Chapter 8

Red hair was sprawled across a grey pillow case. Harry grinned at the sight and pulled Ginny closer to him. He could get used to nights like this one. Four times. It was a personal record for him. He wondered if the same could be said for Ginny… he hoped so. Ginny settled securely against his chest and rolled so they were face to face.

"Hi." He whispered.

"Hi" She smiled back at him.

"So," he grinned cheekily at her kissing her hands "I must say that was amazing."

She smiled brilliantly at him. "Is it corny if I say that that was certainly the best I've experienced?"

Harry glowed with pride and kissed her passionately. Nothing she could have said could've made him happier. "No, in fact I'd have to agree with you."

They kissed again and they were both quite happy lying in each other's arms. Ginny glanced over Harry's shoulder at the clock. 2AM flashed in bright red letters. She placed a warm wet kiss to Harry's neck.

"I'm starving!" she mumbled against him. He burst out in laughter. "Me too!"

She laughed as well and slid to the edge of the bed and pulled on a long night shirt she had. Harry followed suit pulling on his boxers. He followed her downstairs to the kitchen. She went to the refrigerator and pulled out some leftover chocolate cake. She also grabbed a jug of milk and took two glasses and two forks. As she poured she felt Harry snake his arms around her waist. He places gentle kisses in the crook of her neck and over her shoulder. They made their way to the table and tucked into the late night snack. Harry brushed his knee against hers which caused her to smile at him. A general feeling of peace washed over them. He smiled at her and she did the same to him. She felt like a teenager flirting with some boy in between classes at Hogwarts. He inspired feelings within her that she'd never felt before. She could fall in love with him. She was fairly certain that she would.

Harry kept sneaking glances at Ginny. She was so beautiful he wanted to lock themselves away with the girls so he could spend the rest of his days looking at her. He thought briefly of the other women he'd dated in his life. None of them would tuck into chocolate cake in front of him. It made him like her more. She was so kind and honest. He loved spending time with her and was glad the night had gone so well.

They eventually made their way back up to bed and were fairly content laying in each other's arms. They talked about different things that didn't really matter and it felt nice not to worry about what was happening with the girls for a minute. He then asked her a question. He didn't expect the answer he got.

"Was it hard for you to stop your work as a consultant when you became Zoe's guardian?"

She shifted and turned towards him propping her head up on a hand. "Can you keep a secret?"

"I've been told so." He smiled at her. "Why?"

"I wasn't a consultant that's just what I tell people."

"What did you do then?"

"I was an unspeakable." The answer surprised him. But as he thought about it he knew that it shouldn't have. She walked in a very deliberate way quickly but people often didn't hear her approaching. He'd seen her gaze travel over the park at the playdates the girls went on. She was accessing the area, looking where someone could attack from. He did the same, it was taught to the new recruits and once you had the skill you did it without thinking. He couldn't understand why he hadn't put it together before. Even her job would have been difficult to get without certain connections.

He chuckled. "I'm surprised that I'm surprised."

She grinned at him. "Well to answer your question, no it wasn't hard. Yes, I loved my job; it was exciting and made me feel like I was really contributing to the world around me, but as much as I loved it…I love Zoe more. If I was traveling around the world all the time that wouldn't have be best for her and you make a lot of enemies in that line of work as I'm sure you know. So I left it behind and I'm really happy with my life."

He leaned in and kissed her again.

"Who would have thought we have so much in common?" He asked smiling.

"Well I did," Ginny teased. "You just weren't let in on the secret."

Harry grinned again and rolled on top of her. "Keeping secrets Ms Lovegood? That simply won't do." He said kissing her neck.

"Hmm. You may be right. What do you suggest?" She asked leaning up to meet his lips.

"Well keeping secrets is very serious." He said his hands traveling further down her body, "I'm going to have to do a very thorough inspection. Just to make sure you're not hiding anything else."

"Oh, I think that is a very good idea. Secrets can be so hard to keep. You will of course have to be extremely detailed in your inspection." She breathed.

"I think I can do that."

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"How do you think the date is going?" James asked Lilly.

"Oh I think those two have been trying not admit their feelings for weeks now and I think that now they are out it will be impossible to resist."

"Well he does have that Potter charm." James grinned his arms circling around his wives waist. "It worked on you."

"Oh yeah, you asked me out and four years later BAM! You had me!" Lilly teased.

"You wanted me way before that and you know it!" He laughed.

"I went out with you out of shear pity." Lilly retorted.

"Is that why you married me too?" He asked kissing her neck. "Pity?"

"Mmhmm." She murmured.

"Is that so?" he asked turning her so she faced him.

"Yes, all our marriage has been an act of kindness on my part."

"Well I'm sorry it's been such a hardship on you."

"It's my cross to bear." She said leaning in to kiss her husband.

"EWWW GROSS!" Lilly cried. Zoe was laughing. "Grandma, Grandpa what are you doing?!" she said arms crossed.

She looked so much like her father then. He'd done the same thing at her age when he saw them kiss.

"I was kissing your grandpa sweetheart. And when you're older you won't find it so gross."

"I don't think so. Kissing is icky." She replied. Zoe was still laughing.

"Zoe doesn't think it was gross." James said.

"It's funny!" The blond girl chirped.

"See. Lil, it's not gross!" Lilly laughed.

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Light crept into through the window. Harry opened his eyes slightly and shut them quickly after. He rubbed a hand through his hair and reached over to pull Ginny into him. He grasped blindly at the space next to him until he opened his eyes once more only to find that she wasn't there. For a moment he was afraid she had left, and decided last night was a bad idea. He quickly remembered that they were at her place and she couldn't have gone. He then smelled sausage and French toast in the air.

He grinned, pulled on his clothes from last night and went down to the kitchen. He smiled when he saw Ginny she was dressed in jeans and a simple coral top. Her hair was up in a messy bun and he was struck again by how breathtakingly beautiful she was. He crept behind her as quite as possible and just before he wrapped his arms around her she said…

"I heard you coming down the stairs."

He laughed. "I was so quite! How could you hear me?"

She switched off the burners and placed the food on two plates before turning to face him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her. She was grinning her eyes twinkling with mischief "Never try to sneak up on a spy, Harry." She whispered before she kissed him.

"I'll keep that in mind." He murmured pulling her into another loving kiss.

She pulled away much too soon for Harry's liking. He tried to steal another but she ducked under his arm and grabbed the plates from the counter to place them on the table.

"We can't get distracted." She said grinning at him. "I have to pick Zoe up in an hour. When are you getting Lilly?"

"I didn't set a for sure time with my parents. I could go with you and we could pick the girls up together." He suggested.

"I don't know if that's the best idea." She said. "I think that for now we need to keep the fact that we're dating a secret from the girls…and if we show up at the same time your parents will know we slept together last night."

"So?"

"I do not want them to know that!" She giggled. "Who knows what they'd think."

"They wouldn't think anything. If anything they'd laugh about it."

"I just don't know that I'm comfortable with your parents knowing we're sleeping together. In fact I'm fairly certain that our sex life will be one of the things I never want to discuss with your parents." She laughed. "But I think it's fine if they know we're dating. But if the girls knew they might not be able to understand it. We'd be fielding a lot of questions."

Harry thought about it. She had a point. Once a woman had asked him out in front of Lilly (to her credit she hadn't seen Lilly standing behind him.) The whole way home Lilly had been asking if that woman was going to be her mommy. He definitely didn't want his daughter getting her hopes up that the four of them would be moving in together the next day and children didn't understand that that's not how dating or falling in love worked.

"You've got a point." He conceded. "In fact I think I might like this. Sneaking around, hiding things from the girls. It will feel like I'm a teenager again."

"Hmm, if we're teenagers are you the bad boy my father's forbidden me from seeing?" She smirked leaning into another kiss.

"Oh you definitely wouldn't have been allowed to see me. But I'm sure I could have convinced you to sneak out a time or two." He murmured before succumbing to the kiss.

They pulled away again. "This is going to be a lot of fun"

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Ginny was freshly showered and now walking up to the Potter's home. It was very nice and she noticed a plaque above the door that read "Godric's Hollow."

It wasn't uncommon for wizard's to name their homes. Molly and Author's home was called "The Burrow". She liked the name of this house. It was probably the Gryffindor that enjoyed the home being named after the founder of her school house. She knocked on the door and a man she'd never seen before with wavy brown hair answered.

"Hello, can I help you?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm Ginny. I'm here to pick up Zoe." A look of realization crossed the man's face. He grinned.

"Oh so you're Ginny!" He exclaimed. "Come in, come in. I'm Sirius Black. James's best friend and Harry's godfather. It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you as well." She smiled as she followed him inside. She could've sworn she heard him chuckle under his breath something along the lines of 'Potter's and redheads.' But she chose to ignore it.

"Oi Lil, Prongs! We've got company!"

A thought struck Ginny for a moment, Prongs. Where had she heard that before? She racked her brain trying to remember.

"Padfoot, what's all the yelling about?" James asked strolling into the living room. "Ginny!" he said. "Hi, how was your night?" he asked and Ginny definitely sensed a tone that a parent curious to know how their child's date went could muster. "

"It was great James, thank you for asking. How was Zoe? Not too much trouble I hope?"

"Not at all she's a great girl!" Ginny was glad to hear the girls weren't any trouble but she was still trying to place where she knew the name 'Prongs' from and she could also recall 'Padfoot' she racked her mind on where she could've heard it before.

Lilly came into the room. "Ginny!" she said. "Lovely to see you, how was your night?" She asked in the same tone James had before. She smiled back at the older redhead. "It was lovely, Lilly thank you for asking and thank you both for taking Zoe. I'm glad she wasn't too much trouble."

Lilly beamed. "She was no trouble at all! You both are welcome here any time. They both had a blast and Zoe is such a bright young thing!"

"Thank you, although sometimes that's what gets her into trouble." Ginny joked. "Where are the girls now?" she asked although she continued to search her memory on where she'd heard the names before.

"Just out back. Lilly wanted to show her the treehouse and it was too late last night by the time we got back. It gets dark so early this time of year."

"Oh I know. It's one of Zoe's biggest pet peeves."

"Is everything alright dear? You look a bit distracted."

"Oh yes, everything is fine. It's just I'm trying to recall where I've heard those nicknames Sirius and James called each other before. I feel as though I've heard them somewhere."

Sirius looked as if he was going to pass out from sheer delight. Lilly swore there was nothing her husband and his friend liked more than reliving their school glory days.

"My dear girl," Sirius started. "It seems that our reputation precedes us. May I assume that you attended Hogwarts?"

"Why, yes I did. I was in Gryffindor." If it was possible Sirius's grin spread even wider. "Well you probably heard our name from teachers and fans of course. You are standing in the presence of two Marauders!" he exclaimed.

It was as if a light bulb went off in Ginny's head. She snapped her fingers together as a look of realization passed over her face. "That's it!" She said. James was grinning like a schoolboy and Sirius looked like he'd died and gone to heaven. She looked at the men and asked "Are you the ones who invented the Marauders map then?"

James howled and Sirius was shocked to say the least. "How do you know about the map?" He demanded.

Ginny laughed at their reaction. "My second year." She said through her giggles. "Flitch had confiscated a parcel of mine that I had intended to give to my sister as a birthday gift. I snuck into his office and found this odd piece of paper in his desk. I wondered why Flitch would want to take a simple piece of parchment from a student so I decided to investigate. When I tried to get it to reveal itself, it had the gall to insult me!" She continued although she was still laughing somewhat. "Even so, it seemed odd that a simple piece of paper enchanted to insult someone would be confiscated let alone fold out so large so I took it with me back to my dorm. Once I got there I tried to think about what it would be for. I took a guess that it was a prank of some sort. By this time my sister had joined me. So jokingly we swore that we were up to no good. And it reviled itself to be a map of the school that had everyone's names and locations on it. We saw how it would always follow someone and I kept it for the rest of my stay at Hogwarts. It took nearly an hour to figure out how to close it again."

Lilly was lost in her laughter while Sirius and James looked proud of the young redhead. "Well that tears it!" Sirius said as he crossed the room in two swift strides and embraced her in a bone crushing hug. "My dear girl, you simply have to marry our dear Harry! You are a true Marauder and I'll not have you leaving our little family!" he declared.

"A bit early for that don't you think Uncle Sirius?" Harry asked shocking everyone. Ginny turned towards him and laughed.

"Harry dear, when did you arrive?" Lilly asked walking to her son and embracing him.

"Just after Sirius asked about the map." He replied. "I wanted to know as well so I hung back so I wouldn't interrupt the story." He looked at Ginny. "I can't believe you've had the map all this time. I've heard stories about it since I was a baby." He chuckled.

"Well not the whole time," She replied. "I didn't find it until my second year and before then it seems it was just sitting in Flitch's desk."

"Do you still have it?" James interjected.

"I believe so actually, I think it's somewhere in my attic. I'll dig it up and return it to you. That way Lilly can use it when she attends school."

"Brilliant!" Just as James said that the two girls came bustling inside. They looked at their parents and at the same time shouted.

"DADDY" yelled Lilly.

"AUNTIE!" yelled Zoe.

The two girls ran into the arms of their respective parents both of whom scooped them into massive hugs.

"Oh I missed you, pet!" Ginny said hugging Zoe tightly. "Did you have a good time?"

"Oh, yes! It was so much fun! James and Lilly tell lots of silly stories. And little Lilly and I played with tea sets!"

"That does sound exciting!" Ginny grinned.

"Oh! And daddy, Zoe has this really cool book FILLED with all sorts of jokes! She let me borrow it I'll show it to you at home it's so funny!" Lilly said with excitement that only a child could muster.

"Well that was very nice of her." Harry replied.

"Are you two staying for lunch? Oh and Ginny you and Zoe should as well!" Lilly exclaimed.

"Yea, mom of course." Harry replied.

"Thank you so much for the offer Lilly, but we can't today. We're going to see Zoe's Granny this afternoon." Ginny replied.

"Oh, your mother must be so pleased that you're coming by." Lilly replied.

Ginny had a great feeling of Deja vu. It was the Christmas tree lot all over again. When Zoe said. "Auntie Ginny's mommy and daddy are dead too, we are going to see my great granny. My daddy's Grandma!" Zoe said.

Lilly's face once again fell. She felt as if when it came to Ginny and Zoe she had a rather bad habit of sticking her foot in her mouth. "I'm so sorry, it seems I keep saying the most insensitive things!"

"Not at all Lilly, please don't feel bad! You had no way of knowing. If Lilly had said the same thing I'd have jumped to the same conclusion." Ginny said.

"Ok, well I am truly sorry." Lilly said.

"No please don't be it's not your fault." Ginny replied.

"Alright then." Lilly replied. "I hope you have a nice visit."

"Thanks," Ginny said. "And Lilly again, don't worry about it it's certainly not your fault." Ginny said.

"Well, I'll see you later then Gin." Harry said as his daughter hung playfully from his shoulders.

"Yeah, have a nice lunch you guys, and it was nice to see you Sirius." Ginny said. With that they left for the nursing home.

AN: OK a couple quick things. I just realized I made a mistake. In the first chapter I said that a drunk driver killed Neville and Luna. No, it was a patch of 'ice'. But that will be called into question soon enough. I hope you like this chapter. Read and Review and thanks to everyone who is following the story/has reviewed it makes my day! Hope you all had a merry Christmas and have a happy new year!