"Miss Ginevra Weasley, would you do me the honour of accompanying me on a date in the Muggle world?"
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
It took a while, but Harry was finally able to pull himself out of bed after spending a rather long time admiring Ginny in her sleep. Once he made it downstairs, he walked out onto the porch, annoyed but not surprised to see Charlie had beaten him there.
"Two sickles," Charlie reminded as Harry sat next to him on the swinging bench.
"I'll take it off your tab," Harry answered as he yawned. He'd been up much later with Ginny than usual last night, and he was paying the price this morning.
"You're an interesting person," Charlie commented suddenly. Harry glanced at him, slightly surprised at the way Charlie was starting this conversation.
"How so?" he asked tentatively.
Charlie shrugged. "You've done some pretty heroic things, and you act like it's no big deal. You're the most famous person in our world, and you don't care at all about it. The only time I've actually seen you use your fame is when you gave that speech at the memorial and when you wrote that letter to the Prophet. It's just interesting."
Harry frowned, not really sure how to respond to that. Charlie continued, as if he was thinking about this very intently now, "I don't think many people your age would respond to fame like that. Most people would want the glory of being a hero."
"Most people have no idea what has to be sacrificed to be labelled a hero," Harry responded with a slight bitterness in his voice.
Charlie glanced at him. "I suppose they don't. You don't want anybody to know about those sacrifices, apparently."
Harry rolled his eyes. "People would either act like I'm even more of a heroic figure than they already do, or they'd look at me like a freak for what happened, knowing I had a part of him living inside me for my whole life. It freaks me out every time I think of it. Like I had this parasite in me my whole life without knowing. But… I mean, everybody's lost someone to the war, I'm no different in that either."
"You've never really had a family before," Charlie stated as if that was new information, and Harry shrugged. It was the truth. Charlie asked, "Did you really mean what you said in that letter yesterday?"
Harry narrowed his eyes and looked at Charlie, wary that this might be a trap. "Yeah, I've loved Ginny for a long time," he said like it was obvious.
Charlie nodded, rubbing his chin. "I don't really like the idea of my baby sister having a boyfriend, to be honest." That didn't surprise Harry at all "But it's hard to deny that you'd do anything for her, considering…" he trailed off, not needing to explain that further.
Harry nodded. He would do anything for her, without hesitation. He already had.
"We're not particularly close, you and I. But you're a part of this family, and we all know it. So I'm going to treat you like a brother for a couple minutes, and then we'll go back to me trying to be the intimidating older brother of your girlfriend." Harry nodded hesitantly, still very lost in the conversation.
"I'm worried about George," Charlie said, surprising Harry greatly. He was expecting Charlie to say something about his relationship with Ginny.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"He's been coming home really late at night, or not at all, ever since the memorial. He came back around four last night, and it was pretty obvious he was drunk. I'm just concerned he's starting to handle his grief in a dangerous way. There's nothing wrong with getting pissed at a pub or whatever, but I don't think he's doing it for fun."
"Have you talked to him about it?" Harry asked.
"He passed out right after he came back. Haven't had a chance to yet. But– well, I'm about to leave for a little while, and I want you lot to keep an eye on him."
"Why not tell Percy?" Harry asked, and Charlie just rolled his eyes before looking at him.
"George doesn't need a lecture from a sanctimonious older brother. He just needs people who care about him to watch his back and make sure he stays out of trouble."
Harry nodded, grateful that Charlie was trusting them with this, even though it worried him greatly hearing this about George. "Are you going back to Romania?" Harry asked curiously, wondering where Charlie was planning on going.
Charlie chuckled. "No, I'm not going back to Romania. Kingsley told me that they have a team that's tracked the dragon you three broke out of Gringotts down to an island in the Irish Sea. He asked me to join their team and see if we can safely capture it."
"Oh, that's good news, then. I guess you'll take it to a reserve or something when you catch it?"
Charlie nodded. "Something like that. I don't know all the details yet."
They sat in silence for a moment before Harry said, "Guess we're gonna have to have our competition this weekend then."
Charlie glanced at him. "Our competition?"
Harry grinned. "Ginny and I got some Snitches when we went to the school yesterday."
Charlie clapped his hands together, looking very excited. "Oh, it is so on," he said eagerly. "Let's do it today."
Harry shook his head. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but Ginny and I already have plans today, and Teddy will be with us all day tomorrow. When do you leave?"
"Monday," Charlie answered, looking slightly disappointed that they weren't going to do it today.
"Then we'll do it Sunday. It'll give you time to practise," he suggested cheerfully. Charlie rolled his eyes and punched him on his arm. It wasn't a particularly hard punch, but it did have some force behind it. Almost like the kind of punch an older brother gives his younger brother. Harry just grinned, leading Charlie into the kitchen to make breakfast before everyone else woke up.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
After breakfast, Ginny and Harry apparated to the back entrance to St. Mungo's. By this point, they were familiar with the process of getting in, and it didn't take them long to find Emily's room once again. Harry knocked on the door, and a moment later, Mrs. Brooks opened the door, smiling at them both.
"Ginny! Harry!" Emily called for them from the bed behind her mother. They eagerly made their way into the room, pleased to see their young friend again. Ginny hugged Emily, and Emily looked expectantly at Harry. Harry started to go to hug her after a beat, but Emily interrupted him.
"How do you usually say hello to your friends?" she asked.
He raised an eyebrow. As far as Ginny knew, Harry didn't have a 'way' of greeting people. So she was surprised when his face registered some sort of recognition or decision being made. "My best friends get a secret handshake."
Emily looked up at him like that was the coolest thing she'd ever heard. "A secret handshake?" she echoed.
"Yeah, do you want us to make a secret handshake?" he asked. Emily nodded immediately.
"Okay, so how about we start with high fiving each other forward and backwards." Emily held her hand out in front of her, and Harry showed her what he meant. "Then, I'll hold my hands out with my palms up, and you hit them both with a low five. Then we'll switch and I'll give you two low fives." After following those steps, Harry continued. "Okay, now it's time for the ending. Let's both pretend we're holding a wand, and we spin it around before casting a spell. We just need a good way to cap it all off."
"What if we fist bump and make it explode!" Emily offered excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.
Harry nodded, grinning along with her. "That's perfect! So let's put it all together now."
As Ginny watched, she felt like her heart might explode. Harry hadn't interacted much with younger kids at Hogwarts, but when he did, he was always so good with them. It was like not having attention or love when he was younger made him better at giving that to kids. It was almost mind-boggling that the same man who had defeated the darkest wizard of all time in a one-on-one duel was here, making a secret handshake with an eleven year old girl who idolised him. Ginny saw Emily's mother wiping tears from her eyes watching the scene unfolding, and Ginny could completely understand. It was beautiful to witness.
After they practised it a few times, Harry sat down with Ginny next to Emily's bed. "How are you doing, Em?" Ginny asked.
"I'm great! The Healers think that I can go home in a few days!" she exclaimed.
"Really? That's awesome news!" Harry answered.
"I know! Just think, the next time you see me, I'll get to show you my house and my room!" Emily continued excitedly.
Ginny smiled. "We can't wait for that," she said honestly, so thankful that Emily was finally going to be released from the hospital soon.
A moment later, Emily said, "I liked the letter you wrote in the Daily Prophet."
Next to Ginny, Harry blushed a little. "I'm glad you liked it. Ginny liked it too."
"Yeah, I would think so. It's much better than what they said the day before. I thought there was no way that could be true. I'd only seen the two of you together once, and I could tell it was true love."
"You could?" Ginny asked, smiling at both Emily and Harry.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Duh. It's so obvious."
Harry chuckled. "That's why it was so easy to write that letter."
They stayed with Emily for about an hour, hearing more about her time in the hospital before she started talking about how excited she was to go back to Hogwarts. As they were leaving, Harry and Emily did their secret handshake one more time for good measure. Emily's mother thanked them again for coming, and they walked toward the exit of the hospital holding hands.
"How are you so good with kids?" Ginny asked, still a little mystified at the easy way he'd made Emily feel so important.
Harry shrugged. "I dunno. I mean… eleven isn't that young. I guess I just try to remember what it was like when I was that age, especially before I came to Hogwarts. Kids are used to adults acting like their thoughts and opinions don't matter as much, so it feels really good when someone older treats them like they do matter."
"Well, it's very impressive," Ginny said admiringly, continually falling more in love with him. Harry just smiled, but he clearly didn't think it was as big a deal as she did. Once they made it back into the alley, Ginny took Harry's arm, expecting him to apparate them back to the Burrow. When he didn't immediately disapparate, she looked up at him and saw that he was smiling down at her.
"We're not done in London yet," Harry said mysteriously.
Ginny furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what else there was to do in London. "What are we doing then?"
He smiled and bowed in front of her. "Miss Ginevra Weasley, would you do me the honour of accompanying me on a date in the Muggle world?"
Ginny laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the way he asked. "I thought I told you not to call me Ginevra," she scolded in a joking tone, still giggling.
"Sorry. I meant Blaze, would you go on a date with me?" Harry amended, smiling at her.
"Much better. I would love to accompany you on a date, Mister Potter. Where are you taking me?"
"I was thinking we could go see a film and then have a picnic," he replied, seeming excited at the idea.
Ginny frowned. "What's a film?" she asked.
Harry smiled at her. "It's kind of like how the pictures move in our world. Muggles have a way of making pictures move too, and they have a way of taking pictures of people that last for a long time. Like the picture Colin took of us is only maybe thirty seconds long. Some Muggle pictures can be a couple hours long, and they can tell stories with those pictures. And the pictures can talk. Does– does that make any sense?"
Ginny nodded hesitantly. "So if I was watching a film of you getting the Philosopher's Stone, it would be like I saw and heard everything, but I wasn't actually there?"
"Yeah, pretty much. That was harder to explain than I thought it would be," he said honestly.
Ginny grinned. "I think it sounds great! Let's go see a film!"
Harry led her to a building where they showed these films called a cinema. They had pictures on the outside telling everyone what films they could see. There were several interesting pictures representing each of the films, but Ginny thought one that was obviously a love story seemed intriguing. The man and woman were holding each other, and there was a large ship on the bottom of the poster. Titanic seemed like it would be a very nice film for them to go see on their date, and Ginny told Harry that.
He seemed slightly reluctant. "Have you ever heard of the Titanic?" he asked, but Ginny just shook her head. Harry thought about it before sighing and nodding. "Alright, I did say you could pick the film."
Harry bought two drinks called Coca-Colas and a bucket of something called popcorn, which was both chewy and crunchy at the same time. It was all very good, and Ginny eagerly sat with Harry in the small cinema. They were alone in the room, and he kept smiling at her, not even watching all the advertisements for other films.
"What is it?" Ginny asked.
Harry just shrugged. "You're cute when you're excited."
Ginny smiled and kissed him. "You're the best. Thank you for this," she whispered. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head as the real film began.
By the end of the film, Ginny was wiping tears from her eyes, and she was surprised to see that Harry looked a little misty-eyed as well. "Did you know the Titanic sank?" she asked him when the cinema became light again.
He hesitated before nodding ashamedly. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked incredulously.
"I didn't know it was gonna be that sad. I barely remembered anything about it from school," he answered defensively.
"We never learned about this at school," Ginny said, confused because that made no sense.
Harry shook his head. "Not at Hogwarts. Before that."
For some reason, it hadn't ever occurred to Ginny that Harry had gone to school somewhere before Hogwarts. "Oh, right," she said, wiping another tear from her eye.
Harry squeezed her tightly. "I never thought you'd be one to cry in a film, Blaze," he said, smiling at her a little.
Ginny shook her head. "It's not– it's not really about them. It's just– Jack sacrificed himself to save Rose, and she never saw him again."
Harry inhaled sharply, apparently realising what had really been bothering Ginny. He kissed the top of her head again. "I'm here, Gin."
She looked up at him, blinking her tears away and saying the thing that had been in the back of her mind for weeks. "But what if you weren't? What if… things had worked out like you thought they would, and I– I never saw you again?"
He held her close, and she could feel him crying with her. "I don't know, Gin. I just know I'm so thankful it didn't happen like that. Life with you– I don't think I could make another walk like that knowing– knowing that this happiness and peace is what I'd be leaving behind. You make my life worth living, and I don't even want to think about what things would be like if we weren't together."
She let out a shuddering breath. "I just love you so much," she whispered.
Harry kissed her head once more. "I'll love you forever," he promised.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Once Harry and Ginny had finally composed themselves enough to leave the cinema, avoiding the odd look of a boy about their age who'd been waiting for them to leave, they went to a restaurant nearby and ordered Chinese takeout. Harry hadn't actually had Chinese takeout in years, not since an event at school where they'd brought food for everyone. He still remembered what he'd eaten then though, and Ginny had no idea what to order, so Harry ordered two bowls of Chow Mein, and he walked with Ginny across the street to a small park. They sat together on a bench and began eating.
Ginny let out a satisfied sound next to him after taking her first bite. "Muggle food is really good," she commented. Harry nodded and smiled, remembering that he'd felt the same way when he had his first meals in the wizarding world. He liked watching Ginny's eyes dart around the park and city surrounding them. Every new sound and sight drew her attention eagerly. It was so sweet and innocent– the joy with which she absorbed everything about this world– and he was sure he'd been the same way the first time he was in Diagon Alley.
After they finished eating, Harry took her hand, and they began walking by the river, allegedly looking for a secluded spot to disapparate from, but, in reality, they were just enjoying time together.
"You're less tense when you're in the Muggle world," Ginny observed.
Harry chuckled. "It's like you said the other day, I'm not worried about being recognised here."
Ginny nodded. "We should do this more often. I love learning more about Muggles and the world you came from."
Harry smiled at her. "We definitely will. I've got a year's worth of dates to make up for."
She giggled. "At least you've got plenty of time to make up for it."
He pulled her into an alley and kissed her gently. "I can't wait," he said longingly before apparating them both back to the Burrow. When they arrived, Ginny grinned at him and kissed him again quickly before they walked back through the wards and into the house.
When they told Molly that Teddy would be spending the next two nights with them, she went into a frenzy and immediately took Ginny with her to go get supplies to take care of a baby. Harry offered to come, but Molly had dismissed him, saying that he should wait for Andromeda to come. With an apologetic look, he waved goodbye to Ginny, who looked like Harry would have to do more than that to make up for her mother getting worked up like this.
Harry found himself sitting on the porch with Ron and Hermione, waiting for Andromeda or Ginny and Molly to arrive. They sat mostly in silence, until Harry finally said, "If the two of you want to go on a date to the cinema, don't watch Titanic."
"You took Ginny to see a film about the Titanic?" Hermione asked, appalled at his movie choice.
Harry raised a hand defensively. "She picked it out. I knew the ship sank, but I didn't know it was going to be that sad."
"What's the– the– that thing you just said?" Ron asked.
"The Titanic was a ship that wrecked almost ninety years ago, killing over a thousand people," Hermione answered factually.
"Bloody hell, why would you go see a film about that?" Ron asked incredulously.
"It was supposed to be a love story," Harry answered, feeling like he was fighting a losing battle.
"But… a love story on a sinking ship? That seems destined for disaster, mate," Ron responded, and Harry just shook his head, shocked that his friend, who probably hadn't known what a film was until very recently, could've predicted its story that well.
"Lesson learned. In the future, I'll be sure to ask the ticket clerk if the film has a happy ending," Harry replied sarcastically.
Thankfully, Andromeda interrupted, arriving just outside the wards. Harry jumped up and ran out to meet her. He quickly took Teddy out of her arms, and they walked back towards the Burrow together.
"Molly and Ginny went out to get some supplies for Teddy," Harry said. "They'll be back soon though."
Andromeda frowned. "Why do they need supplies? I brought everything he'll need."
Harry just sighed and chuckled wryly. "Of course you did. One of us should've expected that."
Ginny didn't see as much humour in that when she arrived a half hour later with her mother, carrying several bags full of all the baby supplies they could find in Diagon Alley.
"I told you!" she exclaimed to her mother when Harry told them both that Andromeda had brought Teddy's things.
Molly blushed. "I'm sure it'll still be useful to already have these things around," she said halfheartedly. Andromeda just nodded understandingly, patting Molly's hand kindly.
After dinner– Harry and Ginny didn't eat much since they were still full from their late lunch– Andromeda left and they began trying to get Teddy settled. They'd set up his cot in Ginny's room, despite Molly offering to keep Teddy in her room. They had several bottles of milk, nappies, toys, and an Imperturbable Charm set on the door, just in case. But Teddy fell asleep remarkably quickly.
Harry smiled at Ginny and crawled into bed behind her. "We've got this," he said confidently, kissing her smiling lips before falling asleep holding her.
It felt like moments later when they were both jolted awake, hearing Teddy sobbing uncontrollably. Harry rolled out of bed and picked Teddy up out of the cot, trying to comfort him by rocking him gently in his arms. That didn't work.
Ginny was scrambling around, finally finding a bottle of milk. "Caldius," she said, frantically casting a warming charm on the bottle before gently trying to feed Teddy. Thankfully, he took it and began greedily drinking the milk. After a while, he slowed down and began falling back asleep. Harry started to put him back in the cot, but Ginny stopped him.
"You have to burp him first," she said, like that was incredibly obvious.
"I have to what?" Harry asked, sure that he'd misheard her.
"Here, hold Teddy with his head up on your shoulder. Then start gently patting his back. It's uncomfortable if he has gas trapped in him, so we've gotta work it out."
Harry was still confused, but he did what she said. "How do you know this stuff?" he asked as he started patting Teddy's back.
"Mum told me earlier today," Ginny admitted. "Oh–" she exclaimed, clapping a hand over her mouth and trying not to laugh.
Harry frowned, not sure what she was laughing at. "What is it?" Finally, Ginny laughed for real, and Teddy giggled with her. Ginny grabbed a small towel and wiped Teddy's mouth. When Harry looked down at Teddy, he saw that he'd spit up some on his chin. Then he saw what Ginny had been laughing at. Most of Teddy's mess was sitting on Harry's shoulder.
Harry grimaced but couldn't help but chuckle. "Come on, mate. You're not making me look good in front of the pretty girl," he joked.
Ginny took Teddy from his arms and set him down in his cot. "Tergeo," she cast on his shoulder, cleaning the mess immediately. "I disagree. I think you look very good taking care of a baby," she said as she kissed him on the cheek, crawling back into bed. Harry smiled and quickly fell back asleep.
The second time Teddy woke up in the middle of the night, they figured out what the problem was much quicker. Teddy smelled rather badly, and, thankfully, Ginny volunteered to show Harry how to take care of this. She unwrapped his nappy, sending a fresh wave of the stench throughout the room, causing Harry to nearly gag as his eyes watered.
"Scourgify," Ginny cast, instantly clearing the mess, but the stench still remained. Harry was intrigued when he watched Ginny still change out the nappy. "Why don't you use the same one again?" he asked.
"Well, it still smells. And I don't think it would be as comfortable the second time," she explained, and Harry nodded, acting like he understood.
Teddy quickly fell asleep again, but Harry and Ginny were soon woken up by his cries for a third time. He wasn't messy or hungry, so they were resigned to holding him until he stopped crying. While Ginny was holding him, Harry was suddenly reminded that he needed to tell Ginny about what Charlie had told him.
"I didn't want to tell you on our date, and then I forgot when we came home, but Charlie wanted us to know to keep an eye on George. Apparently he hasn't been coming home some nights, and other nights, he's been coming home drunk," Harry said carefully.
Ginny frowned and shook her head in disappointment or sadness. "I was wondering why he wasn't ever at dinner anymore. I was worried he'd slipped into grieving like he did right after the battle. It doesn't sound like he's handling it any better now though."
"Yeah, I don't know. If he wasn't dealing with the grief and everything, I'd think Charlie was overreacting, but it is a little concerning."
"I hope he's okay," Ginny said quietly, and Harry wrapped his arm around her.
"Me too. We're gonna look out for him."
Teddy finally stopped crying, and they went back to sleep again. The next time he cried, it was bright enough outside that Harry took Teddy out of Ginny's room, leaving her to get some more sleep. He'd barely slept at all, but he was still somewhat accustomed to nights with no sleep from the previous year, and it wouldn't affect him as badly as it would her.
Charlie came down about an hour later, curiously looking at Harry sitting on the swing, holding Teddy, who was finally sleeping again. "You look like hell," he said bluntly, and Harry cringed.
"Thanks. This one kept us up all night," Harry answered, shaking his head.
"You were both in Ginny's room last night?" Charlie asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Harry gulped, mentally wishing he had a time turner to redo this moment. "Er… yeah," he said quietly. Charlie exhaled loudly and sat on the other end of the swing, running a hand through his hair.
"Have you–" Charlie started to grumble, but Harry cut him off.
"Bloody hell, Charlie. Are you really about to ask me if I've done anything inappropriate with your sister?"
Charlie turned incredibly red. "It's not any of your business, but we're sharing a bed because it helps us sleep easier," Harry explained, offering him a way out of the embarrassment. Charlie just nodded.
They made breakfast almost in silence. Charlie was still either very embarrassed or uncomfortable with the whole situation, and either was perfectly fine with Harry. Ginny finally, mercifully came downstairs around noon, relieving Harry so that he could take a brief nap.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Some time after Harry had gone back to bed, Ginny was sitting on the couch with Teddy when Hermione sat down next to her, looking curiously at both of them.
"You and Harry are both really good with him," she said admiringly.
Ginny smiled. "Do you want to hold him?" Hermione thought about it for a moment before nodding, and Ginny coached Hermione on how to hold Teddy properly, surprised that Hermione didn't even express annoyance at Ginny teaching her something new.
"This is nice," Hermione said. Ron came into the living room, saw Hermione holding Teddy, and immediately turned and walked back upstairs. Both Hermione and Ginny started laughing at that reaction.
"He really is afraid of babies," Ginny commented when she could finally speak normally again.
Hermione giggled. "I'm not usually too good around them either, so that's fine by me." Ginny nodded, glad that the older girl wasn't hoping Ron was more comfortable around babies. "Have you and Harry talked at all about…" Hermione trailed off, and Ginny gaped at her friend.
"Merlin, no we haven't talked about having kids! I'm sixteen and still have another year left at Hogwarts! Bloody hell, Hermione!" Ginny immediately answered.
Hermione grinned at that reaction. "Sorry, I just would've thought, considering you practically already have a child together…"
Ginny just rolled her eyes. A while later, Harry came back downstairs, and Ginny ignored the suggestive glances Hermione was giving the two of them. Later in the afternoon, Ginny, Harry, and her parents were together in the living room.
"How are things going at the Ministry, Arthur?" Harry almost randomly asked her dad, who was currently holding a sleeping Teddy.
He sighed and shook his head. "It's all still a bit of a mess, I'm afraid. Kingsley's done a good job sorting some of the problems out, but we're still very understaffed."
"Are they reassigning people out of less critical departments?" Harry asked. Ginny didn't understand why he had a sudden interest in Ministry politics, but she did like seeing Harry and her dad talking like a real father and son.
"It's more… redirecting roles for the most part. For example, my office has been primarily focused on Muggle artefacts that were used by Death Eaters to wreak havoc in the Muggle world rather than tracking down wizards and witches who have charmed their own Muggle items."
Harry nodded. "So an office like the Improper Use of Magic Office would be more focused on making sure the war and Death Eaters hadn't broken the Statute of Secrecy or anything?"
"Oh, definitely. Underage magic is nothing compared to the trouble they're dealing with. Why do you ask?"
Harry shrugged. "Just wanting to know how things are going. I'm sure Kingsley's still dealing with a lot is all. Is he still acting as the head of MLE as well?"
"He actually just hired Eamon Fairchild out of retirement. Eamon was the head of the Auror Office until the end of the first war. After things calmed down, he retired, but, apparently, Kingsley convinced him that he'd be comfortable as the head of MLE without having to do any field work."
"At least that's one problem taken care of," Ginny said, glad that Kingsley wasn't having to work both jobs anymore.
"Hopefully things continue to improve at the Ministry then," Harry added, and Ginny's dad nodded, clearly hoping the same.
After they'd gotten Teddy to fall asleep, Ginny and Harry lay together in bed. "What was that interrogation with my dad all about?" she asked curiously.
Harry chuckled and turned to look at her. "You didn't get a letter last night, even though you used magic. I should've thought about it sooner when you apparated from here a couple weeks ago and didn't get one."
Ginny's jaw dropped as she realised what he was saying. "Nobody's monitoring the Trace right now?"
Harry grinned. "Don't quote me on it, but I don't think so. There's way more important things for them to be doing, I guess. It's probably still not a good idea to do it around anyone else since they may tell someone, but… yeah, I think you can use magic pretty freely now."
Ginny laughed and picked up her wand, immediately making pink bubbles fly out of it. Harry laughed with her, and they fell asleep quickly after that.
Teddy only woke them up twice through the night. It was still exhausting, but it was better than the previous night. At least Ginny could get out of bed at a reasonable time, and Harry didn't need to take a nap today. Andromeda came fairly early in the afternoon, but she stayed with them. Ginny guessed she'd been lonely after going more than a day without seeing Teddy.
Charlie came bounding into the room about an hour after Andromeda arrived, looking much more excited than he usually did. "You ready?" he asked Harry, who grinned and nodded.
"Ready for what?" Ginny asked.
"I'm about to show your boyfriend what a real Seeker looks like," Charlie boasted confidently.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Bill and Fleur arrived as everyone was walking outside to the orchard, and they eagerly joined the pack of Weasleys, Hermione, Andromeda, and Teddy to watch the highly anticipated matchup. This match meant nothing, but there was a small part of Harry that was nervous; he really wanted to beat Charlie, not just because Charlie had been so arrogant about being a better Seeker, but also because he wanted to prove to himself that he was good regardless of the broom he was on.
Harry was used to playing in front of much larger crowds, although it had been about a year and a half since the last time he actually caught a Snitch in a real match. This crowd was rather intimidating in his mind though, for some strange reason. All of the Weasleys, even George and Percy, seemed to be excited to watch, and Harry felt a need to impress Ginny, even though he knew she'd love him regardless of the outcome.
They both selected identical Cleansweep Fives from the broom shed and met the family at the orchard. Ginny pulled Harry into a deep kiss, and Charlie just chuckled menacingly. "You're gonna need more than luck to beat me today, Harry." Harry agreed, but he wasn't about to turn away some of the luck Ginny was offering him. He grinned down at Ginny, whose eyes were blazing.
"You've got this," she whispered, giving him all the encouragement he needed.
Arthur had been entrusted with releasing the Snitch– they all agreed he was the least likely to be biassed for either Charlie or Harry. Ginny reminded them of the only two rules. "The Snitch gets a ten second head start. And don't kill each other up there."
Harry noticed Molly and Hermione's nervous expressions out of the corner of his eye, but he did his best to ignore it. He stuck a fist out to Charlie, who looked down at it for a second before bumping it. "Good luck," Harry said quietly, and Charlie nodded.
Arthur opened the box, and the entire family began counting down from ten. Harry felt the adrenaline pumping as all the outside noise faded away. He would know when it was time to go. This was the feeling he missed in Quidditch. It was just him and his broom. Everything else would be waiting until he caught the Snitch. Because he was a damn good Seeker, and he was going to win today.
Harry pushed off from the ground at the exact same moment Charlie did, and they both began sweeping rapidly over the orchard, searching for the tiny golden ball. It was harder to see it up here, without any stadium to provide a backdrop for it. Harry kept one eye on Charlie, but he knew every time they separated that if Charlie saw the Snitch first, it would be almost impossible to catch him on the same broom.
Charlie must have been aware of this too because he seemed to stay within fifty feet of Harry whenever he could. They settled into a rhythm of sweeping over the orchard. On one pass, one of them dropped lower, looking for it within the trees, while the other remained higher up, surveying the entire area. On the next, they'd practically switch positions.
Harry thought he saw the Snitch at one point, but it was just the sun glinting off of Percy's glasses. He wondered in the back of his mind if anyone had done anything to ensure the Snitch would remain within the general area of the orchard. Suddenly, he saw a flash of gold within the trees, and he dove, aware that Charlie had begun diving a split second before him.
Harry pressed himself flat to his broom, trying to speed as quickly as he could down into the orchard. Both he and Charlie broke through the top of the trees at the same time, seeing the glint of gold in the distance. They wove in and around the trees of the orchard, unaware of the other's position. It was hard enough to avoid crashing into a tree without also worrying about how close Charlie was. Harry just had to trust that if he made it through the trees, he'd be the one catching the Snitch.
They were gaining on it. It had stopped at the edge of the orchard, flitting around a pair of trees that seemed to grow from the same trunk. Harry ducked under a fallen branch at the last second, and then they were suddenly in a small clearing. Harry could feel that Charlie was almost dead even with him. As he neared the Snitch, it moved into the small gap between the two connected trees.
Without thinking about it, the sickening realisation of how he'd have to catch the Snitch hit Harry. He didn't even stop to consider that it was probably incredibly dangerous. He just knew he was a Seeker, and his job was to catch the Snitch before Charlie. And there was no way Charlie would try this. Just before Harry reached the two trees, he gripped his broom tightly and crouched on it. Next to him, he could sense Charlie pulling up as he launched himself off the broom.
The broom sailed harmlessly into the grass beyond the edge of the orchard, but Harry wasn't focussed on that at all. He'd twisted his body as he jumped, and he dove into the narrow gap between the trees, eyes locked on the golden ball. He reached his hand out and closed it just as he felt the trees scraping his stomach and back before he tumbled through the opening and onto the grass, just feet away from everyone watching.
Harry groaned, immediately regretting the decision he'd made. At least, he did until he raised his hand up and saw the Snitch flapping its wings, trying to break out of his grip. He exhaled deeply as all the pain of that manoeuvre hit him. And then something else was hitting him.
Well, it wasn't really hitting him. It was more shaking him. Harry cracked his eyes open and saw Ginny crouched over him, shaking his shoulders. "Are you insane?" she yelled, looking briefly at his torso before back into his eyes.
Harry smiled weakly. "I caught it," he answered.
Ginny just shook her head, but she did smile at him then. "I told you you would."
Then the rest of the family was around him. "Bloody hell, mate! You're absolutely mental!" Ron exclaimed.
"I've never seen anything like that," Andromeda added on, surprising Harry slightly with her enthusiasm.
"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked worriedly, obviously thinking they were all insane for praising his willingness to injure himself over a game.
Harry groaned. "I'm fine, Hermione. Just scraped myself a little bit." He sat up and looked down at his shirt. The entire area covering his stomach had been shredded, and he could see scratch marks and scrapes on his skin. He suspected his back was the same.
Charlie suddenly landed in front of Harry and dismounted his broom. He looked more than a little pissed off. "What the hell was that?" he asked incredulously, gaping down at Harry.
Harry shrugged. "That was you losing." Ginny laughed into his shoulder, wrapping an arm tightly around him.
He could almost see the steam coming out of Charlie's ears. "It was absolutely mad to try something like that!"
"But I caught it. And I'm okay. That's what the best of the best do, in case you were wanting to take notes," Harry said casually. Charlie could dish it out, but Harry wasn't ever going to let him get away without taking it too.
The entire family was roaring with laughter as Charlie closed his eyes, grimacing at Harry. Finally, he exhaled and looked back at Harry, reaching a hand out to help him up. Harry accepted, and Charlie roughly pulled him to his feet.
"That was a ruddy brilliant catch. But next time, we do it at a real pitch," Charlie said, pushing Harry away, both disappointed and at least a little impressed, Harry thought.
He nodded. "When you get back, maybe we can go to the Hogwarts pitch." Charlie nodded his agreement.
"I think your shirt's ruined," Ginny said, reaching out to peel a shred of fabric up for emphasis. Harry frowned, annoyed because he liked this shirt. He took it off quickly and pulled out his wand.
"Reparo," he cast, and to his surprise, the shirt mended itself rather nicely. It was still filthy, but he could take care of that later. He was about to put it back on when he noticed everyone staring at him. Uncomfortably, he raised the shirt up and then realised why they were staring at him.
"Shit," Harry whispered quietly. Only Ginny heard him, and she looked up at him with a sad look on her face. Harry pulled his shirt back on before looking back at everyone. Hermione, Ron, Bill, and Ginny had all seen his new scar before and weren't as surprised. Everyone else looked stunned. Molly and Fleur were both crying softly, while Percy looked curious about the whole thing. George looked like he'd seen a ghost, and Charlie– Charlie clapped Harry on the shoulder, but he didn't say a word.
Arthur coughed. "You– you didn't mention that."
"I didn't think it was that important. Just– just another reminder," Harry responded, almost wishing he'd just told them when they'd found out about everything else. They all stood there wordlessly for a few moments before Ginny hugged Harry, and, within a couple seconds, the entire family was gathered around, hugging him tightly like they had the night he'd told them everything. Andromeda was standing off to the side, looking very confused about everything. Harry could explain it to her later. For now, he was thankful. He'd won the game that had seemed so important a few minutes earlier, but he knew that having this family was a far greater victory in his life than all the Quidditch matches he'd ever won.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
A/N: After so long writing so many hard parts about their lives after the Battle, it was so fun to finally give Harry and Ginny a taste of what, as the chapter says, their new normal could look like together. As I've talked about in these notes, they're continuing to move in a happier and happier direction, despite new challenges that will show up, and I love making them happier in chapters like this!
What George is going through is really difficult and sadly a very common way of dealing with grief that's going to take a little while to sort out. How he and the family cope with it and continue recovering is going to be very important for all of their developments, and Charlie showing his trust of Harry and Ginny by telling them about it is a solid step in that direction.
As a ridiculously tiny note, the island in the Irish Sea that the dragon is on is the Isle of Man. I note that solely because part of my family traces their heritage back to that small island, and I thought it would be a cool inclusion that doesn't impact anything else at all.
Harry being good with kids is something I've always headcanon-ed even though we don't really get to see a whole lot of it in the books. We see it with Teddy, and we're going to continue seeing it with Emily too. And, just because it's probably a funny picture to imagine, I did stand in front of a mirror for like ten minutes making up his handshake with Emily and then figuring out how to translate that into writing, so I hope you can picture it based on my description!
I didn't know what film I'd have Harry and Ginny see on their date when I started writing this chapter. When I got to the point of writing them going to the cinema, I did some research to find what the box office in the UK looked like at the time that this chapter takes place. For clarity, their date was on 5 June, 1998. Titanic was 10th in the box office because it actually released in the UK in late January 1998. The Wedding Singer and Deep Impact were the only two movies higher on the list that I'd actually seen and could write about, but I thought that the idea of them seeing Titanic presented interesting parallels to their lives and was also just very funny to imagine as a first real date post-battle. I was definitely glad I did it after I wrote the scene with Ron and Hermione laughing at Harry for it too!
Another small note is that I invented the warming charm Ginny used on Teddy's bottle, Caldius, which is basically a variation of the Latin word for hot or to make hotter.
Harry's discussion of the Ministry with Arthur basically covers the state of things and is about what I'd expect from Kingsley and the Ministry at this point. A resource reallocation is exactly how things would be handled as they try to recover from everything, and, frankly, the Trace would be one of the least important things to worry about, in my opinion. I have other feelings and theories on the Trace that come up later in the book, but for now, that's why Ginny's able to do magic, in case anyone was wondering. And Eamon Fairchild is an original character since we don't really know much about the state of the Auror Office during the first war and I needed to invent a character to take over MLE from Kingsley.
I think that pretty much covers everything I wanted to mention from this chapter. As always, feel free to let me know what you thought of the chapter! They've enjoyed their first taste of a new normal weekend, but there's still a lot of growing and developments to come!
Coming Tuesday: Scars and All- "Bill, is that a question you really want me to answer?"