small table in between them. There was a long dresser against one wall and upon it were many framed photos, including some from their wedding. The large bed was flanked by a nightstand on either side. All the furniture was made of a light colored wood. The bedding, armchairs and curtains were all in hues of light blue or aqua and carpet was white. Over the fireplace hung a large picture of what appeared to be the beach they stayed on in Fuerteventura and balanced on the mantle, like back at Grimmauld Place, was a large glass jar filled with white sand and seashells.
"This room looks like the master bedroom at the beach house," Ginny said excitedly. "It's perfect."
"I like the idea of being reminded of our honeymoon for the rest of the school year," Harry said.
"Me too," Ginny practically purred. "Care to reenact some of the scenes right now?"
"You know I would love to," Harry said, as he resisted being dragged toward the bed by his arm. "But you know that if we skip the first dinner back at school to break in our new bed, the teasing will just be worse tomorrow."
"True," Ginny pouted. "But you better bring your A-game tonight mister."
"Oh, I intend to," Harry said, as he finally let Ginny pull him onto the bed with her. He snuggled close to her and kissed her scorchingly, a little preview for later that evening.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
They made their way down to dinner with Ron and Hermione after touring each others' dorm rooms. As soon as the four of them entered the Great Hall, the room grew nearly silent for a moment before they roar of voices doubled. As they made their way across the back of the hall to the Gryffindor table, lots of people called out to the newly married couple. Many offered their congratulations but several others were using this opportunity to tease the couple.
"Potter's back from his honeymoon, guess he finally became a real man," one voice at the Slytherin table called.
"Doubt it," another voice answered, "I should show his wife what a real man is."
A feminine voice scoffed then and added, "Only if I can show him what a real woman is."
Harry saw Ginny's jaw tighten in response to the calls around them. He grasped her hand and squeezed it then. "It's okay," Harry whispered. "Just ignore them."
Similar comments followed them all the way to their table. As they settled at the table, they breathed a sigh of relief, believing the comments wouldn't come from students in their own house; they were wrong.
"Harry, you got Ginny knocked up yet?" Seamus called from down the table.
"Ginny," Lavendar called from the other direction, "I want to hear about every single tiny detail from your honeymoon, or maybe the most important detail wasn't so tiny."
"We should have stayed in our room." Ginny hissed.
Harry didn't have time to respond because, at that moment, a large barn owl dropped a basket on the table in front of them. Ron and Hermione were holding back their laughter as Ginny stared open mouthed at the contents of the basket. Harry picked up the card attached to the handle of the basket to see who had sent them an embarrassingly large supply of both muggle and magical contraceptives. He read quietly so only Ginny could hear, "Dearest Harry and Ginny, Welcome home from your honeymoon. We hope you had some real mattress shaking fun while you were away. We wanted to make sure that you were well prepared to prevent the arrival of any Potter-Weasley spawn too early. Please accept this gift as a belated wedding present. Love, Your Favorite Brothers, Charlie and George."
"I will kill them," Ginny raged.
"Gin," Harry said quickly, "I know that this is embarrassing but we have to just grin and bear it. If we let everyone see how much this affects us, we won't hear the end of it for the rest of the year."
"You're absolutely right," Ginny said.
"So, I'm just going to move this basket and we're going to eat our dinner…," Harry began.
Ginny rose from the table, ignoring Harry, grabbed the basket in one hand and took one of his hands in her free hand and pulled him toward the entry hall. Harry stumbled a bit trying to keep up with her and asked, "Gin, what's going on?"
She stopped, pulling him in for a kiss in full view of everyone before saying, "Showing everyone just how much we aren't embarrassed by all of this." Catching her meaning, he grinned at her and kissed her again before they left the Great Hall, clearly in a hurry to get back to their room.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Back in their room, Ginny left the basket on the table near the kitchen and pulled Harry toward their bedroom, "Time to try out that new bed," she suggested.
Harry's stomach growled loudly and he asked, "Can we eat some dinner first?"
"Fine," Ginny said shortly, as she began to back away.
"Gin," Harry said, as he pulled her back toward him. "It's not that I don't want to, but unless I get some dinner, I'm going to be distracted the whole time thinking about how hungry I am."
"Maybe I should have let you finish your dinner before dragging you out of the Great Hall," Ginny admitted. "I just let my embarrassment get the best of me. I just had to get out of there."
"I understand," Harry said, as he put a pan on the stove and cracked several eggs into it.
"What are you making?" Ginny asked.
"Scrambled eggs," Harry said. "It's the quickest meal I could think of."
"Enough for two?" Ginny asked sheepishly, as her stomach growled as well.
"Of course," Harry said happily.
"Thanks," Ginny said with a smile.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Harry had reached the point of unhooking Ginny's bra when a sharp urgent knocking could be heard on the outside door of their dorm. "Just ignore it," Ginny urged, as she deftly reached around and unhooked the bra herself.
"Hey, I was getting to that," Harry protested. "What if its something important?"
"How important could it be, it's the first night back after break?" Ginny asked. "Whatever it is, can wait until tomorrow." To draw his attention back to her, Ginny slipped a hand into his boxer shorts.
Harry groaned and was nearly ready to forget whoever was knocking when they shouted, "Harry Potter, I know you're in there."
"Damn," Ginny said, as she pulled on a bathrobe and threw another to Harry. He pulled it on as he ran toward the door. He stopped to securely belt his robe before pulling open the door to find Noah on the other side.
"Harry," Noah said, looking anxious. "Grab your things; we need you on a mission, tonight."
"Tonight?" Harry asked. "It's the first night back after break."
"I know Harry and I'm sure you want to be here with your wife, but if I'm being honest we could have used you last week but were under orders from Kingsley not to disturb you until tonight. Now, quickly, we have to go. You have ten minutes and I'll come back to collect you."
In the bedroom, Ginny was crying quietly as she packed clothing into a bag for him. He hated to see her cry. Unlike a lot of girls, Ginny didn't cry much, something he appreciated about her very much. This time, he understood her tears though; he hadn't thought they'd have to spend time apart from each other so soon after the wedding. He grabbed his invisibility cloak, field journal, quill, ink, and the moke skin pouch and thrust them at her. She stuffed them into the bag roughly and said, "Now, make love to me, quickly."
Harry didn't question whether or not they had enough time, he simply obeyed. Eight and a half minutes later, he was pulling on discarded clothing that littered their bedroom floor. Ginny brought him his new watch and the dog tags. Still naked, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. "Be careful," she whispered.
"I will," he whispered back. "I'm sorry I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I know," Ginny said. "Just be careful and remember that I love you."
"I love you, too," Harry said. He bent to kiss her and, as their lips met, Noah knocked on the door again. Reluctantly, he drew back from Ginny and, with a sad smile, picked up his wand as he headed to the door.
Ginny closed the bedroom door and listened as Harry spoke to Noah and then closed the door behind him. She didn't even know how long he was going to be gone for. She gathered the clothing on the floor and dropped them into a laundry basket. From the dresser, she pulled a tee shirt and pajama pants of Harry's out and pulled them on. Over them, she pulled on his bathrobe and breathed in his familiar scent. She looked around the bedroom and wondered what she should do now. Her glance fell upon the rumpled bedspread and knew that she would go crazy if she sat alone in their bedroom all night. She pulled her own dog tags out and put them around her neck before picking up some yarn and needles and heading out to the sitting area. It was as she sat staring at her yarn, wondering what to knit, when she noticed the basket of contraceptives from her brothers that she realized that she hadn't seen Harry use any kind of protection.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Harry fell into his camp bed at the headquarters well after midnight. He was exhausted, but his first thought was to let Ginny know that he was okay. Feeling sure that she would be asleep in their bed, he sent the message anyway knowing that she would get it in the morning and be relieved. He pointed his wand and wrote, "Gin, I'm okay. Shouldn't be away for more than two or three days. Sorry for the quick departure. Love you. Harry."
He settled himself more comfortably in his bed and closed his eyes. Even though they hadn't been married for two whole weeks yet, it felt wrong to go to sleep without her beside him. He breathed slowly, willing himself to relax and sleep. He had to be up for his watch with Noah at six, it would not be wise to lay awake all night. Then his dog tags burned against his chest. He pulled them out and read, "Harry, Thanks for letting me know you are safe. It'll be a long couple of days without you. Be safe, please. Love, Ginny."
"Can I ask a favor of you?" Harry quickly wrote back.
"Of course," Ginny replied.
"If I'm not back in time for DADA, will you and Hermione instruct the class with the notes in my bag?" Harry asked.
"No problem, what'll we be teaching?" Ginny asked.
"I was going to do a review lesson on everything we covered just before break," Harry wrote back.
"Sounds good. Can I ask you a question?" Ginny asked.
"Certainly," Harry replied.
"Did you manage to use any sort of contraceptive while I wasn't looking?" Ginny wrote.
There was a long pause then and Ginny could have laughed imagining Harry stressing out over her question if she wasn't so worried about the answer herself. Finally he replied saying, "Merlin, Gin. In the heat of the moment, I didn't remember."
"It's okay, Harry. Which ever way things turn out, it'll be okay." Ginny wrote back.
"How long until you know?" Harry asked.
"About two weeks," Ginny replied.
"I'm so sorry, Gin. I can't believe I forgot," Harry wrote.
"I didn't remember either. As much as I'm not ready to have a baby, how could one born out of so much love be bad? Its okay," Ginny replied.
After a bit more conversation via the dog tags, both decided they'd better try to get some sleep before their busy schedules the next day.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The next morning, Ginny woke early and fixed herself breakfast in their dorm. She hadn't slept well. The combined factors of worrying over a possible pregnancy and Harry's absence had kept her tossing and turning all night long. She was crabby and tired and knew that going down to breakfast alone on this first morning would just make her feel worse. The last thing she needed was people speculating about why she was alone.
Ginny made her way to her first class and tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone. She knew she was going to have to answer the questions eventually, but the longer she could put it off, the better. She settled at the table she and Harry shared in Charms and put all her focus into pulling her things out of her bag. When Professor Flitwick took his spot at the front of the class, he saved her the trouble of having to answer the question over and over by asking, "Mrs. Potter, where is your husband?"
"Out on an Auror mission since last night. He should be back in two or three days," Ginny explained.
"Very well. Let's get on with our lesson for today, shall we?" He said.
The lesson seemed to pass very slowly, she could feel Ron and Hermione's eyes boring into the back of her head, just waiting for the end of the lesson to ask subsequent questions. Thankfully, as they were learning something brand new today there was no time for a practical lesson and she didn't have to endure being paired up with someone else for the duration of the lesson. When the bell rang, she gathered her things and quickly left the room. Ron and Hermione were right on her tail though.
"Ginny," Ron called. "Wait up."
Despite preferring not to discuss it, Ginny slowed down and let them catch up with her.
"When did Harry leave?" Hermione asked.
"Last night right after we ate dinner up in our room," Ginny said. "Noah turned up and gave him ten minutes to be ready to leave."
"Why didn't you come tell us last night?" Hermione asked worriedly. "You could have hung out with us in our room."
"I wasn't really in the best mood to spend time with other people," Ginny explained.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked.
"I'm fine," Ginny said, but a slight catch in her voice gave away the fact that she was anything but fine.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked.
"No," Ginny said. "And besides, we have class."
"Actually, this is a free period," Ron said.
"Oh, right," Ginny said distractedly.
"Let's go up to your dorm, I'll make you some tea and you can tell me all about it," Hermione said.
"Okay," Ginny conceded, then with a quick look at her brother added, "Ron, would you be offended if I just talked to Hermione about this?"
Knowing his sister well enough to see how close to tears she was, Ron knew Hermione would deal with this better than he could and, in relief, said, "No, that's fine. But if you need anything, I'll be right next door."
Hermione settled Ginny on the couch and went into their small kitchen to make tea. When she returned, she just waited for Ginny to speak.
"I'm not sure I can be married to an Auror. Just the thought of him being out there in harm's way makes me panic. I always thought I was such a tough girl, but suddenly I'm not. It's like getting married to him added this whole other level to things and now I'm more terrified than ever of losing him. There is a part of me that is one hundred percent certain that, now that he is mine forever, I'm going to lose him," Ginny rattled off, wiping away tears the entire time.
"Breathe, Ginny," Hermione said.
"I can't. I'm too panicked. If he doesn't come back, I'll be alone. I'll have to do this all alone," Ginny said.
"Do what?" Hermione asked in confusion.
Realizing what she had inadvertently revealed to Hermione, Ginny shook her head and said, "What? No, nothing."
"You said that you would have to do this all alone?" Hermione said. "What did you mean by that?"
"Just that I'd have to live the rest of my life, alone," Ginny tried.
"No, that's not it," Hermione pushed.
Ginny huffed in annoyance and said, "When Noah came to the door last night, we'd been about to make love. So, when Harry came back from the door, I helped him pack in record time so we'd still have time…"
"For a quickie," Hermione supplied.
"And in our haste, we forgot to use protection," Ginny said. "Neither of us want a baby yet, but there is every chance that one could be on the way."
"Oh, Ginny," Hermione breathed. "Does Harry know?"
"Yes," Ginny said, "Which has me even more terrified. I shouldn't have said anything. He needs to keep his mind on his mission and not be worrying about whether or not he knocked me up."
"Ginny, you know that Harry is extremely capable and he's with Noah," Hermione said. "He's going to come back from this mission just fine and, as for whether or not you are pregnant…, whatever is meant to be, will be."
"I know, I know," Ginny said. "I just can't help but worry."
"I can see that," Hermione said with a smirk, as she motioned to the knitting laying on the coffee table in front of the couch they were seated on. "What are you making?"
"I didn't realize until I was half way into it, what I was making," Ginny said with a blush, as she picked up and showed to Hermione as miniscule pair of baby booties.
"It seems to me that even if you and Harry weren't planning for this to happen so fast, if it does happen, you'll be just fine," Hermione said with a smile.
Ginny marveled at her friend's words and smiled. She was right; if she were pregnant, she would very easily be able to get excited about carrying Harry's child. Now she would just have to wait and see.
Author's Note: Hello all, so I'm still waiting on the files for the design job I'm doing. In the mean time I've been slowing working on this chapter. It took me somewhere a bit different than where I expected, but I like it just the same. Don't jump to conclusions about where this is going though….
Thanks to Terra Ferme, my beta for such a quick turn around on the editing of this chapter!
Thank you for reading and please send me your comments, criticism or ideas if you have any. Thanks again!