I'm back with this new short reunion style story. This story has 6 chapters and I will be publishing on Mondays and Thursdays. I hope you all enjoy the story.
Ginny Weasley woke shortly after dawn, momentarily confused as to where she was. But then she recalled she was in her childhood home, The Burrow, and back in her old room for the first time in twenty five years. The previous day she had returned to England, with her twin eleven year old children in tow, and had landed on her parents doorstep, well aware that a warm welcome would await them. And sure enough, Molly and Arthur had been delighted to see her and their grandchildren, and had welcomed them home with open arms.
The previous day, Ginny had played off their arrival as a surprise holiday, but she knew her parents suspected something else was going on. And something else was going on. If all went according to plan, not only would be Ginny be returning to the country of her birth, but she would be bringing her two children with her. They would be starting a new life, as no doubt the twins father was already busy doing the same back in Canada.
Shaking her head to dispel thoughts of her much older husband, who had recently left her for a younger model, Ginny hopped out of bed, her mind instead turning to the reason she had left England so many years ago. She had gone to Canada to play quidditch, but if she was being honest with herself, it had simply been a way of drawing her ex-boyfriend, Harry Potter's attention. She had thought a few months apart would make him realise what he was missing and he would beg her to return home once her six month trial period was over. However, that hadn't happened, and rather than wanting her back, Harry had simply moved on with his life as though she never meant anything to him. And so Ginny had taken up the offer to stay on in Canada, and it was where she had been ever since.
Over the last twenty five years, Ginny hadn't returned home, or at least not since her brief return after her initial six months away. However, she'd paid for her parents to visit her at least once a year, keeping alive their familial bond. Although the same couldn't be said of her brothers, and aside from the odd visit and the regular exchange of cards and letters, she hadn't spoken to any of them in several years. However, Ginny was confident that now she was back home her relationships with her siblings would improve. Or at least, with some of them.
Truth be told it was the brother she was once closest to that Ginny wasn't so sure about. Once upon a time she and Ron had been as thick as thieves, possibly because they were the youngest and often left out of their brothers games and schemes. And even once they'd reached school that close bond had continued. In fact it had continued right up until Ginny left Hogwarts and discovered her relationship with Ron's best friend, Harry, was in tatters.
After the war, she and Harry had chosen to remain apart while Ginny finished school, but Ginny had assumed that once she was finished her schooling that everything would return to how it was meant to be. However, when she left school and assumed she would be moving in with Harry, he'd informed her that not only were they not moving in together, but that they weren't even getting back together. The time apart had apparently changed his priorities and he seemingly had no interest in returning to their relationship.
Initially Ginny had been totally miffed by Harry's change of heart, and she'd convinced herself that he would change his mind once they were back to seeing each other on a daily basis. But then she'd overheard Harry's other best friend, Hermione Granger, encouraging Harry to spread his wings and explore the world, and everything had made sense. It was Hermione who had changed Harry's mind. She was the one who had poisoned him against her.
Unfortunately, voicing those thoughts only led to trouble, especially with Ron who was dating Hermione at the time. He wouldn't hear a word said against his girlfriend, and when Ginny had headed off to Canada, they hadn't even been talking. In fact, even though they exchanged birthday and Christmas cards, they still hadn't spoken to each other in person. Of course, they each knew what was going on in each other's lives. Which was how Ginny knew that Ron's romance with Hermione was short lived and they'd split up less than a year after Ginny had left the country.
"Interfering cow," Ginny muttered to herself, still harbouring grudges, even after so many years had passed. She firmly believed that her life would have been very different if it hadn't been for Hermione, and even though she loved her children and wouldn't change them for the world, she did still resent the loss of Harry, who she still believed was the love of her life.
Thanks to Molly, Ginny knew that Harry had eventually married and had children, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was still a chance for them to reignite their romance. After all, as she knew from experience, marriage didn't necessarily mean someone was completely unavailable. So for the moment, she wasn't totally giving up hope that one day she would be back on Harry's arm, where she belonged.
But before any of that could happen, Ginny had to first inform her parents she was home for good. And since she thought it would be best to talk to them without the twins being around, rising early was the perfect way to achieve that. Not only did her children like to sleep late, but they'd had a long journey the previous day and would no doubt be tired from the international travel.
By the time Ginny had finished getting dressed, she could already hear her parents moving around, and she only just arrived down in the kitchen before them. Helping Molly with the breakfast, she declined her father's offer to wake the twins.
"They can have something when they get up," she said. "I'm sure they're still tired after yesterday's journey."
"I'm sure they are," Molly agreed as the trio sat down to eat.
"Also, since they're not around, I thought this was the best time for us to talk," Ginny admitted.
"Something's wrong, isn't it?" Molly interrupted with a frown. "I told you, Arthur. Didn't I say last night that something was wrong."
"You did," Arthur agreed with an absent nod of his head, but his attention was on his only daughter. "What is going on, Ginny? Is something wrong?"
"I suppose that depends on how you look at it," Ginny admitted. "The twins and I are moving back home."
"To England?" Molly gasped, totally shocked by the revelation as Ginny had always made it very clear that she'd had no intention of returning home.
"Just in time for them to start Hogwarts in September," Ginny said brightly.
"And Maxwell?" Arthur asked, enquiring about Ginny's husband, who was actually only a few years younger than he was. He couldn't say he approved of his daughter being with someone so much older than she was, but he seemed to care about Ginny and he certainly provided well for her and the twins.
"He won't be coming with us," Ginny answered with a shrug. "He's staying in Canada."
"You've split up," Molly gasped, reaching out for her daughter's hand. "I'm so sorry, Ginny."
"What happened?" Arthur asked.
"He left me," Ginny answered bluntly. "For another witch. A younger witch."
"That bastard," Arthur hissed, slamming his fist down onto the table. If Ginny's errant husband was in the country, he would have been paying him a visit, but as it was, he was over the other side of the world and even with magic, it was a hell of a journey.
"How could he do that to you? And to the twins?" Molly cried, clearly horrified by her son-in-law's actions.
Ginny shrugged in response, not wanting to tell her parents that her husband had form for abandoning his wife and family. While her parents knew that Maxwell had been married before her, and that he had two older children, what they didn't know was that his relationship with her had started when he was still married. Over fifteen years ago, Maxwell had left his first wife and children to be with her, and now he had done the same to her. Just like her predecessor, she'd been abandoned for a younger model.
"Does he not have a problem with you bringing the twins back here?" Arthur asked with a frown. "Surely he would want them close to him in Canada."
"It was my price for an easy divorce," Ginny replied with a shrug. "By agreeing to me bringing the twins home, I agreed not to contest the divorce. As long as he continues to provide for the twins, I'm happy. Luckily, I've still got a lot of savings from when I was playing quidditch. It should be enough to get us started over here."
"You don't need to rush into anything, you can all stay here for as long as you need," Molly offered.
"That would be good," Ginny said, smiling at her mother. "It'll probably be easier to go house hunting once the twins have started Hogwarts. Do you think that will be an issue? Will it matter that they weren't born here?"
"I can't see why not," Arthur replied with a shrug. "They'll be living in the country when it comes time for them to start school. But we can always check with Minerva McGonagall."
"Oh, we can do it at the annual open day," Molly suggested gleefully. "It's next weekend, isn't it?"
"I believe so," Arthur answered with a nod.
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked with a confused frown. "What annual open day?"
"The one Hogwarts holds every year," Molly explained. "The final weekend of the year is always their open day. The school grounds are open to members of the public. There are food and drink stalls, a chance to meet the staff and even a quidditch match between the seventh years and the staff."
"And friends of the staff," Arthur added with a chuckle. "I don't think there's enough Professors willing to play quidditch to make up an entire team."
"I don't know, it's grown significantly in recent years," Molly countered.
"How long have Hogwarts had an open day?" Ginny questioned, genuinely baffled as there had never been anything like it when she'd been at school.
"It's been a long time now," Arthur replied. "Minerva has taken big steps to modernise the school. She's made changes to how the staffing works, meaning she's managed to interest some younger staff members. And the open day is part of her modernisation. Making Hogwarts more of a community and more welcoming to the wider wizarding world."
"I'm sure the twins would appreciate seeing the school before they actually start," Molly said encouragingly. "All of their cousins attended open days before they started school, and to be honest, it just made them all the more eager to be off. Little Fred would have quite happily gone off to Hogwarts when he was just six years old."
"It does sound interesting," Ginny admitted. "And I would actually like to see the old place again as well."
"That's sorted then, we can all go along on Saturday," Arthur said.
"And I'm sure most of your brothers will be there," Molly added.
"Ron will be," Arthur confirmed. "I was speaking to him last week, and he's playing on the staff team at the quidditch match."
"Why is Ron playing for the staff?" Ginny asked. "He's never a Professor, is he?" she chuckled, not at all sure what subject her brother could possibly be teaching. He'd gone into Auror training with Harry after the war, and the last she heard, he was doing fairly well and carving out a solid career for himself.
"Harry asked him," Arthur replied.
"Harry's a Professor?" Ginny questioned. While she could picture her brother teaching, she could picture her ex-boyfriend doing the job, and she was guessing he was the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.
"Yes, he has been for some years now," Molly replied. "I don't know if you remember, but Neville Longbottom went into Auror training with Harry and Ron. After a few years, he left the ministry to do an apprenticeship with Pomona Sprout, and he recommended Harry for the Defence job when Minerva was struggling to fill the post."
"But I thought it was Harry's dream to be an Auror," Ginny muttered, wondering what else, or maybe even who else, had changed Harry's mind about his dreams. She could almost sense Hermione's hand in Harry's change of career, as being a boring Professor would be just the sort of job a bore like her would enjoy.
"It was an opportunity too good to miss," Arthur remarked with a shrug. "Besides, I think it was a nice change of pace for him. The poor boy had been fighting from the moment he entered our world. I think he deserved a break from facing dark wizards every day."
"And he is a good Professor by all accounts," Molly added. "All of your nieces of nephews rave about his classes."
"Do you think it will be awkward having Harry teaching my children?" Ginny questioned, even as she was trying to work out a way to turn the situation to her advantage. Maybe Harry working at Hogwarts was just the break she needed as it would mean he spent a lot of his time away from his wife.
"It shouldn't be a problem," Molly said. "All that nastiness was so long ago. Everyone has moved on and grown up since then. I think everyone is capable of behaving like the sensible adults you all are."
Ginny nodded in agreement with Molly, but her mind was still on Harry and her chances of winning him back. One thing she did know was that she would have to make the right first impression when they re-met at the open door. So priority number one over the next few days was to make sure that her looked as stunning as possible, so that when Harry saw her on Saturday he would end up thinking about what he'd lost when he'd ended their relationship. And then when the time was right she would set about reclaiming everything that Hermione sodding Granger had kept from her twenty five years ago.