It was midnight and Ron was wide awake, staring up at the ceiling. Ron felt… well he wasn't quite sure what to feel.
The day had started out normal – His mum had fed them all a large breakfast before separating them into groups to tackle the latest room that was on her to-clean list. Ron hated that list with a passion, but he had soon learned that complaining would do nothing but give him ear ache. Instead, he shared an exasperated look with the twins.
Then Ginny screamed.
Ron had never in his whole life heard his sister make such a noise; it was a terrible, high-pitched wail that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. His mum was the first one out through the kitchen door, quickly followed by the rest of the Weasleys, Hermione, Remus and Sirius.
He remembered the panic that coursed through his veins as they all thundered up the numerous flights of stairs. All he could think of was that he had to protect his little sister from whatever had terrified her so much, as flashes of the Chamber of Secrets flooded his mind. There hadn't been much to do in the end, however, after his mother had caught Ginny as she fainted. His mum and dad ignored the frantic questions he shouted out to them as he was herded out of the door and told to resume cleaning.
"She'll be okay, Ron," Hermione had quietly reassured him. Ron had merely grunted in response. Logically, he knew this and that Hermione was right. But Ron had never been known for his level-headedness. He didn't know what to do and the fact that his parents didn't have a clue as to why his sister had collapsed only helped fuel his helplessness. Ron hated feeling like a spare part, so he forced himself to stay.
'Harry will be here soon,' he repeated to himself as a mantra. 'He'll know what to do... He always does.' However, the arrival of Ron's best friend only served to complicate things even more.
Baby. Marriage. Time Travel.
Those three words bounced around the inside of his mind as his emotions went haywire. Suddenly his normal day didn't seem as normal as he had hoped it would be.
Time Travel. He wasn't sure about that one either, and he was sure that everyone else felt the same. Ron had only thought that you could travel back in time a mere few hours, never mind 9 years - if that had actually happened. Ron somehow doubted that.
If it had happened, then Ron didn't know how and he couldn't really be bothered to work it out. That was a job for smart people like Hermione, Lupin and Dumbledore. His mind hadn't even acknowledge that there were very important implications connected to time travel as it was too busy being consumed by a rage that was starting to make him see red - and it all cantered around his best friend.
His best friend.
The one who had knocked up his little sister.
Whenever Ron thought of that fact, his blood boiled, which, unfortunately, was happening over and over again like a loop in his imagination. In Ron's eyes, Harry Potter had committed one of the worse betrayals there was.
How dare he! Wasn't there some sort of unspoken rule about shagging your best mate's sister? It was like an unspoken boundary, one that should never be crossed, especially when said people were currently 13 and 14 years old! Screw the fact that this supposedly happened in the future, it just did not happen!
Besides, when the hell had it happened? Harry had never shown any indication that he even liked her or really knew she existed, he thought venomously. All she had been was a loved-up fan girl whenever she was around Harry, so why would he show an interest?
'Maybe he took advantage of her, and because she's so starry eyed about him, she went along with it,' he had practically spat in his mind at first. 'Now she's knocked up and in trouble, and they're trying to pass it off as time travel,' he mentally scoffed. But then a tiny part of his mind told him how ridiculous he sounded - 'Harry would never do something like that, and Ginny wouldn't allow it!'- and that if someone could tell what he was thinking, then he would be hexed into oblivion. He shuddered.
Surely, this was all a convoluted dream he was having…
Hermione Granger considered herself to be very intelligent and perceptive. There were few instances where she found herself to be stumped now that she had spent 4 years in the wizarding world; each one spent uncovering mysteries. Though this time-travel predicament surely had her brain baffled. Now, instead of sleeping, she kept processing what had transpired earlier.
She couldn't stop thinking about the secret details spilled by Harry and Ginny, the lightning-bolt scar and Kreacher's bond. She definitely believed her friends that they were from the future. She tried to dissect everything that was said, but finally she accepted that it was too late and she should probably deal with it tomorrow with a fresh mind.
She looked at Ginny, who was curled up in her bed, oblivious to her musings. Ginny was fast asleep when she entered the room they shared. Harry had peeked in once. He regarded Ginny - his wife, she was now or in the future (that alone opened a whole new slew of thoughts), fondly and with an expression that Hermione had never seen on the face of her best friend. Upon realising that Hermione was looking at him, he gave her smile before going upstairs to retire for the night.
Sirius sat alone in the kitchen of his family's home, a cup of hot tea and whiskey cradled in between his hands on the table. His mind was still spinning so much from the earlier revelations that it had caused him to be unable to sleep. Now all he was doing was staring at a spot on the wall as he tried to process it all.
It was all just so maddening! - something that Sirius did not need any help with. He believed his godson when he said that he and Ginny had travelled back in time. He knew that he would not make up such a thing. In Sirius' opinion, the time travel was the least important thing. He had just seemed to accept the theory and move on; it wasn't actually as farfetched as everyone else seemed to think it was. Before his thoughts could carry on wandering about the night's events, the kitchen door slowly creeped open before Harry walked through it.
"Oh," he stopped short when he noticed his godfather sat at the table alone. "Hey. Didn't expect anyone else to be awake," he sat down across from the physically older man and used his wand to conjure up another cup of tea identical to his godfather's.
"Couldn't sleep. Anyway, aren't you not supposed to do magic during the holidays?" he raised an eyebrow mockingly at Harry, who merely grinned back.
"Supposedly. But the Ministry can't track it here. The wards and the fact that so many fully qualified witches and wizards pass through every day make it impossible."
Sirius' other eyebrow raised in surprise. "I didn't know you knew that." Harry merely shrugged, but offered no explanation. Sirius decided to let it drop for now.
"So, why are you down here?" he asked instead.
"Same as you. Couldn't sleep."
"Aww. Missing your beautiful wife?" Sirius teased. Harry smiled softly at the man he thought he'd never see again.
"Yeah," his voice was tender and his eyes unfocused a little as he thought of the red-haired woman who was asleep upstairs. Sirius watched the expression on Harry's face with a look of wonder. The last time he had seen Harry, the boy had been practically begging him not to leave him in the aftermath of the third task. The young lad had been scared and traumatized and it had felt like physical pain for Sirius to leave him, especially when those haunted green eyes begged him not to go, to stay and help ease the pain.
Now, the Harry that sat in front of him was married with a kid on the way, and Sirius thought that he'd never seen him look so happy.
"You and Ginny seem good together. You both seem genuinely happy and content," he commented as he took another sip of his tea.
"Thanks. She makes me happy," Harry answered softly.
"Will she still be angry at you in the morning?" Sirius couldn't help but chuckle as he remembered how the boy in front of him had flinched and cowered with one look from the red spitfire.
Harry chuckled along with him. "No, I don't think so. Probably she was stressed about the whole situation and the pregnancy. But -," he shrugged with a good-natured grin on his face. "I'll just take it as it comes." Sirius laughed a little bit more.
"So, finding all of this weird?" Harry questioned as he tilted his head to the side. Sirius nodded his head vigorously and mumbled around a mouthful of tea.
"Hell yes. I'm just trying not to think about it too much. If I do that, then my head doesn't hurt. Besides, you're still Harry. Just with more knowledge and a new family."
Harry grinned at him, satisfied with the answer before a silence descended on the pair, punctuated only by the sounds of swallowing.
Both men were lost in their own thoughts, which, strangely, revolved around the same subject.
Sirius broached it first.
"I die, don't I?"
Harry's eyes snapped up to look into Sirius' grey ones. He quickly looked away, which confirmed Sirius' theory. "Thought so."
"How did you know?" Harry said softly. His cup now lay abandoned as he stared sadly at the man across from him. Sirius sat back in his chair and shrugged.
"The way you've been looking at me all night. Like you can't believe that I'm actually there, like I'll disappear at any moment, like a dream. And earlier, when Ginny first woke up this morning, she said my name in the same disbelief, along with Remus and Fred's."
Neither of them spoke again as they stared at each other until Harry swallowed thickly against the tears that were forming.
"Yes. You die. And it's all my fault."
The broken whisper caused Sirius to crease his eyebrows. The fact that his suspicions had been confirmed didn't really bother him. He already knew he died at some point, as every eventually did. What concerned him was the fact that Harry seemed to be heaping the blame upon himself.
"What do you mean, it's all your fault?" he asked quietly.
Harry sucked in a ragged breath that did nothing to steady his voice. "Voldemort tricked me. I thought he had you, so I went after him. Only neither of you were there- only a group of Death Eaters." Sirius' eyes widened in worry. "Eventually the order came to help and you came too. To protect me. You ended up duelling Bellatrix," Sirius startled at the name. "You were mocking her and when you were distracted, she hit a spell at you, causing you to fall into the Veil of Death."
Sirius sat there, stunned, "Well, at least I went down fighting."
"But why is any of that your fault?" he asked the boy sat across from him.
"Because," Harry said thickly, "If I didn't let him trick me, if I didn't go running after him, then you wouldn't have been forced to come and save me!"
Sirius looked gob smacked for a few moments before he stood from the table and walked round the other side. When he reached his godson, he knelt down and wrapped his arms around him.
"Harry, none of that is your fault! Voldemort is manipulative, he uses people against you. You had no way of knowing." He rested his head on the boy's black hair and closed his eyes. "You didn't curse me and cause me to fall. It wasn't you. If anything, it was my fault. I shouldn't have let my arrogance take over."
Harry whimpered. Sirius wasn't saying anything that he didn't already know, but the fact that it was Sirius who was telling him all of those things, made him feel better. He felt comforted at the reassurance and his mind was put at ease a little as he listened to the words. Neither of them said anything more, they just held onto each other, gaining comfort from the other.
Eventually, another thought occurred to Sirius.
"So, when does all of this happen?"
Harry's reply came in a hoarse and cracked voice. "At the end of the next school year. This time next year, you'll be dead."
Sirius closed his eyes tightly as he fought not to swear. Only one thought stopped his mind from tumbling into chaos.
"Don't worry, Harry. I have no idea about the mechanics of time-travelling, but perhaps we might be able to change this. Even if we can't, remember this – It's not your fault. Whatever comes, will come. The only thing we can do is to be prepared. Alright?"
Harry nodded against him.
Thinking it was best to change the subject, Sirius asked his godson, "Do you know how the Marauders celebrated the news of Lily's pregnancy?"
The sound of the kitchen being thrown open jolted Harry Potter from his deep sleep. With a jolt, he sat bolt right up from where he was slumped in a wooden chair. He soon regretted the movement, however, when a spasm of pain throbbed in his forehead. The groan from opposite him alerted him to the fact that Sirius was feeling just as rough as he was.
After the pair had had their little heart to heart (and a little cry, which won't be mentioned to the others), they had decided to forgo the tea and go straight to the Firewhiskey in an attempt to liven up the mood and of course, celebrate the occasion of Ginny's pregnancy. It had started out innocent, until they decided to see what the limits of Harry's teenage body was. Apparently, and surprisingly, his body could actually hold quite a lot of alcohol.
But now, as he rested his head gingerly back on the table, Harry severely regretted drinking with Sirius; his head hurt, his stomach rolled uneasily, and, because of his awkward sleeping position, his neck and back ached.
There was an annoyed huff and a few chuckles coming from the doorway that made Harry wonder who had just walked in.
"Just look at the state of you two!" 'Ah. Molly. Ooops,' Harry thought. "What have you been... is that Firewhiskey?" The high pitched sound the Weasley matriarch was emitting caused both of the dark-haired men to cringe slightly.
"Molly, will you please keep it down? My head feels like Kreacher's bashed me around the head with a frying pan." Sirius's muffled whine could be heard. Harry snorted as a memory of Kreacher doing exactly that, but to a different criminal, flashed across his mind, before it was cut off by his low groan. More snickering broke out from around him.
"No, I will not! It's your own fault! And just look at poor Harry! The first night he's here, and you get him drunk!" She carried on, although her voice was actually quieter than it was before.
Harry lifted his head slowly and peered through one bleary eye. He could just barely make out the fuzzy outlines of the twins, Remus, Tonks (who had apparently slept over) and Hermione before he tried to focus on Mrs Weasley.
"Actually, Molly, I came up with most of the reasons why we should drink more. I think Sirius was actually trying to be the voice of reason at one point," he pointed out. He was sure he heard Remus mutter a 'like that would happen!' under his breath.
"It doesn't matter! You are underage..."
Harry frowned. "I will have you know that I am 24 years old, thank you very much!" a part of him cringed at the childish way that came out.
"Yes, but dear Harry-kins-"
"You clearly aren't 24 years old-"
"We mean, have you seen your scrawny body?"
"It's enough to make anyone think you were about 12, right Fred?"
"Right George." The twins conversed in their dizzying way. Harry glared half-heartedly at them.
That was when he sensed someone sit down beside him and pass him his glasses. After putting them on, the form of Ginny came into focus. She didn't look too happy.
"I can't leave you alone for one night, can I?" she frowned. Harry gave her a weak smile.
"It would seem so."
"How did you end up drinking, anyway? I thought you went to bed?"
A slight look of bitterness flashed in her eyes before she shoved it away. Ginny still felt slightly betrayed from last night, but the larger part of her brain - that was more logical this morning - knew that he hadn't done it because he wanted to be apart from her, but rather so that she wouldn't fight with her parents. While she thought that was sweet and completely Harry-like, it had greatly annoyed her that after such a long and confusing day she couldn't just lie down with her husband's arms wrapped around her.
"I did, but couldn't get to sleep. So, I came down here and started talking to Sirius." He shrugged casually, but a flash of something in his eyes caused Ginny's frown to hold a hint of sadness.
"Harry, I'm so sorry about -" she began, but was cut off by a shake of Harry's head.
"Don't worry about it," he said as he intertwined his hand with hers and place a small kiss on her cheek. "Are you alright?"
Ginny nodded. "What about you?" she asked, "Let me see your chest."
She pulled up his shirt without worrying about the fact that they had an audience. She replied, "Just looking out for my husband, mum," to her mother's reprimand of 'Ginny!'. Ignoring other's groan and splutters, Ginny then skimmed her fingers across his chest. Finding no wound, except for the lightning-bolt scar, she commented, "It looks just like it does in the future."
Someone coughed in the background. Harry quickly donned his shirt, "We'll talk about it later. Promise."
Molly, who had been watching the whole interaction, smiled a little as she watched the pair. The way Harry had instantly forgiven her daughter for her harsh sounding words last night and the guilt that played on her daughter's face caused a tiny sliver of doubt to enter her mind, but she firmly pushed it away. They were too young to share a bed. Satisfied with her resolve, she turned around to start on making breakfast when Albus Dumbledore walked through the door.
"Good morning everybody." He greeted cheerfully to all of the kitchen's current occupants. A chorus of 'Hello Albus/professor' sounded back at him.
"Would you like some breakfast, Albus?" Molly asked without turning around from her place at the stove.
"Ah, yes please, Molly dear." He smiled at her back before turning around to look at two of the people that sat at the old table. He chuckled at what he saw; Harry was sat with his eyes closed and his head leaning on Ginny's shoulder and Sirius was sat with his elbows on the table and his own head cradled in his hands. "Rough night, boys?" he innocently asked.
Fred and George threw their heads back with laughter while Tonks snorted and Hermione and Remus giggled to themselves. Harry and Sirius glared at everyone.
The laughter was soon cut off by a low groan as Ginny suddenly leapt to her feet and bolted from the room, a hand clamped to her mouth. Harry was only a few steps behind her, wincing as he followed.
"Oh dear," Molly sighed as she set down several plates of food.
"What?" Tonks asked, her eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "Why did she run off like that?"
"Morning sickness. It's murder with us Prewitt-Weasley girls," Molly smiled grimly. She still had a little trouble wrapping her head around the pregnancy of her youngest child. "I remember when I had it with my lot. She'll be fine, she just needs a hearty meal down her." And with that, she began to bustle around the stove once more.
"Ugh, I think I might go and join her." Sirius grumbled as his skin tinged green.
Remus raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't know you were pregnant, Padfoot."
This set people off again, including Sirius who rolled his eyes and flinched at the noise.
It was while they were laughing when Ron came into the room.
"What's so funny?" he mumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
Hermione chuckled once more. "Never mind. You had to be there." She waved his protests off and tucked into her breakfast. Ron eventually huffed and gave up asking. "Where are - oh." his new question was abruptly cut off when the pair he was about to ask about walked into the room.
"Alright, dear?" Mrs Weasley questioned Ginny as she placed a plate in front of her. Ginny nodded weakly and Harry gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze. Ron scowled darkly at them, before ignoring them completely.
The only sounds to be heard after that were the scrapings of knives and forks against plates until everyone had finished eating. Harry had hardly eaten anything and had eventually given his nearly-full plate to his wife, who had then wolfed it down after finishing her own plate. Her brothers stared at her with equal parts amusement and pride.
"I'll clean up," Tonks cheerfully stated before anybody could protest. She gathered the plates in her arms before standing up. She got halfway across the room before she tripped over the legs of one of the twin's chairs and the crockery tumbled out of her arms.
"Tonks!" Mrs Weasley groaned. The girl grinned sheepishly at the older woman before waving her wand at the broken pieces.
"Arthur gone on guard duty?" Remus asked between sniggers.
"Yes. He should have relieved Sturgis at five am," Dumbledore calmly answered before turning his gaze to Harry. "Now, I believe we have a few things to discuss."
"Yes sir," he replied as he turned his body to face the headmaster.
Ginny also turned, determined to be a part of the conversation.
"First of all, I wish to ask you, Harry and Ginny, if everything is in order with you two?"
Harry and Ginny both replied in the affirmative.
"Now, I am researching about the time travel on the side. But we need to keep up with the routine. The first thing on the agenda is about your upcoming trial at the Ministry."
Harry frowned, "I cannot tell you every little detail about the future, sir."
"I know, Harry. You have divulged a bit of knowledge in the past 24 hours," he said with a kindly smile. "But, this is quite a minor plot point, one would think. I am sure that a little extra information wouldn't hurt. I merely wished to know if the hearing would be as fair and just as I expect it to be."
Ginny snorted at the old man's words. She stared defiantly at the looks people gave her.
"I take it Dumbledore is once again underestimating our dear Minister." Sirius observed, a look of disgust on his face at the thought of Cornelius Fudge.
"Sirius! Don't be so rude!" Molly reprimanded. Before Sirius could retort, Albus cut back into the conversation.
"Of course, Sirius has a point. I do tend to hope for the best in some people." He nodded his head at the young Animagus before turning to the red headed female. "Now, would you care to elaborate on your reaction?"
Ginny angrily huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "The 'hearing'," her voice dripped with sarcasm as she stretched out that word. "Was nothing more than Fudge's way of showing his supposed dominance. He might as well have just pissed on Harry." Said boy grimaced in disgust as the twins silently shook with laughter.
"Ah. I was afraid of that happening," Dumbledore frowned heavily.
"What happened?" Hermione interjected; her face was twisted with concern at the treatment the Minister had given her best friend.
Harry let out a frustrated sigh, "In a nut shell, he deliberately changed the time of the hearing to make me look bad, didn't allow me to finish answering any questions, claimed I was telling rehearsed stories and tried me in front of the entire Wizengamot."
There were noises of outrage and disgust at his words. Even Ron dropped his icy demeanour in favour of an ugly glower.
"He did what?" Sirius hissed, a feral look in his eyes. Nobody deserved to be treated like that, especially not his godson! He wanted very badly to waltz into the Ministry and show Fudge who was more 'dominant'.
Dumbledore sighed a long-suffering sigh. "Well, we cannot allow it to happen that way this time round. I will have a talk beforehand with one or two of acquaintances in the Wizengamot." His tone effectively showed that that was the end of the current conversation.
"Is there anything else you want to discuss?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry asked, "What is Riddle doing? Has Professor Snape reported anything?" Last night's dream or whatever that was when he fainted was still fresh in his mind.
Before Dumbledore could answer, Tonks intervened, "Who's Riddle?"
"Voldemort. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. The entire Lord Voldemort is nothing more than a nickname he gave himself. Clearly to hide his background. No need to call him by his pretend names, when you can easily use his real one," Harry explained.
"No wonder his followers don't know that their leader is a half-blood. Wonder if they would still tag behind him like puppies," Ginny snorted. This piece of information caused people to be surprised.
"Yes," Dumbledore said, "Riddle was very clever in burying his real identity. Tell me, Harry, why do you want to know what he is up to?"
"Just... to be in the loop," Harry replied. "Since this time-travelling thing caught us unawares, it's better to be one step ahead, especially where Riddle is concerned."
"Very wise. As far as Severus knows, he is currently lying low. As a large part of our world is refusing to acknowledge his return, he is sure to be taking advantage of the ignorance."
Harry nodded. It appeared that nothing had changed with their enemy. For a while he thought because of his connection with Riddle, their secret was out. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "As we both are here in this time for the foreseeable future, you will tell me about the Order and any other developments, won't you Professor? I am not the 15 year old Harry Potter that you knew until now; since I know everything that is happening behind the scenes. I don't want to be kept out of things that concern me, as now by extension it affects my wife and our baby,'' finished Harry in a firm tone.
Ginny had a bright look, while the others stared at this new Harry, as if he had emerged from a cocoon undergoing an enormous transformation.
Dumbledore gave him a small nod, "Is there anything else?"
"Well, before we arrived here, we were going to have our monthly appointment with our Healer at St. Mungo's. Yesterday you concluded that everything was in order but we don't know how long we are going to stay in this time, so I'd still like to be sure," said Ginny.
Molly then added, "You can't certainly walk into St. Mungo's now."
"Can we call Madame Pomfrey here?" asked Harry. "She's the only one we can trust."
Dumbledore after a minute replied, "She'll have to be let in of course. She's definitely someone we can trust in the Healer community. I will talk with her. Perhaps after the hearing, is that alright with you Mrs. Potter?"
Ginny nodded.
Two days after waking up in 1995, Harry and Ginny tried to accustom themselves with the familiar routine of nine years ago. Each day a new room was sorted through and cleaned and dusted to within an inch of the occupant's lives - the twins stealing some of the more questionable items to investigate for their joke shop.
The interesting thing, which was also quite annoying, was that whenever they were together, the others would watch them, not so discretely. Ginny had caught more than once her parent's eyes, while Harry Hermione's and Ginny's brothers'. Though what was odd that not one had come forward and asked them directly about the future. Ginny suspected that the residents of 12, Grimmauld Place had a talk amongst themselves, deciding not to be direct in their approach and just observe from a distance for the time being, as if Harry and Ginny were an animal couple in the wilderness.
However, her youngest older brother's attitude had started to become unbearable. Ron still wasn't talking to either Harry or Ginny and had decided to communicate instead with a very watchful eye and some heated glares, something that irritated the latter severely.
Ron usually was the first one to leave the room or the kitchen, directly after a discussion or breakfast, lunch and dinner. He even avoided looking at Harry and Ginny as he stalked out of the room.
Hermione sent Harry and Ginny an apologetic look before she walked out after him. The twins just rolled their eyes at their younger brother's behaviour.
"Don't worry, Lovebirds," George said cheerily. "He'll come around eventually."
"He better do," Ginny growled. Harry squeezed her leg comfortingly. She turned to look into his eyes and they shared a look that communicated one word: Soon.
Harry even considered having a one-on-one with Ron so as to prevent the situation that had arose last year with the Goblet of Fire; but then quickly discarded the idea. Ron was in no mood to listen. He just needed to sort out the whole predicament in his head first. The best thing was to leave him alone to his own devices and let him vent out his feelings to the only person he was comfortable with – Hermione.
Harry knew Hermione, being the most logical of all, had taken the time-travel thing in stride and was surely weeding out answers on her own. She had yet to confront Harry with questions. She spent the majority of her time like others in chores and the remaining with Ginny, talking to her about Merlin knows what and trying to bridge the gap between her two best friends.
"Yeah. His poor brain just has to have a little time to adjust. After all, it does work slower than the rest of ours does," Fred added with a superior nod.
"Fred! George!" Molly reprimanded with a glare. While she had agreed with her son on the sleeping issue, she did not agree with his blatant disregard of his younger sister and best friend. The twins just looked innocently at her.
"Well, I best check on Buckbeak," Sirius announced as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head. His shoulder joints gave a loud pop that caused Mrs Weasley to look disapprovingly at him. He sent the young couple a smile and left to go upstairs.
"I need to go and sort out one of the spare bedrooms," Molly said. "Charlie's coming tomorrow and he'll need somewhere to sleep."
"Charlie?" The twins questioned. Molly nodded.
"Yes. I owled him and asked him to come home. Don't worry, dears," she added as she saw the apprehensive look on Harry's face. "I haven't told him anything important, just that I have something to discuss with him about the family."
And with that, she left the room. Fred and George soon followed her, citing that they had some summer homework to do, though it was clear neither of them sounded sincere about it.
"Finally, alone at last," Harry said taking Ginny's hand.
"Why, Mr. Potter, what are your intentions - " Ginny broke off as the door opened suddenly and Ron stood in the doorway. Ignoring the two, he strode to a cupboard, grabbed hold of something and walked out, as if his eyes could only look ahead.
"He just needs to grow up!" Ginny exclaimed as she paced the living room, unable to let Ron's behaviour go. Harry watched her warily from his seat on the sofa, afraid that she might channel that anger towards him. "I mean, he just needs to get over it! Everyone else has!"
"It was a massive shock to him, Ginny. Hell, it shocked us! We've just adapted easier," he reminded her softly. Ginny barely even looked at him as she ignored his comments.
"Honestly, you'd think we'd have suggested we show him how the baby was made! Oh, but we can't even do that because we aren't allowed to sleep in the same room!" she growled. Harry had heard this line many times during the past two days. Even though Ginny had calmed down about the situation, she still had random bouts of emotion.
"Gin," Harry said soothingly as he grabbed her hands and led her to the sofa. Once they were sat down, he wrapped his arms around her waist and she leaned against him. "It'll all blow over soon. Just let everyone calm down and adjust."
"Why are you so calm about this? Don't you want us to sleep together?"
"Of course, I want us too! But understand from their point of view - one day you are a 13 year old girl and the next day you're married and pregnant. Also, they don't know me."
Ginny just regarded him coolly, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, your parents and brothers know me as Harry, Ron's best mate, but not as Ginny's husband. Hell, they didn't even have time to see me as Ginny's boyfriend."
Ginny gave a sigh, "I hate when you become the voice of reason."
"Lucky for you then. Who else could tamper down that fiery temper?" chuckled Harry, which earned him a poke in his side.
"I love you."
Harry kissed her head, "I love you too, Mrs. Potter."
Ginny beamed with happiness. Pulling his head down she whispered, "At least no one can stop us doing this," and kissed him quite passionately.
The moment her lips touched his, Harry realized how much he'd missed kissing her. How much he missed touching her. After all, time and privacy were a bit rare these days. He moved his hand up her spine, holding her hip with the other as his lips brushed hers again and again and again. When their tongues met, she moaned, "Harry…"
"I missed you," Harry murmured against her lips.
"Not here," she pulled back. Standing up, she took his hand in hers and led him to her room, where they could spend the next few hours uninterrupted, snogging happily.
