A/N: I am trying to be a bit more organised and not stress myself out to have updates ready, so I have decided to create a posting schedule.

I am only adding dates as I get chapters ready but I am aiming to update bi-weekly for the foreseeable future. Subject to change on account of real life, of course.

Tue, 27 Feb: ch35: Ginny's birthday
Tue, 12 Mar: ch36

I also post updates on my pinned post on tumblr (GinnyW-Potter) if you want to see the most recent update.


Ginny said goodbye to Harry the evening before the move. He kissed her softly.

Lily rolled her eyes from the couch. "It's like the day before a wedding and you can't see each other overnight. You'll be living together tomorrow!"

Harry blushed softly. Ginny picked up her bag, put it in her car, and closed the boot. She wasn't too surprised to find Harry standing behind her.

"If there is any problem with picking up the key, you can call me," he told her.

Ginny smiled. "Remember to take some deep breaths once in a while, darling." She walked to the driver's side. "I am perfectly capable of picking up a key by myself."

He nodded and pulled her close, kissing her again. "See you tomorrow."

She caressed his cheek. "Goodnight, Harry. I'll text you."

She shook her head smiling and stepped into her car. She drove to the apartment and walked up to the first floor. She knocked on the open door to their apartment and stepped in.

Thea looked up and smiled brightly. "Hi, Ginny! Right on time, I just finished my check of everything."

"Great," Ginny said. "It looks fine."

"How have you been?" Thea asked. "Baby is starting to show!"

Ginny smiled and looked down. "Yes, she is. All good, we've been busy packing the last week or so but we're really looking forward to this."

"I bet," Thea agreed. "You'll be moving tomorrow?"

"Yes, we will try to get almost everything done tomorrow, after that it would be just some smaller items," she confirmed.

"Alright, these are two sets of keys." She pushed them on the counter towards Ginny. "You already have the code for the front door, but this is also the key in case you ever need it. Storage room key and then the actual key of the apartment."

"Great," Ginny said, picking up the keys and trying to remember what was what.

"We redid some of the screws of the shelves in the pantry, they were a little bit unstable but it should be fine now," Thea said. "If any trouble, you can just message me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible."

"Thank you, sounds great."

Thea picked up her items and said her goodbyes. Ginny took her time to walk through the apartment. She took pictures of every room, as her parents had suggested, and just took it all in. It would be a good apartment to raise a baby in.

She rubbed her belly. "First home, nugget. I'm sure you'll love it."


Ginny arrived first at the apartment together with her three youngest brothers. They had driven there in two cars and already carried up a first load of boxes.

When she had shown them around the apartment, Harry showed up too. He put down his own box and pulled her into a kiss. Her brothers cleared their throats loudly but she ignored them. She plucked the keys off the counter and gave the second set to him.

Her parents arrived shortly after and then Lily and James arrived too, with Sirius and another man.

Sirius walked up to Ginny and hugged her tightly, to her parents' surprise. "How is my favourite girl?"

Lily gasped. "I thought I was your favourite girl."

Sirius released her with a grin and Ginny shook her head.

"He isn't talking about me, he's talking about your grandbaby," Ginny told her.

Lily smiled. "Oh, that's allowed."

Sirius nodded in confirmation. He pointed to the man he had brought to him. "This is Remus."

Remus politely shook her hand. "So nice to meet you finally."

"Likewise."

Sirius turned around to her parents. "I am Sirius Black, you must be Molly and Arthur!" He shook their hands. "I am so happy to meet you officially. You have a wonderful daughter."

Remus introduced himself as well.

"And these are my brothers, Fred, George and Ron," Ginny told the two men.

Sirius nodded. "I know these two troublemakers! Didn't you put red food dye in the football showers once?"

"Yes, that was them," Harry confirmed. "They haven't changed one bit if you must know."

"Can't go anywhere with them," Molly muttered.

"Honestly, I'm impressed," Sirius said. "The amount of planning and skill that went into that can't be underestimated. You raised some smart kids."

Molly looked charmed.

"Okay," Ginny said. "Bigger furniture first so we can start assembling it. Bed, closet, couch… should take priority."

"And Ginny can't carry anything heavy," Harry announced. "In case she was planning on doing that when I had my back turned."

She sighed. "I can't because I didn't put it on the schedule, planning ahead like a pro."

He grinned at her and kissed the top of her head before following everyone outside to bring up the first items.

Ginny started on assembling the couch with Fred and George. She picked up the instructions and started reading

"If you tell it to us wrong, we are not redoing it, just saying," Fred said.

Ginny shot him an annoyed look and told them how to screw the legs onto the couch. The apartment was busy; in every room there was a group of people assembling furniture and more stuff was being brought in.


By the time lunch came around, the majority of their furniture had been assembled and their kitchen was done. The rest of the boxes they had to unload themselves still. They all sat around the table or on the floor as they did not have that many chairs. Ginny went and picked up takeout for everyone.

"So how far is it to the campus?" Fred asked, looking out the window.

"About 10 minutes walking that way, it really isn't far. Maybe 20 for the buildings furthest away."

"Not bad," Fred said. "I hope there are good restaurants nearby because you are a terrible cook."

Harry bit his lip trying not to laugh.

"You burn something once! And I will have to live it down for the rest of my days? That's not fair!"

"Good luck, Harry," George said.

Ginny admitted defeat. "Harry will do most of the cooking."

He patted her hand. "See, I was keeping that a secret for you."

"Thanks, darling."


In the early afternoon, they got to the rest of the furniture. Molly organised the kitchen in the meanwhile and filled their fridge. Some boxes were already dealt with as well.

Her mum insisted on helping to clean as well before she left. When everything was done, there were only a few boxes left and their apartment was decently clean.

"Now, you can call for anything and if I don't hear from you at least three times a week I am going to call the police on you," Molly said, she and Arthur were the last to leave.

Ginny hugged her mum. "You got it. Thank you, really." She closed the door and then sat down on the ground, her hands on her lower back.

"Yeah, I thought so," Harry said. He came to sit beside her, his hands on her lower back, massaging the muscles.

"You don't have to, you're tired too, you have been carrying much heavier stuff all day." Yet she didn't want him to stop as it was helping to relieve the aches tremendously. Her hips had been hurting more and moving did not particularly help.

"I'm fine," Harry assured her. His thumbs worked at the knots in her lower back. She could feel the tension ease and the ache got better.

After a few minutes, Ginny turned around to him. "We've got couches and now look at us sitting here on the floor."

Harry smiled. "You sat down here, I just joined you." He stood up and pulled her up too.

She walked to the window and looked out over the street. Over the buildings, she could see the university campus. When she turned back around, she saw Harry was taking pictures of her. He snapped another one as she shot him a judging look.

"What? The kid is going to want to see this someday," he defended himself.

Ginny looked into the baby's room. In reality the baby would sleep with them for a while, but all her items were in there. She looked over at the baby bed, imagining a little bundle in there.

"It's good, isn't it?" Harry asked as he came up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek.

"It's good," she agreed.

"Hang on." Harry released her and went to one of the boxes. He opened it and rummaged in it.

He took out the otter plushy they had bought the other day and placed it in the baby bed.

"He can keep it warm until she gets here," he said. "See, nuggie…?" He walked up to Ginny again and caressed her bump. "We promised we'd figure it out before you got here."

"This is a huge step in the right direction," she agreed.


Ginny crawled into bed after dinner. Harry continued unpacking while she slept, tucked in their bed. He wanted to start on the clothes but he didn't want to wake her up so he ducked into the pantry and put some of the food up on the shelf.

She shuffled back out of the room when he was about to check what was in the last few boxes that didn't hold clothes.

She rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"

Ten," he said.

She let out a little grunt. "You let me sleep too long."

"It's okay," he told her. He walked around the counter to her. "You can stay up late with me."

"Right, new place. You have trouble sleeping." She looked around at the remaining boxes.

"I'll adjust soon enough." He looked at the boxes too. "We can do our clothes tomorrow."

She nodded. "We need to negotiate closet space."

He put his hands to his side and cocked his head. "Do we?"

"Yes." She put her arms around his waist. "You need to decide if you want one-third or one-fourth of the closet."

"You don't even fit in half the stuff right now! Just leave it in a box," he argued.

"No!" She pouted. "I will not."

"I want two-fifths," he said.

"… Fine."

"I can't believe you broke in the bed without me," he said, looking towards the bedroom.

She chuckled. "We'll break it in properly tomorrow?"

"You got it." He looked towards the pantry. "I just finished the pantry, what snack do you want?"

She let go of him and walked into the pantry. "Ooh, nice. This will last us three days at least."

"Ginny!" he said, walking in after her. "Supposed to last as a whole lot longer than that."

She looked up at him. "That's very unlikely."


Ginny settled on the couch. Harry ducked into the fridge. She turned around in surprise when she heard a cork pop.

"Harry!"

He showed her the bottle. "No worries, it's kids' champagne." He picked up the champagne glasses from the counter. He looked at the bottle. "It's apple-cherry flavoured."

"How did you sneak that past me?" she asked as Harry sat down next to her.

"Your mum was in on it," he said. He poured them each a glass. He gave one to Ginny and picked up the other for himself. "I know we keep saying this is our pseudo-dorm but let's call it what it is. We are living together in an apartment as a couple, it's a major milestone." He smiled at her. "It's our first home as a family."

She caressed her bump and smiled brightly.

"And I am no longer scared of spooking you so I'm not afraid to tell you these things." He raised his glass. "To our first apartment, and nugget's first home."

They clinked their glasses together.

Ginny took a sip and set down the glass. "Settling down with a guy and starting a family was really a 5-year plan."

Harry set his glass down. "I didn't get that memo." He turned to her with a smile. "What else will you do after that?"

"I don't know!" she let out, pretending to be annoyed.

Harry slipped in the corner of the couch and invited her to come sit with him. She curled up beside him, her arms around his waist.

"We're finally going to have more than a few hours just to ourselves," Ginny commented. She looked up at him.

Harry's hand carded through her hair. "What will we do with all that time?"

Ginny chuckled and got comfortable.

"Wow, I'm not used to the quiet," Harry said after a moment.

She sat up and got their glasses again, refilling them. She sipped it. "Surely mum thought this was too much sugar for me."

"I promised her I wouldn't let you drink the whole bottle by yourself," Harry replied.

She snorted. "Oh, of course. I guess celebration calls for it." She glanced at her phone. "We should tell our scheming friends we're all settled but I think they can wait a little while."

"Have you thought about baby names yet?" Harry asked, downing the champagne.

"I got nothing," Ginny said. She pointed towards the baby's room. "We couldn't even name an otter! What makes you think we are ready to name a baby?"

He shrugged, holding his glass out for Ginny to refill. "I think 'Otter' is a perfectly fine name."

"We can't name her 'baby,' Ginny replied as she poured. She put the bottle down.

Harry looked at her. "It can be like in Dirty Dancing."

"You know her name is not actually 'Baby', right?" she asked him.

"No?"

"It's Frances!" she replied with a shake of her head. "We're watching that movie again."

He pulled her close again. "We can put Frances on the list."

She smiled softly. "No, that's a terrible name."

"Oh, come on," he said with a groan. "We are never going to get a name like this."

She patted his leg. "We have time." She kissed his cheek.


They were just about to re-enter their apartment when they heard shuffling in the corridor above them. When Harry looked up, he saw a lady above him waving.

"Morning!" he greeted.

"We were wondering if you'd like to come up for a cup of tea or coffee?" she asked.

"We'd love to!" Ginny replied. She put her keys away again.

"Richard," she called inside to her husband. "Put the kettle on!"

Harry walked up the stairs, Ginny close behind. The elderly lady was waiting excitedly at the top of the stairs.

"Hi, I'm Doris!" she greeted happily.

"Harry," he introduced himself and stepped aside to make space for Ginny. "And this is my girlfriend, Ginny."

Doris looked excitedly at the two of them. She looked at Ginny's belly. "I think you forgot to introduce someone," she said cheekily.

Ginny chuckled. "She doesn't have a name yet."

"Come in, come in!" Doris said.

Harry shared a look with Ginny and followed her inside. Her husband was at the counter. The kettle was on and he was slicing fresh lemon. They were expected.

"This is my husband, Richard," she said excitedly.

They settled at the table and were treated to tea and cookies as they chatted.

Doris pushed against Ginny softly. "Handsome lad, you're a lucky girl."

Ginny chuckled as Harry promptly turned red, sipping his tea to have something to do.

"I know," Ginny told Doris. "But he gets a bit shy if I tell him that."

Harry shook his head at her.

"If I can give you one piece of advice," Doris started sagely. "Marry him."

"She won't let me," Harry added with a wink towards Ginny.

Doris gasped. "My dear girl, why not? If you see a nice man like that, you snatch him up before some other girl can!" She turned to her husband. "Am I not right? I knew I had to be faster than that Bridget."

Richard's eyes softened as he looked at his wife. "Bridget didn't stand a chance against you, darling."

Ginny shared a look with Harry. Doris and Richard were adorable.

Doris blushed. "So, Ginny," she said, turning back to her. "Why not?"

Ginny shot an annoyed look at Harry, because now she had to explain. "We decided since we already have enough going on with the baby, marrying can happen later."

Doris nodded. "It wasn't planned, was it?" Her voice dropped to a very carrying whisper. "I don't blame you. Those things happen with a looker like that," she said in a conspiring tone.

"Doris!" Ginny said with a laugh. "You are cheeky!"

Doris shrugged innocently. "That's how we got our four. Did we not, Richard?" She looked at him. "You were the handsomest guy at school." She looked back over at Ginny. "So I just knew I had to marry him."

"Believe it or not, but we were friends for years before this happened," Ginny told Doris.

"Really?" she replied. "What did it, then?"

Ginny stirred her tea. "Ah… Our friends seemed to have caught on that we were catching feelings for each other. They locked us in a closet together and he kissed me and… well, the rest is history."

"We were best friends for years, but I didn't really date, as a rule," Harry told Doris. "But for Ginny I had to put that aside." He met Ginny's eyes. "I couldn't lose out on her."

Doris sighed softly. "Oh, how romantic." She beamed at Ginny. "When you marry, I better receive an invite."

"Of course," Ginny agreed.

"If I'm still alive by then," Doris added.

"Doris," Richard told her off. "Die on your own time."

Ginny chuckled. "I'd love to have you two at our wedding, but it'll be some time after this little sprout comes out. So you better still be alive!" She sipped her tea. "I hope the baby won't cause you too much noise."

Doris waved her hand dismissively. "I take my hearing aid out at night and Richard will sleep through anything, don't worry about it."

"Good to know," Ginny said. "We were a little worried about it when we started looking for a place, but Thea assured us it would be okay."

"Thea… she is such a lovely lady. We already lived here when she bought the place and she told us we could remain and… she is wonderful and so helpful," Doris said. "And now we have two lovely new neighbours!"

"She's just trying to butter you up so you'll name the baby Doris," Richard commented with a wink towards his wife.

Doris shook her head. "I would never… although I will admit it is an excellent name."