Saturday evening
the Fat Lady's corridor
Ginny and Harry bid James a good night and watched him climb through the portrait hole. Harry whipped the Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket.
"Care to go for a walk?"
Ginny stepped into his embrace, and he settled the Cloak over both of them.
"Where's the map?" they asked together.
Harry frowned. "How should I know? McGonagall gave it to you."
"It wasn't in my suitcase. I thought you took it out."
He shook his head. "James?"
"I've barely left him alone long enough to go to the loo, much less sneak into another wing of the castle. Lily, more likely," Ginny said as they began walking. "This would be the perfect opportunity with me being so close to the boys."
"He could have done it when you left."
"Maybe. But I don't want to talk about the kids." She turned so she was walking backwards, a little awkward to do and stay under the Cloak, but she wanted to see Harry's face. "We haven't both been at Hogwarts since you were sixteen. Any teenage fantasies I can fulfill?"
He placed his hands on her waist. "Plenty."
"Pick one." Ginny smiled in invitation. They were barely moving now, dancing more than walking.
"I thought maybe … the changing rooms?"
She grinned and turned, picking up the pace. "I was hoping you would say that."
Harry took her hand as they started down the stairs. "Should I be asking you the same thing?"
"Oh, you've already done a lot of mine."
"Like what?"
"Kissing in the common room, by the lake, on top of the Astronomy Tower—"
"Bor-ing."
"You proposed," she continued. She'd get him for that boring comment later. "You wrote me love letters that I read at breakfast in the Great Hall. I had your baby and took him to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and sent him to Hogwarts."
"I thought we weren't going to talk about the kids," Harry said, amused.
They were whispering even though they didn't have to, but it felt weird to talk normally under the Cloak. They didn't really need it, of course; it wasn't yet curfew, and even if it were, no one would bat an eye at two adults walking through the castle. But it was more fun this way; reenacting those few perfect weeks in her fifth year when they'd snuck away from Ron as often as possible, the inability to get enough of each other, the sensation they were doing something forbidden when they had been completely familiar with each other for years.
"Fine. Why the changing rooms?" Ginny said.
"Why not the changing rooms?"
"We've done them before."
"Not at Hogwarts."
"That's not an answer."
"I fell in love with you on the Quidditch pitch."
"But you didn't say the pitch," Ginny teased, expecting Harry's quick sideways look at the idea.
"Fine. I've always wanted to see you naked in the showers. Happy now?"
"You have seen me naked in the shower."
Harry pulled her to the side as a group of Ravenclaws walked past.
"Our shower doesn't smell like Quidditch."
"Thank goodness for that." But she knew what he meant; it was his Amortentia smell. Broomstick wood, her shampoo, and treacle tart.
"Maybe I can convince you to ride my broomstick."
"Harry!" Ginny sputtered with laughter. "That's awful."
"You started it." He magicked the front doors open, and they shivered in the night air.
"I—"
He interrupted her with a kiss, a soft, dreamy kiss that spoke of falling in love, and memories, and dreams come true. Ginny opened her eyes slowly and was surprised to see Harry looked frustrated.
"What is it?"
"Damn anti-Apparition wards," he grumbled. "Come on."
Laughing, she took his hand, and they ran across the grounds.
()()()()
Saturday night
Hogwarts Castle
"Shh, you're going to get us caught," Harry whispered.
"Stop making me laugh!"
"I'm not doing anything."
Ginny mimicked his cautious, tip-toeing posture with exaggerated accuracy, and Harry stifled his own laughter.
"We could ditch the Cloak and walk back to our rooms like adults," he suggested. "We would have been back there already if you hadn't—"
"You're the one who said my fantasies were boring."
"If I say it again, will you do something else?"
Ginny threw one arm across his chest and froze. Harry drew a deep breath and held it. Of all the people he did not want to discover that he was sneaking around Hogwarts like an adolescent, his nephew Louis was at the top of the list. Louis and the prefect he was with crossed the corridor with only a cursory glance in each direction, and once their voices faded away, Harry and Ginny resumed walking.
"We should have come back before curfew," Ginny whispered.
"We should lose the Cloak and stop trying to hide."
"Scaredy cat." She led the way up the stairs to the fifth floor.
Harry focused on not stepping on her robes. "How many of our nieces and nephews are prefects?"
"Not counting Jamie?"
"Well, seeing as he's neither our niece nor—" He grunted as her elbow connected with his midsection.
"Just Louis and Rose now that Molly's left."
Harry risked settling his hands on her hips to keep her close and was rewarded with a smile over her shoulder. But Ginny stepped on the front edge of the Cloak when she looked behind her, pulling Harry forward against her back, and they stumbled into a suit of armor, which fell off its plinth and against the side wall of the alcove with a deafening clatter that echoed down the stone halls.
Ginny swore and rubbed her elbow.
"Are you okay?"
"Who's there?"
Harry had been wrong. The person he least wanted to discover he was sneaking around Hogwarts, albeit with his wife (which now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure was in his favor or not), was his goddaughter, Rose.
And Scorpius Malfoy.
Harry closed his eyes, tightened his arms around Ginny, and backed into the now-spacious alcove. Go away, go away, just go away. He knew it was futile. Rose was insatiably curious, just like her mother.
"I don't see anybody," Malfoy said. Harry could tell by the sound of his voice he was walking towards them. "And I didn't hear a door close."
Several doors opened and closed as Rose and Malfoy (Harry grimaced, picturing Ron's reaction at the linking of their names) checked nearby classrooms and cupboards.
"Well, someone was definitely here," Rose said, now directly in front of them as she stared at the leaning suit of armor. "Erecto."
Harry turned himself and Ginny sideways as the knight resumed his upright position. Harry could feel Ginny's heart racing against his forearm. They should have forgotten about the Cloak, they should have just walked through the halls like normal. No one would have thought twice about a married couple taking an evening stroll, but if they were caught hiding … by Malfoy….
Rose's forehead wrinkled, and Harry got his wand out just in time.
"Homenum revelio," she said.
Nothing happened.
"Nothing?" Scorpius said.
"Oh, Merlin," Rose said, backing away from the alcove.
"What?"
"I bet it's—it's—"
"The Invisibility Cloak!" Scorpius said. "You think James gave his mum the slip?"
"Not James, Aunt Ginny. James had it on when he pranked McGonagall, and she gave it to Aunt Ginny."
"What would your aunt want with an Invisibility Cloak?" Scorpius said blankly.
Rose gave him a meaningful look. Scorpius stared back at her.
"I saw Uncle Harry at dinner."
Scorpius's jaw dropped. "You don't think…."
Rose closed her eyes and nodded.
He frowned. "But the spell—"
Rose's freckled face crinkled, her eyes still screwed shut as if not seeing prevented her from thinking. "Uncle Harry would know how to block that spell."
Harry pressed his lips together. The fear of being caught was quickly being surpassed by amusement at his niece's revulsion.
"We should go," Scorpius said, taking Rose's arm and backing away from the scene. "Let them alone."
Rose whimpered.
"And not say anything about this to anybody," Scorpius added.
"Not anybody," Rose said in a louder-than-normal voice. "Not ever."
Ginny was shaking slightly. Harry raised one hand to cover her mouth, burying his own in her hair.
Rose and Scorpius broke into a run.
Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak off, and the two of them burst into laughter.
Ginny was nearly crying. "Did you see—"
"Rose's expression," Harry gasped.
"And Scorpius, of all people— Harry, what are you doing? What if—"
"This is the safest place in the castle. They're definitely not coming back here."
()()()()
Sunday morning
the Great Hall
James and Cameron were already at breakfast when Harry and Ginny entered the Great Hall hand-in-hand.
"Hello, Cameron," Harry said, reaching across the table. "Sorry for not greeting you last night."
Wedged between the bench and the table, Cameron stood awkwardly and returned the handshake. "It's no problem, sir. Good morning, Mrs. Potter."
"Good morning, Cameron, James."
Mouth full, James waved his fork in her direction. The hall darkened with shadows as the owls flew in, one dropping the Sunday Prophet on Harry's plate.
Ginny picked it up. "I want to see how much damage Pearson did to my article about the Wasps. He's a fan. Oh, look. We made the front page, love."
Harry looked alarmed. "Not—"
Ginny showed him the photo and he relaxed. "One of the kids must have taken it and sent it in."
As she opened the paper and turned to the Quidditch section, James saw the front page photo, below the fold, of himself and his parents at dinner last night. His photo-self poked at his vegetables, and his parents talked with their heads close together. Beside him, James was conscious of Cameron watching his parents closely.
"Well?" Harry said, filling his and Ginny's teacups.
"It looks the same," Ginny said, setting down the paper and pouring herself a bowl of cereal. "He printed the 'the opinions in this article belong to the reporter and do not represent the viewpoint of the Daily Prophet' disclaimer again."
"Pardon me," said a tiny Hufflepuff behind James. "Mrs. Potter, would you—" She held out a page of the Prophet, folded to Ginny's article.
Ginny pulled out her self-inking quill and signed it, returning it to the girl with a smile.
"Been signing a lot of autographs?" Harry asked.
"A few. The boys say my 2004 Player of the Season poster is enjoying a resurgence."
"Well, yeah, Gin. It's a twenty-year-old photo."
James stopped with a slice of bacon halfway folded into his mouth. Even he knew that was stupid, and he didn't have a girlfriend. His eyes strayed down the table to a certain blonde. Yet.
"Seventeen," Harry said hastily. "That was only seventeen very short years ago. And you're just as beautiful now as you were then. More so, even."
Ginny gave him one long, cold look and dug into her corn flakes.
Good. Let her be mad at somebody else for a change. James reached for a section of the paper.
"Are they … flirting?" Cameron murmured several minutes later.
"Probably." James continued reading the weekly crime blotter.
"I—I really think they are," Cameron said incredulously.
James looked up in time to see Harry brush Ginny's hair off her shoulder-she wore it down today-and whisper something in her ear. She swatted him, but her cheeks pinked and he grinned.
"It will be over soon," James said, returning to his section of the paper.
"It's so weird, but so fascinating." Cameron was still staring.
"You really need to get out more, Cam."
He shoved James's shoulder. "Shut it. I've just never seen parents act like that."
"Like what?"
"Like they actually like each other."
"I keep telling you, you should come round my house over summer hols. My whole family is like that. It's disgusting."
It wasn't that bad. Yes, it was … unpleasant … to think about his parents doing—well, what married people did—but knowing they loved each other, that he always had a home to go to, that he didn't have to choose where to spend his holidays or worry about what would happen if both his parents showed up at the same event, that was worth a little unpleasantness.
"Isn't that Ron and Hermione's owl?" Harry said, watching a small owl struggle to control his descent over the table with an apparently heavy box strapped to his legs.
"Bantam, what are you doing all the way up here, hmm?" Ginny stood and caught the animal, setting him down on the table and untying the box. "What is Hermione doing sending you so far away with such a big package?" She filched a piece of bacon off Harry's plate and fed it to the bird.
"It's addressed to you." Harry handed the package to his wife.
Ginny opened the box with her wand, pulled out two letters, and passed one to James.
Dear James,
I am well, thank you for asking. It is generally in poor taste to ask someone for a favor and harass her simultaneously, but since the favor is not for you, I will add Cameron to my list. In keeping with your childish behavior of late (your thoughtfulness towards Cameron a notable exception), I'm including a gift for your mum for Show and Tell. You might want to ask her what happened to the girl who ratted out Dumbledore's Army.
Love from,
Aunt Hermione
"Aww, look!"
James was appalled to discover the box was full of photos—his baby photos.
"This was right after you were born, Jamie, look." Ginny held up a picture of him in Hermione's arms. He was asleep, and Aunt Hermione was crying.
"Mum, please—"
"And look at this one! Harry, do you remember this?"
"Mum, please—"
"May I see, Mrs. Potter?" It was Caitlin. He should have found a way to make up for her having to cover his prefect duties. Twice. She smiled at the photo. "You were a very cute baby, James. Here, Millie, look."
And to his horror, she passed the picture to Millie, and every Gryffindor girl within earshot crowded close. James made a grab for the box and got his hand smacked.
"Come on, mate, let's go," Cameron said in a low voice. "There's no telling what's going to come out of there next."
James didn't take his eyes off the box of photos. "But I should—"
"You should run," Cameron said. "You sent the catnip to your aunt, didn't you? I told you it was a bad idea!"
"Oh, look, Gin. Here's the one your mum took of James nursing."
James ran.
()()()()
"Harry Potter, that is no such thing," Ginny scolded, taking the picture of Ron bent in half holding a wobbly James by the hands and walking him across the Burrow's garden. She passed it to the girls.
Harry picked up a handful of photographs and flipped through them. "Maybe it's in here somewhere. I love that photo."
Ginny snorted, sifting through her own stack. "You love that photo because I'm half naked."
"I love that photo because you look peaceful and happy as well as beautiful. Here, see?"
James was maybe four months old, a tiny hand resting on the curve of her breast as he suckled. Ginny wore an old button-down shirt of Harry's and had taken half of it off, leaving her arm, shoulder, and chest exposed. She cradled James, one arm along the length of his back and her other hand cupping his head as she bent her own to talk to her firstborn. Ginny touched the baby in the photo and smiled, remembering. She had been happy.
"Come on, you can look at these later." Harry accepted the photos from CeCe and reached for Ginny's stack, adding them to the box and banishing it to her guest quarters.
"Wonder what he did to upset Hermione?" Ginny said as they left the Great Hall.
"Could be anything. Where do you think he went?"
"We can find out easily enough." Ginny took out her wand.
"Ginny!"
"What?"
"You put a monitoring charm on a sixteen-year-old?"
"It's only illegal if they're an adult and he's not," she said defensively.
Harry raised one eyebrow. "You really have been a pain, haven't you?"
"He's almost a foot taller than I am, and the first few days he was always taking the stairs two or three at a time. I couldn't keep up. I forgot about the map at first, and this works better, anyway."
"Go on, then."
"Outside," she reported.
"I'll catch you up. I want to say goodbye to Al and Lily first."