Ch 16 The Honeymoon
A chapter where we learn that "what comes naturally" still takes practice.
This is the explicit chapter; if you are not old enough you should not read it.
Harry and Ginny finally got away from the wedding at about 11:00 PM, an hour later than they had planned. They took the Floo to Grimmauld place. As they were going through the drawing room, both of them kicked off their sandals. Harry asked Ginny if she wanted to be carried across the threshold of the bedroom, which she did. As soon as they got into the bedroom, Ginny started to undress Harry. When he was naked, she waved her wand and the dress fell off. Harry noticed that her knickers had come off (Ginny had charmed them so that when her dress came off the knickers did as well.) The only thing still on Ginny was the tiara.
Harry and Ginny stood there looked at each other. "What do we do now?" asked Harry, who wasn't quite sure how the next moments were supposed to unfold. All of the unhelpful advice and warnings of the evening were beginning to really concern him.
"You don't KNOW?" asked Ginny in horror. Looking at Harry and pointing she said, "You put that-" and pointing at herself, "-here."
"I know that!" said an embarrassed Harry. "I think you should get into the bed."
Ginny got into the bed, spread her legs and Harry climbed on top and awkwardly put it where he was supposed to put it. Ginny pulled Harry into her, attacking him so quickly and forcefully that Harry was done very quickly. Ginny was just getting going and looked at Harry in horror. "I'm not ready to stop! Keep going. I'm just getting started."
Harry looked embarrassed and said, "Sorry, Ginny, not much I can do right now."
"WHY NOT?" Ginny shouted. She was very naïve. Despite wanting sex, she really did not know much. She had no idea that once a man was finished, it was going to take a little while before he could do anything again.
Harry was not any more knowledgeable than Ginny, and said, "How should I know? I've never done this before. Maybe we should have taken more time?"
Ginny was frantic and a very long way from being satisfied sexually. She shouted "MORE TIME! I've waited months for this and it's all over."
Harry said "I don't think so. Just give me a little time to be able to …
"Ginny, I'm sorry. No one tells you exactly what to do. Well, maybe they do if you ask, but I couldn't exactly go up to your father and say, 'how do I have sex with your daughter?' Maybe that's why people have honeymoons? Maybe you have to practice this?"
Ginny said, "Hold me, Harry. How come just when everything is supposed to be so perfect it never is?"
Harry shifted position to kiss Ginny and started to chuckle. He reached up and moved the tiara away from the pillow. "We did something right," Harry said as he kissed Ginny again. "The tiara is no longer attached."
Ginny silently laughed. "That's certainly a plus," she replied, realizing that what had happened (or not depending on perspective) was not Harry's fault. Not for the first time that day, she thought that the Touch of Lust spell had worked far too well indeed.
Harry and Ginny held each other for some time, gradually kissing and touching each other. Soon enough, Harry could tell that he was going to be able to have sex again. This time, when both of them were ready, they gently made love. Harry tried to hold off for as long as he could. Ginny tried to relax a little and not be quite so eager, and the second time was much more pleasant than the first. They fell asleep exhausted.
At about 3:00 in the morning Ginny woke up, still horny. The bedroom was warm, too warm, but at least it was comfortable naked. Harry was lying on his side, and Ginny turned him over so he was on his back. She was curious what would happen if she touched it. She gently started to touch it and got a reaction both from it and from the other end, where Harry got a big smile on his face. A little more vigorous stroking had him wide awake. She reached up to kiss Harry and grabbed hard … a different part down there this time.
"BLOODY HELL, GINNY, ARE YOU TRYING TO CASTRATE ME?" Harry yelled. He was reaching down to where she had grabbed him, obviously in pain.
"What did I do?" Ginny asked in horror, looking at the pain in Harry's features.
Harry took a good two minutes or more to try to focus and compose himself. The intense pain was beginning to subside, but it was going to ache down there.
"Did your brothers ever come in holding their bottoms when they had been hit down there? Did you ever see how they reacted to a hit in just the right spot?" Harry asked.
"I did that to you?" Ginny asked in horror.
"This part down here be very gentle with," Harry said as he showed her.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," Ginny said. She felt horrible. She'd messed up again. Nothing was working out right. She and Harry held each other for quite a while.
"Are we going to make love again?" asked Ginny timidly, as it appeared that Harry was drifting back to sleep.
"It still hurts, Ginny," said Harry. "Give me a little more time."
Harry went to sleep with a dull ache down there.
It took Ginny a long time to get to sleep, and she went to sleep worried.
Harry woke up at about seven thirty, late for him. It was warm in the bedroom. There were no covers on. His beautiful Ginny was lying on bed, her hair flying all over. She had just turned over on her back, her legs were spread a little, and he could see both scars. The one on her leg was bigger than he realized it was, and he could only imagine how much it must have hurt. He gently touched the scar on her breast, and she woke up. "Are you all right?" she asked, and he responded with a gentle kiss.
"I should be fine," Harry said, as it appeared he was going to be able to make love to Ginny again. He didn't want to tell her it still ached where she had grabbed him.
Again everything happened too soon for Ginny, although it was not nearly as frustrating as the first time. Harry seemed satisfied every time, but it was not quite so easy for her. Why? Was sex something you had to learn? And how could she tell Harry? Maybe it was all her.
They both had to go to the bathroom by this time. Harry shaved. They both brushed their teeth, went back to the bed and Ginny attacked again, this time with kisses and hands all over his body but not trying finish until both of them were ready. Ginny was getting a little sore, but she really liked this sex stuff. It was just taking a little time to get it right. Harry was also sore, inside. He thought there might be spells for this and all kinds of other things, and although he hated to sound like Hermione, there must be books for this sort of thing.
They both fell asleep again, waking at about nine-thirty. Harry looked at Ginny and said, "Would you mind if we had breakfast before more of this necessary practice?"
"No, as long as we practice some more later," said Ginny with a big smile.
Ginny looked around the bedroom. There on the floor was the tiara. "It came off after," Ginny said with a snarky smile on her face.
"You can't say nothing went amiss," Harry said.
"But I'm obviously a missus, not a miss," Ginny said as she showed the tiara to Harry before putting it on top of a chest.
Harry made breakfast. "I asked Kreacher if he could eat at Hogwarts or with the people at the Harry Potter Estates and leave us alone," said Harry. "He has a few things in his space in the attic, but I wanted the rest of the house for us this week."
"I can make lunch and dinner," said Ginny. "Mum did teach all of us to cook, but I think I got more lessons than any of the boys."
"What do you want to do today and tomorrow?" asked Harry as they sat down for breakfast. "We have to sign some legal documents at the Harry Potter Estates offices on Friday, but Saturday is totally free as well."
"Other than make love?" asked Ginny.
"I want to do plenty of that too!" exclaimed Harry. "After last night, I guess we need lots of practice! But we probably can't spend every waking moment that we're not eating in bed love-making."
"Mum mentioned that she had a book with love-making spells that she was going to give me," said Ginny. "She had them at the Burrow when it was destroyed, and I guess she did not get any others by the wedding. I'm not sure I want to go to the store and buy a book like that and announce to the world that Harry and Ginny Potter don't know how to make love. We did all right! It got better."
"Boys are supposed to know what to do without anyone telling them anything," Harry replied. "It is very personal. I guess dads are supposed to tell you about that. Maybe I could have asked Bill, but Fleur was there a lot, and I surely didn't want to ask Bill when Fleur was there!"
"Bill, Fleur, Harry and I would like a demonstration, just so we do it right when we get married," Ginny said, and then she and Harry both began to giggle. Every time one of them would stop they would look at each other and start giggling again. It took several minutes for the giggling to die down.
Finally Ginny said, "Luna asked if we'd had a demonstration."
"And?" asked Harry, thinking there was more to the story.
"I think she wanted us to volunteer to demonstrate when she's ready to get married," Ginny responded.
Harry shook his head. "No bloody way! Luna would ask, too! George sort of volunteered, or said he should have volunteered, and I found out that George and Angelina's first time was awkward too."
"Mum started to talk about it several times," Ginny said, looking like she was pondering the situation, "but we never got too far into it before somebody interrupted us or we ended up talking about other things. Lots of advice about being married, talking about how Mum's worried about everybody. About how hard everybody is working, you, Dad, Bill and Fleur. Mum never used to be too worried about Fleur, but after what she did healing people at the Battle, and then without a break she started helping Bill, Fleur has started to rank amongst Mum's kids."
"It doesn't look like Fleur had any problem with Teddy," Harry said.
"Teddy did everything he could to make Fleur look less elegant," Ginny said. "He drooled, he spit up, he wiggled. Nothing worked! I think Fleur could look elegant with a baby puking all over her."
"How is Mum handling being Teddy's mother?" Harry asked.
"I think that's easier than taking care of Andromeda," Ginny replied. "Some days Andromeda is so good, ready to help with Teddy and the house and everything, and then some days she just can't seem to get out of bed or do anything. You haven't been around to see how many times we have had to call a healer over or take Andromeda to St. Mungo's."
"So that's what happened when you and your mother started to talk about sex, you ended up talking about something else, just like we did right now," Harry said with a grin.
Ginny laughed. "Well, sort of. And we talked a little about sex, but not about how to udo/u it. And I know I'm not always the most patient person in the world but I had no idea that, I mean, I guess Mum did say something about you needing to be patient with me, that it could take more time with a woman. But I never realized that I needed to be patient with you sometimes."
Harry was laughing now. "Miss 'yessed me into marrying her' not patient?"
"Missus now, not miss, not after last night and this morning," Ginny said. Then with a snarky grin, she went on, "And after breakfast and this afternoon and tonight." Ginny got up from the table and Harry gladly followed. Harry had heard a couple of comments about Molly's female ancestors, and it looked like Molly's female descendant was at least as interested in sex as her ancestors, to Harry's absolute and total delight.
After a satisfactory session of 'practice,' Ginny looked at herself and Harry and the bed. "Everything is a little messy," she said. "I can scourgify the bed, but we need to wash." Ginny got a big grin on her face and said, "Mum did say that it was fun to shower together. I think Mum was kind of embarrassed when she said it, but she said washing each other's backs is nice, and washing each other's fronts is even nicer, and there is nothing quite like getting your hair washed while in the shower holding on to your husband."
Harry did not need any convincing that standing in the shower with a naked Ginny would be a very good thing indeed, and he was not disappointed. When they got to the hair washing, Ginny said, "I made the shampoo myself. You can buy a scent kit. With your wand and the potions in the kit, you take smells you like and put them into shampoo."
Harry always liked the smell of Ginny's hair. It was flowery without being sickly sweet, a little sharp like the cake and frosting. To have the smell coming straight out of the bottle, rubbing it on Ginny's head, was surprisingly erotic. When they were done with Ginny's hair, they got Harry's shampoo. He knelt down while Ginny washed his hair. This gave Harry a whole different view of Ginny, and before they were done, they were both touching, laughing and enjoying each other's bodies.
At lunch Harry said, "If we are going to live here, I want to remodel the house."
"How?" asked Ginny. "I want it brighter! It's still terribly dark and gloomy."
"I want electricity and television and a telephone connected to the Muggle community," Harry explained. "I want our children to grow up in both the Muggle and the Magic communities, like I have."
"Electricity, plugs?" Ginny exclaimed. "Dad will be thrilled. Someone else in the family actually using plugs."
"Your dad's view of the Muggle community is rather limited sometimes," Harry remarked fondly. "He's a lot better than some people raised in totally magical environments, but surprisingly ignorant about some things most muggles take for granted."
Ginny told Harry, "Dad's thrilled that the New Burrow has electricity, but it's surprisingly hard to get Mum to even turn on the lights. She looks scared every time she touches a light switch. The remote control for the television absolutely terrifies her."
"I definitely don't want our children to grow up like that," Harry said.
"Let's take a walk around the block and see what the other houses look like," said Harry just a little later. "I guess we have to make sure one of the Aurors is outside to follow us when we open the door, but they did say that they would just follow at a distance." Harry and Ginny went upstairs, out the front door and nodded to the Shooks, who were outside guarding the house. Then hand in hand they started to walk around the block.
"Look, Ginny," said Harry as he pointed at a house. "That house has larger windows and even a skylight in the roof. And that house has window wells so that the lower level windows can be bigger and let in more light." They had turned right out of their house, and the house numbers went down to one. As they turned right again and started to head around the block Harry noticed garages behind the end houses. "I wonder if there is any way to put a garage behind our house and get a car in and out," Harry mused.
"You want to buy a car?" Ginny asked in amazement.
"Not right now, but eventually, yes, a car would be nice," said Harry.
As they got towards the end of the block of houses behind theirs, Harry stood back and counted, "Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. This side of the block has fifteen houses and our side has fourteen, plus our house which is hidden. Why muggles don't notice I don't understand." As they rounded the other end of the block Harry said, "More garages."
They finally got back to twelve Grimmauld Place and went back inside.
Harry and Ginny went back up to their bedroom. It looked out the front of the house. All of the bedrooms looked out either the front or the back of the house, and were as wide as the house. They went over to the bedroom on the other side of the floor overlooking the garden. "We can see better if we go up to the top floor," said Harry as they looked out over the garden. So they went the two stories up to the top floor and looked out over the garden area. Most of the houses had nice gardens or at least something green in the back. The only back area that looked like a junk yard was theirs. At least it was magically hidden from the other houses so that no one else could see it.
"We need a nice garden area, with a place for children to play," said Harry.
"It's not a very big garden," Ginny responded. "But I guess the New Burrow is just a Floo away. Six bedrooms on three floors, and they are big bedrooms! You could have a big family in this house."
"As many as you want," Harry responded with a grin.
"All you have to do is get them started," Ginny said. "I'm the one who has to be pregnant for nine months and then nurse them for another year. I know I want children but after Quidditch, if I get to play. More than one, probably more than two, but not as many as Mum."
It was about six, and Harry and Ginny had been over the house a couple more times, talking about everything. They had another session of 'necessary practice' too.
"Do you want to get out of the house again?" asked Harry.
"You think that on your honeymoon all you are going to want to do is to be in bed making love," Ginny replied. "We do a lot of that. But yes, I'd like to get out of the house."
"Let's see if there is a nice restaurant around here and go out to dinner," Harry suggested.
Ginny grinned in mock surprise. "Why, Mr. Potter, are you asking me out?"
"Why yes, Mrs. Potter," Harry replied.
"Where should we go?" Ginny asked.
Harry had to think about this. He really didn't know the neighborhood all that well. Finally he said, "Maybe the Aurors know the neighborhood better than we do. I want to go to a muggle restaurant where we won't be recognized."
Harry poked his head out the front door. Jim Shook was there, and Harry asked him, "Are there any good Muggle restaurants around here? Ginny and I would like to go someplace that we can walk to and have a good dinner."
"There is a great little Italian place about three blocks from here. Sue and I have been there a couple of times when we have been watching the house, just after changing shifts. Let me see if the Williamsons want to go too. It is getting close to the time we would change shifts anyway." Jim pulled out his cell phone and tapped the screen a couple of times. "David, the Potters want to go out to dinner, and I suggested Mario's. Why don't you meet us and we can all walk down there together? Mr. and Mrs. Potter can sit at a private table, but we can watch them."
There was a couple of minutes' pause, and Jim said, "David has to ask Kim." Finally a voice came back on the phone, and Jim turned to Harry and said, "Meet at the front door at 6:30."
"Great!" Harry exclaimed.
Ginny, who had been at Harry's side the whole time, said, "I'd better change into some muggle clothes. Although she and her mother had been shopping for clothes several times since the Battle of Hogwarts, Ginny's wardrobe was rather limited. She thought that her mother's favorite comment when they were shopping for things they did not actually have to have was "There's plenty of money in Gringotts, but," the 'but' meaning that spending money on herself was still hard for Molly. Ginny did find one nice skirt and blouse outfit. Harry had a casual shirt and slacks.
The restaurant was a local one with tile floors. There were several families there, including one family that included a child between a year and a year and a half who was having a delightful time shoving a spaghetti dish into his mouth one messy handful at a time. Neither the rather rotund proprietor nor the waitress seemed to mind the mess accumulating underneath the young child's high chair.
Ginny, whose entire exposure to restaurants had been the Leaky Cauldron and some of the shops in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, asked Harry, "Are all muggle restaurants like this."
"No, not at all of them," Harry replied. "I've eaten in a lot of restaurants, a fair number of them muggle or muggle with a magical section when Bill and I were traveling. None of them were as child-friendly as this one! I'm sure we will come here with our children. … When we have children. … After your fantastically successful Quidditch career."
"Mr. Harry Potter has gone from the hero of the Wizarding world to the goat, at least to Holyhead Harpies fans, by getting his wife the famous chaser Ginny Potter pregnant. 'Harry is just too sexy to resist,' Mrs. Potter is quoted as saying. 'And I'm just going to stay home and make love to him, and make lots of pretty babies.'" Ginny laughed as she said this.
The food was delicious, the conversation light and happy, and Mario himself sat down, introduced himself and invited them back.
"I can't help but notice how child-friendly this place is," Harry commented to Mario.
"Mama and I have five," Mario said. "One she's a software engineer, another he's a pilot, one daughter she married a chef and they own another little restaurant. One son and his wife, a daughter and her husband, they work here with me and Mama. 'You marry a restaurant owner, you marry the restaurant,' they say."
A young lady who looked like the owner's daughter was listening in, and she piped up with, "And you grow up washing dishes."
All in all, the meal was delightful, and Harry and Ginny promised Mario that they would be back.
Wednesday evening Harry and Ginny had a delightful session of lovemaking, much better than the first time twenty four hours before. Finally Harry and Ginny learned how to turn her on without initiating the sex act too quickly, and finally she felt the kind of climax that she had been anticipating. Both went to bed feeling very good. Besides, they had turned down the temperature in the bedroom, and it looked like they might get a good night's sleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night Harry thought he heard a "Ahhhhh thump." Someone had pulled the blankets off him. He awoke with a start to find himself on Ginny's side of the bed, and she was gone! In a panic he crawled over to his side of the bed, got his glasses and wand, and went back to the other side of the bed. There poking her head up, covered with blankets, was a very groggy Ginny.
Harry had to go to the loo, and just as he was done, Ginny appeared. Harry went back to the freshly made bed and waited for Ginny.
She got back into bed, looked at Harry and said, "You pushed me off the bed."
"You stole all the blankets," Harry replied.
Ginny said, "I used to read stupid romances that a couple of the other witches had. Well, I really couldn't stand most of them, with the poor heroine being rescued by the brave hero, so I just skipped to the sex parts. 'After an evening of passionate lovemaking, they fell asleep in each other arm's.' Of course they never told you how they did it, who touched who where, just 'made passionate love.' I don't think anybody in the books ever had to use the loo or fight for bed space either."
"Or fight for the blanket all night," said Harry.
Ginny crawled back under the covers, started to pull the blankets over her, looked at Harry with a sheepish grin and tried to get comfortable without wrapping herself in the blankets. Harry tried to go to sleep on his side of the bed.
Harry woke up first, as he usually did. He noticed that he was in the middle of the bed but that he was barely covered with blankets. As he got out of bed, Ginny turned and rolled herself in the rest of the blankets.
On Thursday right after lunch, Harry poked his head out the front door again. "Ginny and I would like to go clothes shopping," Harry said to Jim.
"Diagon Alley or muggle clothing stores?" asked Jim.
"Lots more choices in muggle stores," said Sue. "We have a Muggle car we've rented. Gives us a place to sit down and stay out of the rain. We don't drive it much, but it would be ideal to go clothes shopping."
Harry had no remotely acceptable muggle clothes left, and Ginny was ready to throw out everything he owned and start over. He was easy to shop for, as long as they went to a store with small enough sizes, with the two women making all the choices. Harry did say he probably needed a muggle suit for a few of the business meetings, and he ended up with one suit, an outfit with a sports jacket and slacks, six more formal shirts and four silk ties. He also had half a dozen slacks and half a dozen jeans, a couple of pair of shorts, fifteen casual shirts, and a two week supply of underwear. They also purchased a light weight jacket and a medium weight jacket, gloves and a hat.
Sue knew of a muggle store that specialized in petite women. Ginny also ended up with half a dozen jeans, along with four pair of slacks, six skirts, and eighteen blouses. She also found five dresses, ranging from casual to very formal. If it looked good on her, Harry would insist that they buy it. Ginny had never had much of a wardrobe growing up, and clothes were worn until they were past threadbare. They were only able to take a few clothes from the Burrow when they fled, so she was seriously short of clothing herself.
As they were buying all of the clothes, Ginny spied a couple of cute looking bras that she thought she would try on. When she tried the first one on, she asked Sue to come into the dressing room with her.
"This bra is way too tight around the middle," Ginny said. "Where are the spells for support?"
"I wear a lot of muggle clothes, but I'd never wear a Muggle bra. They're terrible!" Sue exclaimed.
"Fleur's bigger than I am and Mum, well she's pretty heavy, but she's also pretty big on top. These things," as Ginny pointed to the two bras she was trying on, "hold you up without any magic?"
"Sort of," said Sue. "But I'd never wear one of them. I'll take you to a foundations shop in Diagon Alley after your honeymoon."
Before they were done, Ginny also purchased a light weight jacket, a medium weight jacket, gloves and four hats.
Ginny was anxious to get back to flying, and Harry was a little concerned about all the work he was suppose to have done before Auror training started. But neither of them wanted to suggest ending the honeymoon early.
By Friday August 14, Harry and Ginny were beginning to get into a morning routing. It started out with a visit to the loo, they brushed their teeth and Harry shaved. Then, when they were refreshed, they went back to bed for "necessary practice." By 8:30 AM, they were dressed and down for breakfast. By 9:30, they were ready to take the Floo to the Ministry. Ginny was surprised by the amount of legal detail involved in getting married. She needed a magical ID, a muggle ID with her age listed as eighteen so she would not be in trouble for being underage, plus a passport. There was a credit card which was good at muggle shops and something similar from Gringotts for use at magical shops around the world. Then there was the property that was being put in joint custody, including all of the estates on which they were working. She had never seen Harry's office at the Harry Potter Estates offices. It was large for an office, with two desks against one wall and a conference table for eight or ten people that could be magically enlarged as necessary. The sign on the door said, "Harry and Ginny Potter."
"Harry, what is this for?" asked Ginny.
Harry replied, "When I need to meet with people privately, I need an office. Sometimes there are charity cases where someone from the foundation needs to meet with me privately. I was hoping you could help. Besides, you are a very powerful witch in your own right and ought to be able go unhex some of these estates that Bill still will not be able to do all by himself, because the marriage bond is a lot closer than being a brother-in-law."
Ginny asked, "What am I going to do?"
Harry answered, "We're not sure, but when you married me, you took on a whole lot more than just a bed partner. Sorry, Gin, but it comes with being Mrs. Harry Bloody Potter."
Fleur was guiding Harry and Ginny on the tour. As they got ready to leave the office, Ginny said, "Fleur, this office needs one more thing."
"What ez at?" asked Fleur.
"A bed so that Harry can take a nap and not come home so bloody tired all the time," Ginny fiercely replied.
"Everybody ez working too 'ard," Fleur mused, her eyes bright as she seemed deep in thought.
They had lunch with Bill, Fleur and Michael, and then had to go back for another couple of hours of paperwork. They got home at about 3:30, just in time for a little "practice" before dinner.
Saturday was spent very much like Wednesday, "practice" plus making plans for the house.
Since George owned a store and Ron was working there, Sunday morning was the only time Molly could get the whole family together, and she intended to have all her children over as many Sundays as she could. The stores opened at noon on Sunday. By 9:00 AM everybody except Harry and Ginny were at the breakfast table. Harry and Ginny arrived just after 9:00. Their "practice" took a little longer than they had anticipated.
After quick hellos all around, Ron piped up, "How is the newly married couple? Was your first time really as good as they say it is?"
Harry and Ginny looked at each other, both with a little panic on their faces as they remembered their awkward initial attempts.
Harry was trying to find some way of saying "none of your business" without giving away that the first time was something of a disaster.
Ginny had the strangest look on her face, partly anger, partly embarrassment and partly just being totally at loss for words. She was never at loss for words.
Ron panicked and said, "You did it? You're not still a…?"
"WHAT?!" yelled Ginny. Then quietly, she said, "I'm not still what? Of course, we did it. uLots!/u" Ginny stared at Ron some more, both determined and obviously upset. She finally said, loud enough so everyone could hear, "Your baby sister is not a virgin, if that's what you are asking."
"That's obvious, Ron," Hermione said. "Ginny's not wearing the tiara."
"It didn't take long fore the tiara to come off," Ginny said, beaming. "It came off right away!"
Everyone started to laugh except for Audrey and Ron. Ron was embarrassed, and Hermione was embarrassed for Ron, although she was giggling. Angelina and George grabbed each other's hands and Angelina whispered, "Shut up" to George as they both stifled giggles.
Audrey was trying to disappear, and Percy stayed quiet. Bill and Fleur were grinning at each other and Arthur was grinning at Molly. And Molly's laughter got louder and louder. She left to go to her bedroom, came back with two copies of a book Witches' and Wizards' Graphic Guide to Married Sex and presented one copy to Ginny and a second to Angelina. They both looked totally shocked.
Fleur said, "You did not give it to zem before zey married?"
Molly said, "The books I had were gone along with everything else that was at the Burrow, and I just got a couple more this week."
Ron grabbed the book and tried to get it out of the plain cardboard jacket it was in, but it would not budge. Molly looked at Ron and said, "You have to be married or engaged with a firm wedding date or the book is charmed not to come out of its jacket, Ron. This is for married couples only. I am sure Ginny will not have any problem."
Ginny took back the book and pulled it out of the jacket. Inside the front page were the names of the couple who were the author and another couple who were the illustrators, plus thanks to four couples who had proofread the book and given advice. The last couple listed was Arthur and Molly Weasley. Ginny looked at her mother with her eyes wide open. "You helped with this book?" Her mother nodded yes, a big smile on her face that reminded Harry of Ginny's famous smirk. "About sex?!" an astonished Ginny asked. She had been very keen to read this book until that moment.
Molly replied, "Well none of you were exactly a virgin birth. If we had had a child for every time we had married relations, I expect Hogwarts would not be big enough for all of the children." Molly ended by giving Arthur a huge hug and very long and passionate kiss.
Ginny opened the book a little further until she came to the first illustration and then quickly slammed it shut, putting it back into its case. Her eyes were wide open and her face had gotten red.
Molly smiled a knowing smile, glancing at Arthur who was getting a little red but also looking very pleased, and said, "Put it in your bedroom, Ginny dear. You and Harry should read it together. I am sure you will have lots of fun." Looking at Ron and Hermione, but also Percy and Audrey, she said, "I have more of these books if anyone else decides they want to get married."
Hermione gave Ron a kiss and said, "Take your time, Ron. I'll wait. It has to be the right moment for us, not for anyone else."
Ron looked at his mother exasperatedly and said, "Thanks a lot, Mum. No pressure, but …."
"I hope you're enjoying sleeping together," said Angelina to Harry and Ginny.
"You're sleeping together, in the same bed?" Ron remarked with his trademark horrified look.
An exasperated Hermione promptly jumped in with, "Ron, of course they are sleeping the same bed! They're married. Honestly, I don't know what you're thinking sometimes!"
"No! No! It's not like that," Ron replied. "It's just that Harry is a terribly restless sleeper. His blankets are always messed up, and occasionally I've found him on the floor. Ginny's in the same bed with Harry?"
Ginny had a very exasperated look on her face, and Harry had a very sheepish look on his face. "Harry's not the one who ended up on the floor," Ginny muttered.
Everybody but Percy and Audrey started to laugh again. Bill was laughing especially hard, and Fleur, although laughing, was looking a little embarrassed too. "My lovely wife grew up with a huge bed, and she learned to use every square millimeter of it," Bill explained. "We will give you a couple of spells and other ways of making peace with each other's sleeping habits."
Harry and Ginny were holding hands, and they nodded to each other and turned towards Bill and Fleur.
"That's probably a really good idea, if I'm going to be sleeping with this restless sleeper," Ginny remarked to her brother and his wife, pointing to Harry.
Angelina looked at George and said, "Blankets."
Fleur looked at Bill and said, "Vy do you zink I vas all over ze bed? Chasing ze blanket."
Bill looked embarrassed.
Molly cheerily said, "I have a couple of spells all of you females who are going to be sleeping with Weasley men can use to keep them from stealing all the blankets."
Harry looked at Molly. "Not just Weasley men, Mum."
Ginny muttered, "None of those romance books talked about the practical aspects of sleeping in the same bed."
"Ah," Fleur said. "Fi Fi la Poof Poof and ze Mister Big Pants, Oh la la." She shook her head. "Seely lettle girl books. Ez not so ezy."
No one said anything for a brief while. "How are your wedding plans coming along, George, Angelina?" asked Molly, changing the conversation.
Before the discussion about George and Angelina's wedding was done, Teddy woke up. Harry said he would change Teddy. He then came into the kitchen, and Molly reached for Teddy. Harry gave Teddy to Molly. She did something, and as if by magic, Molly seemed to be nursing Teddy. Everybody looked at Molly, who said, "I got tired of getting bottles. I thought, 'this is stupid,' so I went over to see Minerva Grint. She said that she could get me a Mother Minerva's bra that would encourage me to produce milk again. After nursing all of those babies, it really would not take all that much magic to get my breasts back to making milk. We're about half way there. In another week, I won't even need the Mother Minerva's bra."
"You know Mother Minerva?" asked Ginny.
"The Wizarding community in Britain is reasonably small," said Molly. "I think I know every witch in Britain who has had more than three children."
"How many did Mother Minerva have?" asked Ginny.
"Seven, I think," said Molly. "She is a generation older than I am. I'm close to the same age as one of her daughters, Monica Watson, who helps with the business. Didn't you go out with Monica's oldest daughter, Bill?"
"She was in Ravenclaw," said Bill. "Margaret Watson, well she's married now, Margaret … something. Smart, great personality. We were still seeing each other after we graduated. I thought it would take someone as smart as a Tri-Wizard winner and as beautiful as a Veela to be any better than Margaret. Little did I know that I would meet someone so incredibly fantastic as Fleur."
"Oh that was smooth, Bill," said George. "All the rest of us would be in trouble if we remembered a former girlfriend like that. Fred always took the lead when it came to girls, and I honestly don't think I ever had any girl but Angelina. I definitely don't want anyone else. She surely has all the right parts." The room sort of giggled at this remark.
Everyone sort of looked over at Ron, who was getting very nervous. 'I'm anything but smooth,' thought Ron as he said, "Hermione has all the right parts too." Everybody was suddenly staring at Ron. "And in the right places too," Ron added hopefully. Ron wasn't exactly anxious to let his mother know just how many of those parts he had seen and touched, and what they had been doing with some of those parts.
Hermione looked at Ron, looked at herself and kind of rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"I can't remember anyone but Ginny," said Harry looking longingly at her, "the cutest little witch in the world. Am I lucky?"
Molly was not above a little banter, and she said, "George, Angelina, I see your parts are working well together, seeing as we have another Weasley on the way."
"Separately and together, Mum," said George.
"The midwife says I'm as healthy as a horse," said Angelina proudly.
"And a lot prettier," said George, looking longingly at Angelina.
"GEORGE!" said Angelina in mock horror, giving him a tap on the leg.
"I'm glad I'm not part of this conversation," said Charlie.
"I'll let my part-ner do the talking," said Arthur. Everybody groaned.
Percy and Audrey had stayed silent. Percy thought this was normal family banter. Audrey was extraordinarily shy about body parts, although she seemed to like holding and kissing in private, so he wanted to try to not have her or them a focus of this type of banter.
Audrey could not believe how free the joking and conversation was between Percy's parents and their spouses or girlfriends. Her father was a very nice person, but her mother in all honesty was not. Living in her house was like living in a place where there was an uneasy truce but no true peace.
Harry and Ginny stayed after the rest of the family had left. Harry and Ginny both found it hard to leave Teddy. For Sunday morning, the Appleleaf family was eating in the dining room, giving the extended Weasley family time to themselves in the big kitchen. Molly had insisted on having the formal dining area capable of being opened up into the kitchen eating area, but normally they were closed off from each other.
Harry and Arthur took a tour of the house. Arthur was still amazed by the electric lights and was working hard on controlling his magic to get the lights to work. He had tried to turn the lights on and off with magic a couple of times, and Grainger and Grunt had a couple of reasonably major repairs to do. There was a special piece of equipment that could be used to teach a wizard how to turn lights on and off with the wand, but Arthur had been told that he needed a couple of years of living with lights and television before he could even think of using a combination of magic and electricity. Molly was afraid of the electric lights, and Ginny had to encourage her mother to use them. Ginny was just beginning to realize how little she knew about the Muggle community.
My wife and I gave a talk on "Sex, Love and Marriage to a group of 12th graders at our church early in our (now 44 years) marriage, and one of the questions was "is the first night really as good as they say it is?" After we got done laughing we explained that like anything else physical you do sex takes practice.
The first time you do anything else it's awkward, and I don't see why sex is assumed to be any different. And yes, although it is less common, there are still couples who wait until their wedding night. Even if they don't, it's different with each person. So the first time for any new couple is a learning experience and something that needs practice.
Jet