A/N: There is NO hint in this chapter about the paternity (you all obsess over lol) but there will be one chapter before the actual results where you get somewhat of a hint (if you are paying attention) but if you figure it out, please don't leave it in the comments until it is properly revealed. Just to keep it exciting for the peeps who don't have it figured out yet or want to be surprised!

This isn't really a long chapter but we are just gearing up for some bigger reveals (some of which you can guess), so just making sure everything is properly established before we get into the (baby) drama. Also Jily in this one!


"Hey, Neville, haven't seen you in a bit," she said as she walked into Harry and Neville's dorm. They were at the table, having lunch.

"His plants need his attention," Harry said.

Ginny came up to him. He sat back so she could get onto his lap. He kissed her cheek when she was seated.

"Do not write your thesis about plants, it's such a headache," Neville complained. "They die when they're not supposed to and then when they can, they don't!"

Harry turned his attention back to his food, his left arm coming around Ginny.

"I don't even want to think about my thesis yet. They said we should start choosing topics on time," Ginny said with an eyeroll.

"They're not wrong, though." He focused on his food again.

"Felicia threatened with a noise complaint today," Ginny said matter-of-factly.

Neville looked at them with a smile. He had not complained about any noise yet.

"Said we were too loud yesterday," she added, amused, eyeing Harry.

Harry laughed. "We weren't even at your dorm yesterday."

"So, you're not going to miss her next year?" Neville asked.

"I am praying I don't have her as a roommate again next year, I can't handle that." Ginny shook her head.

"Well, at least you have a refuge to come to," Harry said, she was more often at his dorm than hers these days. "And Neville is graduating so he won't have to deal with us anymore."

"Ginny is pretty decent as roommates go," Neville said with a smile.

She leaned towards him. "Can you please tell Felicia for me?" Ginny asked him.

Neville quickly shook his head. "Yeah, no."

Harry saw Ginny eye the remainder of his plate. He offered her his fork. She took it from him and started on the rest of his food.

"Do you even cook for yourself anymore?" Harry asked her. He couldn't remember the last time she ate at her dorm.

Ginny thought about it. "Between going to the cafeteria and coming here? Not really," she replied, taking another bite.

Neville stood up. "I have to go—back to the plants. Just like Ginnys, if you don't feed them and give them attention, they get unhappy." He smiled and grabbed his bag and headed out.

"Did he just call me high maintenance?"

Harry bit his lip, trying not to smile. "I think he did."

"You didn't tell him what our revenge plan was, did you?" she asked.

"Your ingenious plan of not doing anything and them waiting anxiously forever? Of course not." He grinned at her.


Ginny was at the end of his bed, going through her notes in preparation for the exams. Harry was just waiting for her to finish. Her phone buzzed.

"Can you check who it is?" Ginny asked without looking up.

Harry reached out to her phone and opened it. He stilled as he noticed the picture Seamus had taken was now her wallpaper.

"What is it?" Ginny said.

Harry was touched that she had made them her wallpaper. "Your wallpaper…" he mumbled softly.

"Oh, yeah. I thought it was cute and you look at me so sweetly," Ginny explained. She continued typing on her laptop. "Now who texted me?"

"Right," Harry said, clicking on her messages. "It's Ron, he wants to know if you can make it to his graduation."

Ginny finished reading the paragraph and closed her laptop.

"Tell him yes and I am bringing a plus-one, if you are free," Ginny responded, "As if I'd miss his graduation!" She warily shook her head.

She crawled into Harry's lap as he typed the message. He put her phone down and took his own phone, opening the camera app.

"For my wallpaper," Harry clarified, raising his arm to take the picture.

Ginny's hands came up to hold his face and she pressed her lips against his cheek as he snapped the picture. He looked at the picture and then set it as his wallpaper with a soft smile.

He set his phone aside and his hands landed on her thighs. "Are you done with your chapter?" Harry asked.

She shook her head. "No, I just saw you sitting here looking like a lost puppy and I thought it was time for my break."

"How kind of you."


"Ginny! It's so good to see you, come in, come in, you know the way," Lily said, hugging Ginny and letting her in. Harry hugged his mom too.

"Hi Mrs Potter," Ginny greeted her.

She gasped. "You haven't called me that in years!"

"Little late to be sucking up to my mom, Gin," Harry commented.

Ginny shrugged, smiling widely. "Trying to make a good first impression as girlfriend, Harry."

"The first time I saw you, you had just gotten out of detention, I think your efforts are wasted," Lily told her. "You can't fool us."

"Fine, then I don't need to pretend," she said, shooting a wink at Harry before she followed his mom out on the terrace. It was still a bit chilly outside, but it would be warm enough to enjoy dinner in the spring sun.

Ginny was already busy chatting with James when Harry followed them outside. They all sat down at the table.

"Now I do want to hear details, mister I don't date," Lily said, folding her arms with a smile.

"Strange, that's also what Ginny calls me," Harry responded.

Ginny smiled as she met his eyes. "Only that one time."

Harry looked back at his mom. "No… Well, apparently everyone could see we had feelings for each other except us… so our friends spent the vacation setting us up, without us noticing. Much to our annoyance, it ended up working."

Ginny nodded in confirmation, that about covered it.

"So what did it then?" Lily pried more.

Ginny looked at Harry to go on.

"Well, they stuck us in a closet together during truth or dare. Ginny told me one of the girls was interested in me and I was like well, I'd rather date you and then it suddenly hit me… I asked her out that Friday," he told them.

"No no, I asked you out," Ginny corrected him.

Harry frowned. "Uhm, no."

"Fine, we can disagree on that." Ginny shrugged.

Harry was surprised she was letting it go that easily, but he assumed she was just being nice in front of his parents.

Lily smiled. "You two are so lovely together, I am happy for you."

"Thanks," he said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Harry, you're helping me with the food," James said.

Harry stood up and followed his dad into the kitchen.

"Go on, what are the comments," Harry said now they were alone.

James smiled as he took out food from the fridge. "It's Ginny, she's great."

"I don't understand honestly…" Harry spoke. "I have had crushes before, but this feels very different."

James handed him cherry tomatoes. "Slice those." He took the salad and started putting it on the plates. "That's how you know which ones to marry."

Harry almost sliced his finger open and looked up abruptly. "I—" He glanced outside at Ginny and his mom, happily chatting. She did fit right in with his family, always had.

"Oh my god, you already thought about it? You are two weeks in, Harry." James didn't sound judgemental albeit a little amused.

"No, I know that." He shook his head as he turned his attention to the tomatoes again. "Except she keeps saying stuff like that I may be Mr Right and that we could get an apartment after we graduate, and I don't know what to do with that!" He sliced the tomatoes rather aggressively. "With other guys she's always so cautious, takes it slow and then she says stuff like that to me." One half of a tomato shot off and dropped to the floor. Harry did not move to pick it up. "I don't know what to say. Say no and turn her down? Or agree and scare her off?" He looked up at his dad for some kind of fatherly wisdom.

"What do you want?" James asked him compassionately.

Harry blinked blankly at his dad.

"Harry… I was just like you. I thought it wasn't for me… But secretly I was always a family man. Having a wife and a kid, that's what made me happy. If she's being that honest with you, I think you can afford to be that honest with her."

Harry handed the tomatoes back to his dad and got basil to cut instead. They did not need to communicate much about that, they had been cooking together for a long time. "That's the other problem, isn't it? The secret service stuff, which is why I wasn't dating…"

"Do you think that's such a big issue?" James asked. "I can't relate, I met your mom at the agency."

"Yes... No... She knows that's what I want to do later but the idea she has of it is pretty vague and she doesn't know I am already in it now…"

"Well, if you know it is serious —and I think you know it is— you better come clean about those things sooner rather than later. But relax, Harry, it's been two weeks, you're clearly very happy so just go with the flow for a while."

That put him somewhat at ease. "It's been the happiest two weeks of my life," Harry responded. Then his stomach both dropped and tumbled at the same time. "Oh crap, I will have to marry her, won't I?"

James came to stand beside Harry as they both looked outside. "Eventually, I think so. You've got time."

Harry scoffed. "Yeah, and you were married at what age?" He looked at his dad.

"Twenty-one but those were very different times, you know that."

"Well, I am already past that age so… I just didn't think I'd ever fall in love like this."

"Why don't you tell her that first?" his dad suggested carefully.

Harry laughed. "Now if there is one thing that I know will scare her off, it's that."

James turned back to the plates. "Nah. I don't think so, but that's up to you." He handed two plates to Harry. "Off you go."

Harry took the plates and walked back outside, suddenly finding it hard to look at Ginny, as if she was the setting sun and looking too long would blind him. He put the two plates down for Ginny and his mom and sat down beside Ginny.

"Gin, I think after dinner we're due for a table tennis rematch," he said.

"Only if you're prepared to lose," she quipped back.

"I wouldn't take that bet if I were you," James said, bringing the other two plates.

Harry's jaw dropped. "Thanks for the faith in me, dad."

"Oh no, I was just considering Ginny's commitment to winning." James smiled.

"I think your dad is onto something."

"Ginny told me you convinced her not to date for a while, are you sure you weren't just jealous?" Lily teased as they started on their food.

Harry sighed. "I only suggested it, not my fault she stuck to it!" He scowled at her. "I didn't tell her not to date. I told her not to chase it so much and a great guy would show up. And I am a great guy so clearly, I was right."

Ginny snorted and he glanced at her with a smile, still not quite able to really look her in the eye.

"I wasn't jealous," he defended himself. "I was just a ... keen observer of her love life."

"I think you're digging yourself into a hole there," James commented with a grin.

"Yes, I sensed that," Harry said. "Maybe we should switch the topic."

"You can't possibly expect us not to tease you when you finally bring a girlfriend home?" James replied.

Ginny squeezed his knee.

"On a more serious note, were we really that obvious? Even when we didn't know?" Harry wondered, maybe his parents would offer him an honest answer.

His parents shared a knowing look between each other before Lily looked at him.

"Sometimes people just click and you two always ... 'clicked'. Doesn't mean you should end up dating, but that's usually a lifetime thing I've noticed," Lily told them.

"Did you two 'click'?" Ginny asked.

James chuckled. "God no. She couldn't stand me."

"You strutted around like you owned the place!" Lily told him.

James turned his head away dramatically. "Not my fault I practically grew up there."

Lily turned her attention to Ginny again. "So no, we did not click, not like that anyway. I needed a while to warm up to him. It didn't exactly help that he wasn't being subtle about his interest in me." She shot a fond look at her husband.

He shrugged. "I knew what I wanted and went for it."

"I guess you do take after your father, Harry," Ginny joked. "Once he realised..."

"Did you?" James asked, almost looking proud.

Harry chuckled awkwardly. "Yes, though Ginny didn't need as much chasing as mom did."


Harry didn't manage to hit the ball on time and it bounced to the ground.

"I win," Ginny announced gleefully.

"One more!" he argued.

"Harry, just admit you lost," she said, putting the paddle down, putting her hands on her hips.

His father pushed him out of the way. "Let the table tennis god show you how it's done." He turned to Ginny. "Are you up?"

"Absolutely," she said, taking her paddle up again.

Harry reluctantly handed his paddle over to his dad and stood aside.

His dad quickly took the lead in the game, but Ginny was barely behind. Eventually, James won.

"See," he said, looking at Harry.

"Maybe she just lets you win because she is a guest here," Harry suggested.

James laughed but then his smile faltered. He looked at Ginny. "Did you?"

She smiled innocently. "If I did, you will never find out."

"We must head back, before this turns into a war," Harry said. "Unless mom wants to prove herself?"

"Your dad knows full well I would beat him," she replied. She hugged her son. "Drive safely." She turned to Ginny and hugged her too. "Come by soon, this was fun!"


"Harry?" Ginny asked when they were getting ready for bed.

"Yeah?" he said, taking his shoes off.

"Is something wrong? You have hardly looked me in the eye since we arrived at your parents."

"Oh." He forced herself to look at her now. "My dad teased me about you, that's all."

"What about?" Ginny asked, crossing her arms as she observed him.

He walked to her and considered his dad's words. He wasn't ready to say the three big words yet, scared of chasing her away, but he offered some other honesty instead. "Well, he could see I have a lot of feelings for you, I guess it was too easy to tease me. I got embarrassed."

"It's just us now, so you better keep looking at me." Her arms unfolded, her hands coming to rest on his hips.

And he kept looking. "Okay."