()()()

Concussed and Loving it

()()()

Before she even opened her eyes she was awake enough to feel just how stiff her entire body was. It felt like she hadn't moved the entire night, no twitches or rolling from this side to that; none of it. Her legs felt stiff, her hands felt like her fingers hadn't moved at all and were numb, her neck and back could definitely do with a good stretch and on both of her sides at her lower back it felt slightly painful. She wasn't great with anatomy, but she was pretty sure that was where her kidneys were.

Her whole body ached, save for her head.

Blinking her eyes open she took in all the light in her room and nothing else. She must have left her curtains open last night.

Oh, no. No wait. This was not school or home. Wasn't she still at Grimmauld Place? Hermione must have left the window curtains open.

Urgh, she was too tired to remember where she fell asleep.

Closing her eyes again she gave herself a big stretch, hearing and feeling a few pops and cracking sounds that sounded bad but felt good. Every move she made she over extended like she was stretching out a pair of tights before attempting to pull them on so that they had optimal give. Her body was the pair of tights.

With one more big stretch and sigh she relaxed back against the mattress and felt better.

Once she was sat up in bed she rubbed her eyes and then opened them and took in her surroundings.

This was definitely not Grimmauld Place, or the Burrow.

She was in a hospital.

Not the hospital wing at Hogwarts either. This was St. Mungo's!

A private suite at St. Mungo's as well.

When she'd been here a few days ago to visit her dad he was in a room with about five other patients in there. Why was she in a room by herself?

"Oh, look who's awake!" a nurse said from the doorway. "About time. How are you feeling?" she asked pleasantly. The lady was somewhere around her thirties and lanky with dark hair pulled back into a bun. She looked like a nice person.

The nurse walked around the bed and started waving her wand over Ginny to run some tests and Ginny honed in on her name tag but her eye sight wasn't letting her focus on the name there.

"Er, confused? Sore and confused," Ginny managed and watched as colors and lights started hovering all over her from the spells the nurse was casting.

The nurse wasn't really paying any attention to Ginny though, she was looking at whatever the spells were telling her. Then the nurse's attention shot over to the door and a big smile came to her face. "Mr. Potter," the nurse all but gushed. "You're right on time! She just woke up."

Ginny looked over at the door at his name and saw 'Mr. Potter' standing there.

Her jaw dropped open.

It was Harry Potter alright. But not the same Harry Potter she saw yesterday. He was a man now. A good looking one too! He still had those gorgeous eyes and wild hair which was now accompanied by this small amount of stubble on his jaw line that looked intentional and distinguished. His glasses were different, these ones framed his face wonderfully and let you see the brilliance of those eyes of his.

And that smile he had right now was one she hadn't seen on him before. He looked hopeful and relieved and happy, nothing like the brooding mope she'd been seeing the last few months. "Ginny," he said in a breath and rushed over to her side, taking her hand and running his fingers through her hair.

Shivers of pleasure ran through her body from the sensation of his fingers through her hair. She wanted to close her eyes again and lean further into his touch.

Then he leaned over her and gave her a kiss.

On the lips!

She was too shocked to do anything more than simply close her eyes and let it happen.

Even without responding to the kiss on her end it was already ten times better than anything she and Michael had shared.

He pulled back and she managed to pry her eyes open again. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked with concern.

She couldn't reply though because all she could think was about how she was still angry at him, but how if he kept looking at her like he was now she was going to lose all the reserve she had about holding his forgetfulness against him.

He was struggling right now after all. And her possession had simply been one of the many things he had needed to deal with over the years. It wasn't like she talked about it either. Oh, who was she kidding, if he kissed her again like he just had, she would completely forgive him. Plus, with the tender expression he had on his face right now, like she was all he cared about, he was in the clear.

Thankfully the nurse answered for her. "All of her stats are normal. I'll give you two a moment alone and get the Healer." There was a hint of disappointment that she could hear in the nurses tone, and Ginny got it. If she'd been witness to Harry behaving like this with another girl then she'd be having the same tone in her voice.

Ginny couldn't pull her eyes away from Harry to acknowledge the nurse.

This was such an odd dream. Why would she be dreaming about him being twice the age he was and her being in a hospital?

"Do you need water or anything?" Harry asked her.

It was only then that she realized her throat was incredibly dry. She nodded and sat up properly again. He let go of her and cast a spell at the glass beside her bed and handed it to her. The feel of the cool water working its way down her throat was very soothing and she felt it spread out through her stomach.

This was a very detailed dream. She felt like she had some control over the way it was going too. Normally when she was dreaming she didn't have any control and there was usually something completely inexplicable going on that everyone was just okay with. Like, if the Healer came in and he was actually just a talking piece of toast, and everyone just went along with it.

She shouldn't be dreaming about Harry like this though. She had a boyfriend, and she was mad at Harry.

Well, she was trying to be mad at Harry.

He was still looking at her like he was in love with her though. She'd wished for years that he would look at her like that for real.

"How are you feeling? How's your head?" he asked, his hands came to cup the side of her head gently and the other rested on her own hand.

Touching was not something that the real Harry would do either. He never instigated a hug or a handshake, or anything like that. That meant this was all just in her head, she thought sadly.

Oh, what the hell. It was just a dream, right? If she felt she had a little bit of control over it, why not make the most of the situation?

"Kiss me again," she told him.

His eyebrow quirked up at that request and he had an amused smirk on his face. "The Healer will probably be here in a moment," he said in a taunting voice, the hint of laughter behind it.

"And if he is?" she grinned at him.

"As my lady wishes," Harry said and closed the distance between them.

This time she made sure to be an active participant. She didn't have too much experience with snogging but that hardly seemed to matter right now. Not just because of the dream thing, but because dream Harry knew what he was doing!

He was snogging her like he had been doing it for years! Like he knew exactly how much pressure she needed, where his hands should go, how much tongue to use. It completely made sense that dream Harry would know exactly how to make her swoon from his kisses though.

And her body was responding to him. There was a sensation between her legs that she was growing more familiar with over the last few years, but hadn't experienced quite at this level before.

A throat clearing in the doorway broke them apart. It was the Healer coming into the room, one that decidedly did not look like toast. He closed the door behind him and stood at the end of her bed, Harry moved to sit in the chair beside her bed with a cute blush on his handsome face. He looked good with that little bit of stubble that was growing there. It was roguish.

Perhaps she could somehow convince the real Harry to miss shaving for a week or two?

Well, it wasn't like he ever listened to her. Although, maybe with some heavy encouragement from Sirius he might decide to. Real Harry didn't have the amount of definition to his jawline yet though, this version did still have a bit of youthfulness to his cheeks though.

"Now then Mrs. Potter," the Healer started.

'Mrs. Potter?!' Ginny thought in astonishment. Sure, why not. Not only is Harry openly touching and snogging her, now he was her husband as well.

"Can you tell me your name?" the Healer asked.

"Ginny," she answered.

He nodded. "And who is this?" he asked, pointing at Harry.

"Harry Potter," she answered, giving her dream husband a smile.

The Healer nodded again and looked down at the chart in his hand. "And can you tell me the ages of James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily?"

Ginny's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Er, run those names by me again?"

The Healer looked up from his chart and into her eyes. "Your children," he stated plainly.

Ginny froze staring at the Healer as she ran through the names he'd said in her mind once more, then turned to look at Harry sharply. "We have five kids?! My God! The most I want is three. How'd you talk me into that?" she asked aghast. "Wait," she turned back to the Healer. "Did you say one of their names is Severus?" There was no way. "That's even weirder than you being toast," she muttered to herself.

The Healer and Harry exchanged a startled look.

"Mrs. Potter, what is the last thing you remember," he asked in concern.

A little thrill went through her hearing him call her Mrs. Potter again. It brought her right back to all those times she had played dress up with her brothers. Forced them to play dress up, actually. Then she thought of them teasing her about it after Ron's first year of school because she couldn't stop herself asking all kinds of questions about Harry.

But what was the last thing she remembered?

She stared down at her hands in her lap, absently twisting and folding the bit of blanket that was between her fingers while she tried to remember.

That wasn't strange though, things were always a bit muddled in dreams.

"Hermione and I were talking before bed because you'd been a prat," Ginny told Harry. "We had been talking about you thinking you were being possessed, and you'd forgotten about what I'd gone through with the Diary."

Harry's lips parted slightly as his jaw slackened in surprise.

"When was this?" the Healer asked Harry.

"It was the Christmas before everyone saw Voldemort at the Ministry and acknowledged he'd returned," Harry told the Healer dumbstruck.

Ginny noticed that the Healer didn't wince at the sound of You-Know-Who's name. Everyone always winces at the sound of his name. Not her though, Hermione had said it so many times when they were talking that it didn't faze her anymore.

Saying Tom Riddle on the other hand, that still made chills run down her spine.

"That's about fifteen years gone then," the Healer said as he noted it down on his chart.

"Ginny," Harry got her attention, "do you really not remember anything after that day?"

He looked so heart broken and concerned. He had never looked at her like that before either. It was making her insides all warm and a small pit of guilt was forming in her belly as well.

"Harry," she started. "This is a wonderful dream, really it is. Voldemort gone, you and I married with a crazy number of kids. The kiss was extra nice as well. But I know it's just a dream. This is just my brain working up some idealistic future. Next you'll tell me I'm a professional Quidditch player." She hadn't told anyone that was her wish for her future. Harry and her brothers getting kicked off the Gryffindor Quidditch team sucked for them but it was an amazing opportunity for her. Seeker was not her ideal position but it got her on the team so she would take it.

Then the two men traded a look. One that told her that was exactly what she was.

"Oh, come off it," she grinned. Alright, she thought to herself, so what if this is a dream. May as well see how it plays out. "And what team do I play for then?" 'If they say Holyhead Harpies then I am for sure dreaming,' she thought. That had been her dream team; completely comprised of excellent female players that she'd had several posters of around her room from over the years, aspiring to be them.

"Er, well. You don't play professionally. Not anymore. You stopped playing after Lily was born, now you're a journalist with a sports column for the Daily Prophet," Harry told her.

"The Daily Prophet is full of crap," she stated immediately.

Both the men gave a chuckle over that.

"It has made some major changes in the last decade and a half," the Healer assured her. "And you quickly became my favorite columnist once you joined their staff." He pulled out a Muggle pen light from his coat pocket and shone it into each of her eyes. "It seems you have a case of amnesia when it comes to the last few years. All of your other stats look alright."

"But will her memories come back?" Harry asked.

"There is a good chance. Unfortunately, every case is different. For some they regain a few of their memories, others remember everything, sometimes they don't come back at all. The brain is very delicate."

"Is there anything we can do to possibly help her remember?" Harry asked him.

He still sounded very concerned, but she wasn't all that bothered. This was all a dream. And they still hadn't said which team she played for.

"Which Quidditch Team did I play for?" Mentally she was crossing her fingers and praying they didn't say it was the Cannons.

"Babe, that is hardly impo-,"

"The Harpies," the Healer told her, cutting Harry off.

'Yep, nothing to worry about,' Ginny thought to herself. "So, can I get out of here then?" She pulled back the sheets and went to climb out of the bed.

"Hold on," the Healer warned.

But she was already attempting to stand on her legs, which buckled under her and Harry had to catch her before she fell to the ground.

"Why aren't my legs working?" she asked in a panic.

"You've been bed bound for a few days. It is to be expected. Let's get you back into the bed and I will run a few more tests to see if there is anything else going on that we need to be on the lookout for. Physically you have been doing alright and the nurse just ran a few tests that showed you are healthy, but we need to be thorough."

Harry helped her back into the bed.

"Mr. Potter, this will be another thirty minutes if you'd like to send off a few owls to let the rest of the family know?"

"I'm staying right here," Harry said, his arm still around her waist.

'Oh, swoon,' Ginny thought. He was treating her like she was his everything. There had been a few times that he was the one laid up in the hospital wing at school and she had been desperate to check on him herself and make sure he was okay, but it hadn't been her place, so she'd just made him up a 'Get Well Soon' card and been horribly embarrassed about it. Now he was by her side and refusing to leave.

"Mr. Potter," the Healer pressed. "I believe her mother and your children would like to know that she has awoken and by all appearances will be able to go home soon."

"Oh, I miss the Burrow," Ginny said without thinking. It had been nearly a year since she'd stayed in it. They'd been there for all of five minutes before being whisked off to Grimmauld Place last summer.

Harry frowned at her. "Right," he said sadly, then shook that emotion away and did as the Healer asked. "Right, I'll send an owl off." He took her hand and brought it to his lips. "I'll be right back. I promise," he assured her before he left, the door closing behind him.

There was a halo of light that wove around her head as the Healer began running through his checks. "For someone that doesn't remember being married to him, you don't seem very broken up about the idea," he chuckled.

"I used to play make-believe that I was marrying him," she admitted with a grin. "Then for the first few years of school I was tripping all over myself in his presence. I thought I had finally gotten over him, but now here I am, dreaming about him still."

"Mrs.- Ginny," he resolved to call her. "Ginny, this isn't a dream. You got a good knock on your head by a rogue Bludger at a game, but in the last fifteen years you have grown up, married and had a career and children."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Five kids? One of which named Severus? Yeah right," she snorted. "Harry calling one of his kids after his second most hated professor?" It was preposterous.

"Who was the first?" he asked curiously.

"Umbridge, obviously. Everyone hates her. She makes Snape's classes look entirely tolerable. She's despicable."

"Ah, yes. I've heard a few stories about her. Apparently in her final day as acting Headmistress she was run off by a herd of Centaurs."

"Headmistress?" Ginny spat, trying to stop the bile that was threatening its way up her throat at that preposterous idea. The Centaur bit though, that sounded like something she and the twins might be able to try and orchestrate.

He gave her a kind smile. "I think I'll let your husband fill you in with the details of that one."

He finished running his tests and Harry came back just as the Healer had confirmed that she was fit to head home with instructions to come back to the hospital every day over the next two weeks to make sure there wouldn't be any issues.

Once the Healer left the room and it was just the two of them again Ginny wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Harry went over to the wardrobe in the corner of the room and pulled out her clothes for her to change into and brought them over to the bed.

But it looked like he expected her to change in front of him.

"Erm, are you staying here for this?" she asked.

He didn't look at all phased by the fact that she would be naked in front of him. "Well, I thought you might need help. I mean, you nearly fell earlier when you were trying to get off the bed."

She blushed. "Yes, but… I'll need to get… naked for this."

He blinked at her, as though he was trying to see what the problem was still. Then it clicked for him. "Oh," he shifted his weight uncomfortably, "right, and you don't remember…. us."

Us.

That word resonated through her whole body.

They were an 'us', like a team. Like a unit where one of them could barely exist without the other. And an 'us' as in he had seen her naked on multiple occasions, including when they created their multiple children.

'Us' sounded so wonderful.

But she wasn't a part of this 'us' yet.

"I wish I did," she whispered and blushed.

"It's okay," he muttered. "Why don't you just go in and use the loo?" He gestured towards the door in the far corner of the room.

"Right, yeah. I do have to use the loo anyhow," she nodded.

He helped her get to her feet and walk the short distance to the loo. After a few steps her legs were already seeming to work properly, if a bit uncoordinated. Closing the door behind her she rested back against it for a moment.

Say this wasn't a dream, say she really had lived this life already and gotten a concussion that led to her forgetting what she'd done for the last ten years or so. Could all of her hopes and dreams really have come true?

Married to her childhood crush.

Oh, who was she kidding? She had been slipping from crushing on him to being in love with him since he first showed up at the Burrow. Then he'd gone and saved her life, further driving the roots of her infatuation deep into her veins so they were wrapping around her heart.

Perhaps that was what this dream was about. It could be telling her not to give up on him even though he didn't always consider her right now. Even though she wasn't part of his current band of 'us' that included only Ron and Hermione.

Things could change.

So… but then, if this wasn't a dream though, she should just go along with it.

What was the worst that could happen if she woke up and none of it was true?

Her heart would get broken.

Well, her heart had been broken before and she'd lived through it.

Armed with a new drive to see this through she headed for the toilet and sat down, examining the clothes he'd handed her while she did her business.

It was a nice fabric on the shirt, so smooth. A deep green sweater and a pair of jeans that looked to be worn in, but still a new solid blue color. Her knickers and bra were nice too. And my, that was quite the cup size.

Ginny took a peak down the robe she was wearing and her eyebrows went up in surprise.

They weren't anywhere close to the size of her mum's but these breasts she was rocking now were well more than the handful she fell asleep with.

Maybe they were how she ensnared the man of her dreams? Ginny chuckled to herself at that idea.

After she flushed the toilet she braced herself for this next part.

The lighting in here wasn't all that forgiving, so if she looked slightly haggard, it could just be due to that.

Stepping in front of the sink her own reflection came into view; her freckles, her pink lips, her brown eyes, her red hair. It was certainly herself that was looking back at her, but she'd lost all the childlike features. She was a woman now. There was the definition of cheekbones now where there hadn't been, there was some slight coloring under her eyes that gave away how tired she felt and her hair was longer and looked stringy, like it was in need of a good washing.

Overall, she looked alright.

Ginny gave her reflection a nod of acceptance and washed her hands before pulling on her clothes, the jeans being more snug than she was used to her clothes fitting, but the view of them on her in the mirror was rather pleasing.

Coming out of the loo she saw Harry anxiously waiting on the bed for her. He looked relieved to see her come out. "I wondered how much longer I should wait before knocking," he admitted.

"Sorry," she blushed. "I was just… taking it all in." She gave a gesture to her body. "It looks like I aged well. And considering how many kids we have, looks like I kept it all together alright," she joked.

Harry gave her that signature 'Harry' grin that she liked so much. It was sort of a crooked smile that gave the impression there had been in inside joke shared. "There are three, by the way. Not five," he told her and picked up a picture off the bedside table that she hadn't taken the time to notice, to hand it to her. "James Sirius was our first, Albus Severus is our middle child, then there's out little Lily."

The photo was of Harry and she with children climbing all over them on a sofa. They were all laughing and wearing Weasley sweaters with their first initials on them.

The oldest child looked just like his dad, the middle boy was a mixture of the two of them, and the little girl was the spitting image of Ginny at that age, except she had her fathers eyes.

They all looked so happy.

Ginny's nose grew stuffy as she felt the pressure of tears growing behind her eyes. "They're adorable," she told him.

"They are," he agreed. "And quite the handful."

"And where are they now?" she asked. He had mentioned it earlier but there was so much going on.

"At the Burrow. They're fine, just worried about you."

She nodded and looked back over to see that he had her bag packed up and resting on the bed. "What now?" she wondered. She didn't know where they were going or if she would have to meet her children right away. That would be a lot.

"I think I should take you home. Maybe see if anything looks familiar." He sounded hopeful, and she liked hearing that tone in his voice. He didn't sound very hopeful at all lately.

()()()

The house they lived in was a large cottage in a small town with lots of garden space around it. He led them in through the front door and she felt right at home when she stepped inside. There was character to the house. It looked like it was a few decades old and there were spots that the children had drawn on the walls with crayon that hadn't been cleaned up or painted over. There were stickers on the trimming and photos lining the walls and the look of it simply felt right.

"I like it here," she told him as her eyes travelled around the entryway that led into the dining room area.

It already looked cozy, yet spacious.

Harry gave a single chuckle. "That was what you said the first time we looked at it as well."

She gave him a smile before biting her lip. "And when was that, exactly?" She started wandering around the room and looking at the art on the walls in the dining room. It was all art in here, she didn't see any photo pictures in this room.

"We've lived here for nearly eight years."

"Eight?!" she asked in surprise and looked back at him, still standing in the entryway just watching her. "How long have we been married for?"

"Also eight years," he told her. "We were house hunting before we got married. We lived at Grimmauld Place before that."

She frowned at him and turned her attention to the hutch that had a few trinkets and such on the shelves. "Is this an Order of Merlin, First Class?" Ginny grabbed the medal off the shelf and saw Harry's name engraved on it with the year 1998 underneath. "Does this mean that you defeated Tom?" she held the medal up. "It takes another two or so years?"

Harry finally set her bag down at the bottom of the stairs, looking like he didn't want to discuss it. "I think we should go and sit down if we're going to reminisce."

She gauged his emotions then. His overall demeanor was sad, but she didn't know if it was because of her memory loss or if the tale would be painful for him to tell. It can't have been a good story. Nothing that he'd been through in the last several years, of the one's she remembered, had been good.

Ginny put the Order of Merlin, Fist Class back down and followed him through the house to the kitchen.

The kitchen made her eyes go wide. There was so much space! The island in the center of it was huge and from the stools on the opposite side of the sink it looked like this was where they ate the majority of their meals. The counter was a lovely clean wooden one and all the cabinetry matched the color of it.

"I love this kitchen!" she exclaimed.

Harry gave a chuckle. "You said that the first time you saw it too. I bet I know what you'll say when you see the clawfoot tub in our master bathroom."

Ginny rounded on him. "We've a clawfoot tub?! Oh, that's brilliant."

He smiled at her again, then it slowly slipped off his face and she knew it was because she had suddenly felt awkward and that reflected in her own expression.

"Gin," he started. "Gin, I don't want to tell you all the bad that happened and make you upset. We had a few solid years of crap we needed to deal with from after the last thing you remember. And then even after the war was done, it took a while to come to terms with what had happened. I won't say that it's all behind us, but we've moved on, and speaking for myself, I'm the happiest I've ever been here with you and the kids. You've said you've been happy too." He took her hand and pulled on it a bit.

Ginny took a step towards him. He was sounding so sincere and tender. She just wanted to hug him close and feel his lips on her again. If this was all true, then there was no doubt that he would know by now how to make her feel things she'd only ever imagined before.

"I've no doubt I am," she whispered. "I suppose it doesn't hurt to tell you now that I've always wanted to be someone special to you."

He cupped the side of her face in his palm and rested his forehead against hers. "You've no idea how special you are to me, Gin. I hope you get your memory back so you'll remember all the times I've proven that to you."

A shiver ran through her and she bit her lip, closing her eyes to enjoy the feel of him touching her. Ginny tilted her head up so she could kiss him again.

It did feel so natural to do that. Being in his arms felt right, kissing him felt right as well.

"You said you didn't want to tell me the bad things," she started when she pulled back from the kiss. "Tell me some of the good."

He grinned down at her. "Come on then." He took her by the hand and led her out to a conservatory room they had out the back of the house off the kitchen. There were several house plants around and a few chairs with a comfortable looking sofa.

Harry took a seat and, possibly out of habit, pulled her to sit in his lap which caused a surprised squeak to come out of her mouth.

"Sorry," he apologized at her surprised expression.

"No," she blushed. "No, it's fine."

He remained tense for a moment, then adjusted so they would both settle comfortably into their position, her still sitting across his lap. "So, good things," he started. "Well, you usually love the story of how much of a jealous idiot I was in my sixth year."

"Jealous idiot?" she puzzled. "Jealous over what? Did you not get back on the Quidditch Team?"

"What?!" he laughed. "No. I was jealous because you were seeing Dean. Dean Thomas."

"What?! I started dating Dean Thomas? What happened to Michael?"

"Huh, I almost forgot about him. You and he didn't last very long. He wound up dating Cho Chang for a bit I think," he pondered.

"Michael ditched me for Cho bloody Chang?" Ginny asked, offended. "I hate that whiney bint. Please tell me that means you and she didn't last long." Watching Harry pining over Cho had been annoying and painful.

Harry shook his head and then rested it on her shoulder before giving her a kiss there and sitting up straight again, a smile on his face. "You know, if you were like this with me before you dated Dean we might have gotten together sooner."

She blushed. "I still wouldn't have been your first kiss," she muttered.

"Nor I yours," he pointed out. "But no, Cho and I didn't last long. We never were properly dating either. It was just one trip to Hogsmeade and I only ever kissed her the once. And it was terrible, by the way."

"Right," Ginny nodded knowingly. "Wet, I believe is how you described it?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, look at you and your expression like I don't already know you knew that," he teased. "Yeah, it was terrible. Want to know what our first one was like?" he grinned.

"Go on," she asked eagerly.

"We'd just won the Quidditch Cup in my Sixth Year. And by we, I mean you. I'd been in detention and you had to fill in as Seeker."

Ginny's jaw dropped open. That meant that it would have been near the end of her fifth year.

"I got back to Gryffindor Tower and when I came through the portrait hole everyone was celebrating. You'd been waiting nearby and took a run at me. I knew you were aiming for a hug, but I kissed you instead," he grinned.

"In front of everyone?" she asked in awe.

"In front of everyone," he confirmed. "You teased me so hard after that because my first reaction after I'd given you a proper kiss wasn't to see if you were okay with it, it was to make sure that Ron was okay with it."

"What?" she asked, offended. "The first time you kiss me and you're more concerned about how my brother took it?"

"And you've never let me live it down since," he assured her.

Ginny looked at those lips of his now. Them, and those beautiful eyes of his behind his glasses. "I've always wanted to run my fingers through your hair," she admitted to him.

"I know," he told her. "And I always love it when you do."

She bit the side of her lip and brought her hand up to slide her fingers through his locks. They were so soft, and she could feel the heat coming off him. He made a humming noise and closed his eyes at her touch.

This didn't feel like a dream at all. It felt too good to be true. He said there were bad things that had happened, was she just lucky now to have missed all that and skipped to the 'Happily Ever After' part? He seemed so happy, their house looked so lovely. She'd had a career as a Quidditch player and had now settled into some cozy writing job so that she could be home more. He hadn't told her what he did for a living, she suspected he was an Auror or something equivalent.

Right now though, he was on this couch with her in his lap and he was happily letting her enjoy running her fingers through his hair.

That wasn't all she wanted to do though.

Steeling her nerves, she was the one to instigate their kiss this time. His arms wrapped tighter around her and she reveled in all the feelings his touch and kiss were giving her. No dream could feel this good and life-like. He'd given her a lovely snog in the hospital, this was much more private though.

If they were a married couple with several children, then no doubt this wasn't the only place in the house that they had snogged. They'd probably done more than that on this couch as well.

Their kiss grew deeper and Harry adjusted himself on the couch so that she could move to straddle him, their lips never losing contact. His hands moved to her hips and slid upwards, under her shirt. The feel of his hands on her bare back alone was fantastic. She'd been stationary in that bed for so long that the slightest pressure he applied was equivalent to a wonderful massage. Ginny's head tilted back and she groaned from the feel of his hands on her.

His lips moved down to her neck as his hands continued to work her over and her eyes rolled back behind her lids.

Wow, married life was incredible.

His hands rose higher, under her bra strap and up to her shoulder blades.

"Ugh, yes!" she groaned due to the pressure he was applying there. He'd pulled her tighter against him and worked his lips across her neck to pay attention to her other side. Then she felt her bra clasp come undone. It gave her pause, but then his hands kept rubbing against her back and she didn't care.

"Oh, I missed you," Harry murmured against her skin.

Her head lolled back again and she remembered that she'd been enjoying the feel of running her hands through his hair, then started doing that again and enjoyed the groan of appreciation from him. One of his own hands moved from her back around to her front and grasped a handful of her breast. Her jaw dropped open in shock and she almost pulled back, but then she realized that his lips were starting to move down towards his hand, and what he was doing felt really good.

He pulled her shirt up, bringing her bra with it and before she'd properly taken stock of what he was doing his lips were on her bare breast. She could feel his teeth against her nipple.

And she liked it.

"Harry," she panted.

He only hummed in response and continued lavishing attention on her chest, then he pulled her shirt over her head, taking her bra with it.

"Harry!" she cried out in surprise.

That had him pulling back and blinking up at her. His dazed and dilated eyes showed confusion for a moment, then realization.

Ginny was embarrassed and wanted to cover herself up, the only way to do that in their current position was to pull him closer so he wouldn't be able to look down and see her.

"Sorry. Sorry, I, I shouldn't have gotten carried away." He didn't sound like he was sorry though. He sounded like he wanted to keep going, keep on doing what they'd been doing.

"I- It felt good," she told him. "I'm just… confused."

"I know. I just missed you, and I've been so worried, and now you're here. We're home and alone. I just. I got carried away," he repeated.

She felt her body heating up, not just from her blush, but from the look he was giving her as well. Eight years he'd said they've been married and he was still looking at her like that?

"I take it you and I don't get many opportunities to be alone?" she prodded, trying to ignore the fact that she was still topless and straddling him.

"That doesn't always stop us, but yeah," he smirked. "There was one time in your old bedroom at the Burrow before you moved out." His hands started rubbing along her back again. "You'd challenged me to try and make you cum without anyone hearing you, and I wasn't allowed to use magic."

She'd have been more startled by this story if his hands weren't currently working magic on her tired muscles at her back again.

"That was when I found out just how much you like it when there's the chance we might get caught," he told her in a deep and quiet voice.

"O-oh yeah?" It was all she could think to say. He was getting her whole body to tremble with need.

"See, I've spent more than a decade learning what it is you like. Now I can't help but wonder if you might let me show you?" He lowered his lips to kiss her shoulder gently again.

"Y-you. I. You want to what?" she stuttered. Her lust addled brain wasn't allowing her to properly make sense of what he was saying. His lips on her were addictive.

"I don't mean to push you, I just… Oh, I miss you so much." He kept kissing up her neck until their lips met again.

She didn't know what to say. She'd been aroused before, but this was next level. Her body was responding to him like it knew exactly what was in store for it if she said yes. What would be the harm though? She wondered.

She was all gross from spending days in the hospital bed though.

She cupped his cheek and pulled away slightly. "I need a shower," she said and gave a heavy gulp of air.

"Perfect." He rubbed his nose against hers. "We can start there."

Ginny didn't have a moment to question that before he'd lifted her up and started carrying her back into the main part of the house. Her legs wrapped around him and his hands were on her bum, she buried her face into his shoulder, feeling the heat rising to her face. They were going to shower together! He'd seen her topless now and soon they were both going to be naked and in the shower.

But he'd done this before.

They'd done this before.

She missed the opportunity to look at some of the rooms they passed on his way, carrying her up the stairs and into a bathroom that didn't just have a clawfoot tub, it had a large shower that was on its own as well. Ginny looked at the shower, then turned to look at Harry who was staring at her, waiting for her to give the final yes or no answer.

Dream or not, she wanted to know what else he could make her feel.

She nodded.

"Unwrap your legs," he told her.

She unhooked her ankles and slid down his body so she was standing on the tiled floor. Harry pulled away from her and pulled his own shirt over his head so they were both now bare from the waist up. Ginny forgot about her own modesty when she saw him standing there without a shirt.

He'd been so scrawny when he was fifteen. Now he had a healthy amount of weight on him, his arms looked like he spent a good amount of time lifting things up. Well, he'd just carried her up a flight of stairs, so clearly he was strong. His chest hair was thin and only covering up a bit of his chest. He didn't have chiseled abs or anything, there were a few scars though. A large one right over his heart too.

She wasn't going to ask about them right now. Not when he was looking at her like that.

His hand reached out to undo the top button on her jeans. With a shaky hand she reached out to do the same for him. He'd slid her jeans and knickers down over her bum before she'd managed to undo his button so he saved her the trouble and did it for her.

She'd never seen an erection before, and his was impressive. The thought of that being inside of her made her insides clench up with want.

"Wow," she said under her breath.

"Don't worry," he assured her, "we'll be leading up to that."

Ginny didn't know what that meant but she was desperate to find out.

Harry left her standing where she was and turned the shower on, checking to make sure it was hot before guiding her over and under the stream.

The heat of the water against her felt good, but she couldn't fully appreciate it because she was too worked up with anticipation over what he was going to do to her next. He stepped into the stall with her and closed the glass door. She still wasn't sure what to make of all this, being here, standing naked with him in a shower stall, it just didn't seem real.

Harry took a bottle down from a high shelf and poured some of the liquid out in his hand. "Get your hair wet, I'll help you wash it," he told her.

"You don't have to," she blushed.

He gave her a kiss, a chaste one, just to silence her. "I know how much you enjoy when I do this. Just let me?" he asked, nearly pleading with her to consent.

All she could do was bite her lip and nod before tilting her head back so her hair could get a thorough soak from the spray. She ran her hands through the strands and could tell from the feel of it that it had been a few days since she'd last been able to wash her hair.

"Turn around," he told her, and she did so that the spray was aimed at her chest. His hands went to her scalp and started massaging the shampoo into her hair.

Ginny smiled at the smell. "This is one my mum made, isn't it?"

"It is. And the scent of it was one of the first things that tipped me off that I was falling for you," he said and started really working his fingers into her hair.

The feel of him massaging her there was so good she wondered how it was she was still able to stand.

"I remember smelling it off Amortentia at the start of my sixth-year potions classes," Harry told her. "It was a few days later that I smelled it again when I was near you." He chuckled a bit. "I was so clueless then though. It still took a while for me to realize what it meant."

Ginny loved what she was hearing, the head massage wasn't letting her brain work enough to form a verbal response though. He was right, this felt amazing.

"I remember the first time you washed my hair," he told her softly. "It was after you'd finished up your last year at Hogwarts and had come back to find that my hair was much longer than you liked and you forced me into a chair in the kitchen to give me a haircut."

"I did?" she chuckled, smiling widely. It was something she would have done to her brothers and he'd told her they got together when she was in her fifth year, so they must have been really comfortable with each other by then.

"I'd been to the barbers before, but it is a whole other experience to have someone you love do it. It was lucky the house was empty, since you straddled me in the chair while you had me leant back over the sink to wash it."

She felt herself get excited by the mental picture of that. It likely would have felt just like it had when they were on the couch a minute ago.

And now they were naked and together in the shower.

"Wash that out," he told her.

She turned around again and leaned back to get all the shampoo out, then gave a jump when she felt his hands on her again. This time it felt like he had a bar of soap in his hand. It started at her side, then began roaming; along her back, up her spine, around to her front and right under her breasts. He wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her steady and she was grateful for that because her mind was losing all sense and balance. All she could do was think about how he was touching her, and how much more she wanted him to touch her.

Ginny blinked through the water droplets that had landed on her eyelashes and looked up at him as he put the bar of soap down on the high shelf again. His hand going right back to rubbing every spot on her body that he could reach.

She was the one to wrap her arms around his neck this time and pull his lips down to her own.

He really did know her body because what he was making her feel now she'd never felt before. He was making her feel desired and wanton. Particularly when his hand travelled down her front and to her sex. She sucked in a sharp breath then.

"Do you need me to slow down?" he asked, his fingers still keeping up the massaging movement and caressing her there. "Ginny?" he asked again when she didn't respond.

She couldn't speak though. It felt wonderful.

This was all new to her, but it was like her body knew exactly what was going on, and what was going to happen next, it just wasn't relaying the information to her brain.

She decided to trust what her body was telling her.

"Don't stop," she told him. Then let out a muffled cry when his finger found a spot on her that was so sensitive and it felt so wonderful.

She could also feel his erection against her hip and she didn't know if she was ready for that just yet.

When he turned them around so he was blocking the spray and he backed her up so she was against the cool tiles she thought he was going to take her like this. Instead, he sunk to his knees before her and lifted one of her legs so it would go over his shoulder then latched his mouth to that sweet spot at her sex and she cried out from the explosion of sensations that took over her.

Her hands went to either side of the stall, desperate for something to grip onto and found there were bars placed at the perfect height for her to grasp. Whether they were supposed to hold flannels, or they'd had them specially installed for instances like this, she didn't know. She didn't care, she just gripped them hard and let the incredible waves of pleasure wash over her from what Harry was doing to her with his mouth.

This must have been what he was talking about when he said they'd be 'leading up to' sex. It was incredible. And he'd worked her up so good that it wasn't more than a minute of enjoying this bliss that she was crying out, explosions of pleasure were going off in her head and she barely knew how to control herself.

It felt like she was having a heart attack and every time his tongue swirled against her again it was like she was going to pass out. It was so sensitive there right now, a different kind of sensitive than it had been when he'd first put his mouth on her there.

"Stop," she panted.

And he did.

He stopped using his mouth against her there, lowered her leg from around his shoulder and started placing soft kisses against her thighs, then her hips, then her stomach and between her breasts and up to her neck. The whole time she was trying to remember how swallow and draw breath.

"I missed you," Harry said in her ear and hugged her to him.

She managed to remove her hands from the bars and wrap them around his neck again, still needing assistance to stay upright.

"That was…" she didn't have the words.

()()()

There were still no words she could put to what she'd experienced with him for the remainder of that day when she woke the next morning in their incredibly comfortable marriage bed. The mattress was so soft and the comforter was divine. The pillows must have been down filled as well.

After their shower together he'd led her back to their bedroom and worked her over, massaging her with his hands and kissing her everywhere while he regaled her with the story of how they came to be together and what their first time had been like.

Then he'd gone on to recreating it for her.

At that point she'd been more than ready for it, and again her body had reacted to him like it knew exactly what to do and her brain was able to check out mentally and simply enjoy the ride.

And she enjoyed that ride a few more times before falling asleep.

The doctor had said she needed rest after all.

As she awoke properly and took in the sight of the room around her, she knew this couldn't be a dream anymore. You don't fall asleep in a dream, and you certainly don't experience as much as she had with Harry in a dream.

Their room had windows facing to the East. She could tell because there was a lot of sunlight cascading into their room.

Ginny looked over to the other side of the bed and saw that it was empty, she then sat up and looked around at all the pictures and trinkets here and there on the walls and dresser. She felt familiar with the space, comfortable even. There were three doorways opposite the bed. The one to the side went to the hallway, the one near that on the far wall went to the master ensuite bathroom, and the furthest one from her, that didn't have an actual door, was to their walk-in closet.

She knew it all, but she didn't remember how she knew it.

There was a noise of footsteps in the hall and the door opened, Harry was levitating a tea tray into the room.

"Oh good, you're up," he said quietly. "How are you feeling?"

She could tell by his tone what he was really asking. "I remember everything from yesterday, if that helps. I'm still missing about fifteen years of other content though."

There was a twitch in his cheek, like he was wanting to frown but also wanting to give her a reassuring happy face too. Instead, he opted to take the tray out of the air and set it down on the nightstand beside her.

"Other than that, I'm just a bit… sore," she blushed. Now that he'd asked how she was feeling she realized there was a bit of unfamiliar muscle pain between her legs. He'd been very gentle with her, but who knew when the last time was that they'd been together like they had.

Harry did smile over that and offered her a cup of tea. "Just how you like it," he told her.

She fluffed up the pillows behind her and sat up properly, accepting the cup. She didn't normally take her tea with milk, but taking a sip of it, it did taste really good.

He'd brought up bacon sandwiches as well and a banana. "Do you normally do the breakfasts around here?" she asked.

He gave a chuckle, "and the lunches, sometimes the dinners. For us at least, for the kids you usually take care of their meals, just forget to feed yourself as well, so I do it."

That was just about the sweetest thing she'd ever heard.

It did get her wondering though. "Am I going to see them today?"

She'd given in and admitted to herself that this wasn't a dream, that meant accepting the fact that she had three children she didn't remember who would be wanting to see their mum. She'd be seeing her own mum as well, that would likely help keep her calm.

Harry nodded. "Mum is bringing them around mid-morning. You have a bit of time still."

"You call her mum?" Ginny asked brightly.

"Got into the habit after she kept nagging me. Then she outright demanded it after we got married," he grinned.

Ginny grinned back at him, then turned her attention to the pictures on the walls of their family. The kids were very cute. She stared at them all while she finished her tea and picked up one of the sandwiches.

"Who is the little boy with blue hair?" she asked of one that had their two eldest in it and herself, sporting a pregnant belly, with Harry having his arms around a blue-haired boy.

"That's Teddy," Harry told her as he took the other half of the sandwich and lay on his side on the bed, propped up on his elbow. "He is the child of Remus and Dora Lupin, nee Tonks."

"No!" Ginny asked him wide-eyed. "Those two? I thought Tonks was holding a fancy for Bill!"

"Ha, everyone thought that. But no, she had the hots for Remus. Teddy there is living proof. He's our Godson and he's here all the time."

"Oh, that's lovely." She kept looking them all over and their happy faces in each of the pictures. "It's adorable how you'll only have Muggle pictures of us in here. You're really that paranoid they'll see something scandalous?" she teased and reached for the banana.

"When did I say that?" Harry asked her.

"When we were setting this room up," she reminded him. "It was your only demand."

She didn't catch how he was watching her now. How he'd perked up at her remembering that. "What?" she asked him at his expression.

"You just remembered that," he told her.

Ginny paused and stared back at him.

...She did just remember that.

She'd been twenty-one at the time and they'd been getting the furniture and such picked out for the house, that's when he'd told her he didn't want any magical photos in the bedroom where they could be watched and their bedroom activities commented on.

"I did," she told him, her forehead scrunching up as she tried to remember something else from her missing years. There weren't any other memories that were flooding back into her head though. She took another bit of the banana and ignored the look that Harry was giving her.

He must have sensed that she was uneasy about it. She didn't want to give him high expectations for her suddenly being the wife that he'd grown to love and have this rhythm of domestication with.

"You haven't told me much about everyone else," she said finally. "What are my brothers doing?"

He took her hint to move the conversation on and told her about Bill and his wife Fleur and their children, how Charlie was still in Romania and happy with his bachelor lifestyle, he told her about how Percy had settled down as well and was still as pompous as she remembered but how everyone had accepted him immediately when he showed up to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts where it all ended.

There was something a bit funny about him then. He gave a pause before continuing on and a smile played about his lips before he told her the story of the twins farewell to Dolores Umbridge and their Weasley Wizard Wheeze Business that was still doing very well.

Then he told her about how Ron and Hermione finally got together.

Ginny found herself grinning widely at the story of how they finally came together.

"All he had to do was mention helping House Elves and she threw herself at him?" she laughed.

"And it was not the ideal time for that! If it was, then I certainly would have…" he trailed off.

Ginny gave her husband an adoring look and pulled back the blankets enough to crawl over to him and give him a kiss. "It would have been your turn to run at me through the portrait hole that time?" she asked as she looked down at those emerald-green eyes of his, picturing how they had shone brightly across that dimly lit room, his clothes worn and ragged with smears of dirt on his cheeks.

"Seeing you there in the Room of Requirement gave me all the extra encouragement I needed to do what I had to," he told her seriously.

Her brow furrowed then. She knew what he was talking about, but she also didn't.

He sat up and cupped her cheeks in his hands, giving her another kiss. "I wanted to invite Hermione over before the kids come back, see if she knows of any potions that might help speed up your memory recovery."

Ginny nodded. "It's all hazy. That's the second time this morning that I've remembered something like that."

"The brain is a very sensitive area," came a familiar voice from the doorway.

"Hermione," Harry said in an exasperated voice. "I know that I gave you and Ron access to the house, but could you at least try to make sound when you walk?"

Ginny was struck by the look of her, now, sister-in-law. She'd grown up very pretty. Well, she'd been pretty before. When Ginny had helped her prepare for the Yule Ball it had been the first time she'd truly noticed how beautiful Hermione was, now she had her hair more under control and had grown into her features. She looked happy too, less like the world was on her shoulders.

"Ginny," Hermione smiled and crossed the room, unconcerned by what Harry had said. She pulled Ginny into a hug.

They had grown close over the last two years, the ones that Ginny really remembered. Sharing a room at the Burrow, in a tent and at Grimmauld Place. It looked like the growing bond between them had continued over the last decade and a half.

"Harry told me that your last proper memory was of the night he'd made and arse of himself about thinking he was being possessed by Voldemort and having forgot that you knew what that was like."

Ginny chuckled. "And the Hermione I knew back then wouldn't have used that particular descriptive word."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "you can blame your brother for that. He's not only got me using that language, our children say 'bugger' more in a week than I did my entire childhood."

That made Ginny chuckle again. "Harry told me you've got two kids?"

"Yes," Hermione smiled. "Rose and Hugo. They're both adorable little handfuls, just like your ones. It's complete and utter madness when we all get together at the Burrow, but it's lovely as well." Hermione cupped Ginny's cheek and peered into her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Disoriented," Ginny offered her.

"She remembered two things in her lost chunk of time this morning. Right before you got here."

"Really? What was that?"

"Moving in here and being… somewhere. Somewhere in a room at Hogwarts and Harry came through the wall," Ginny told her. The memory of that one wasn't quite in focus anymore.

"That's wonderful!" Hermione said happily. "I don't know much about memory loss and such, but if you're already starting to remember things, that can't be a bad sign! And it isn't like you've forgotten your whole life, just the last half of it."

"The part with our kids in it, you mean?" Harry asked her wryly.

Hermione shot him an exasperated look, then turned back to Ginny. "I can only imagine what your reaction was to wake up, thinking you were still fourteen, and then finding out you were married to him."

Ginny felt a deep blush take over her and suddenly grew shy. "Yeah, well," she didn't finish. The memory of what Harry had done to her last night came back to her mind and the room grew suddenly hotter as well.

Hermione didn't press. "Have you got another appointment at St. Mungo's?"

"Yes. She needs to go in once a day for two weeks. Mum's bringing the kids back after our appointment there this morning."

"Good," Hermione nodded. "And any mention of speaking to the Mind-Healers? They'll likely have some potions or spells, tips or tricks, to try and speed up her memory recovery."

"He'll probably bring something up today. Yesterday we were just happy that she'd woken up and surprised at how she'd reacted," Harry told her honestly.

"I was convinced it was all a dream," Ginny shrugged.

"I can see that. If I'd lost my memory from the last decade and a half and woke up to find I was married to Ron with two kids and was now Deputy Head for Magical Law Enforcement-"

"You are?!" Ginny blurted out loudly.

"See," Hermione grinned. "I'd have reacted like that too."

"Well, that's exactly what you wanted. To be making a proper difference! And so young too! You'll be Minister for Magic in no time!" Ginny told her happily.

"Yes, well. I'm not there yet. And I'm still not the best at making friends-"

"Oh, who needs them," Ginny cut her off. "You've married into the Weasley's, now you've got family coming out your ears."

Hermione snorted. "Trust me, that's not the way Rose and Hugo came out."

"Oh! Gross. Hermione!" Harry protested.

"What? You were there for your kids births," she laughed.

Ginny turned her attention sharply to Harry then. "You weren't," she gestured to her lower half, "like, there, watching it happen. Were you?"

He had a twinkle in his eye over that question. "No. You wouldn't let me. Kept saying I had better stay up near your head because you worried it would ruin our sex life."

"Oh. Yeah, that does sound like me," she admitted to herself, unashamed.

"Right," Hermione interjected. "Well, I can try and do a bit of research on this with the way the Muggles deal with it to give you some options, but other than that; speak to the Mind-Healers. Harry, you should probably keep showing her around familiar places and telling her stories, see if anything else comes up naturally."

"I will," he assured her.

Hermione gave Ginny a big hug before she left, and one to Harry as well.

The rest of the morning Ginny spent exploring the rest of the house that she hadn't seen the previous day. There were three other bedrooms, she'd have thought that that meant it was one for each of the children, but there were two children's rooms that were clearly regularly occupied, one with two beds that obviously belonged to her sons, and the other her daughter's room. The third room looked too clean to be of any regular use, and there were a few toys, but the looked like they belonged to someone older. Then she finally found something in the closet of the room that said 'Teddy' on it, and then noticed a picture of Tonks and Professor Lupin that sat on the nightstand.

Ginny remembered Harry saying that Teddy came over all the time but Ginny thought it was a bit strange that they had him sleeping over regularly enough that he had a room dedicated to him.

It led to a few questions that she was sure she didn't want the answer to.

In each of the kids rooms she picked up a stuffed animal or another object and stared at it, hoping that some memory of them receiving it would come back to her.

She had three children and she couldn't bring up any memories of them. Not their first steps or words, not their first day of primary school.

"It's not been 24 hours yet," Harry said from the hallway as she was holding one of Albus' blankets and taking in the warmth and smell of it.

Ginny nodded and continued to look down at the blue and green blanket with a dinosaur pattern all over it. "24 hours and I've remembered two insignificant things."

"I wouldn't say us seeing each other again for the first time in a year, right before the Battle, was insignificant," Harry scoffed lightly.

"A year?" Ginny asked, turning around to look at him. "We didn't see each other at all that year? Why not? I thought you said we got together at the end of my fifth, and the Battle was at the end of my sixth year?"

He came forward and took the blanket out of her hands, putting it back on the bed. "That is a long story, and you are about to have a very long day meeting our children." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. "We may have won the war, but it is still a sad story and it did involve us having to pause our relationship for a few months."

She searched his eyes and knew there was something big that he was keeping from her, probably for very good reason. Not all memories were good, and she knew that well enough with her Chamber of Secrets experience.

She also knew from her history lessons, the parts she was awake for anyhow. No war was won without losses on both sides.

Ginny didn't want to reflect on those particular missing memories just then either.

She would be meeting her children any minute now and didn't want them to be any more concerned than they already would be knowing that she'd been at St. Mungo's for the last few days.

"You haven't told me much about them," Ginny offered the new topic of conversation. "What are they like? What do I call them?"

Harry grinned down at her. He pointed at the farthest bed, "James. He's fun loving and mischievous, like you."

"Like you, you mean. The mischievous part anyhow. You always find some way to get in trouble every year," Ginny grinned.

"Not my fault! And let me remind you, I always had the Weasley influence with Ron being my partner in crime." He gave her another kiss to the forehead. "He's a barrel of energy and your pet name for him is 'Bugaboo', which he is slowly coming to start whining about. Because, you know, he's getting too old for it."

Ginny grinned, she could hear the exasperation in Harry's voice. She gathered it was simply 'uncool' for James to still have his mother calling him such an infantilizing name.

"Albus though, him you usually call your 'Little Mister'. He fits that name pretty well; he's quiet, contemplative, reserved. He's sort of like Percy, except not so much of a ponce," Harry chuckled.

"Hey," Ginny slapped his chest lightly, "I thought you said Percy came around!"

"He did," Harry said. "He's still a bit of a ponce though."

Only then did Ginny notice there was a bit of a line down the middle of the boys rooms, one side was more organized, all the books in Albus' nightstand were in order, there weren't any stray clothes anywhere and his stuffed animals were lined up. James' side was more chaotic, there were stickers all over the walls and toys stuffed in a half hazard fashion into cubby holes.

"Now, our little Lily, whom you call 'Petal', she's the biggest daddy cuddler," Harry said proudly.

Ginny looked up at Harry then, he had so much pride on his face. She reckoned the boys would have loved giving their dad hugs and such, but just like in the house she grew up in, it was the little girl that would crawl into her fathers lap for stories and such.

She was so glad she was able to give this to him.

"You cried more when you were first handed her than you did with the boys," Ginny said calmly as that image came to her mind. She remembered being in the hospital bed and looking over to see him in the rocking chair with tear lines down his cheeks as he stared down at their newborn daughter.

Harry beamed down at Ginny. "I did. I felt very protective of all of them the first time I held them, but somehow it was different when the Healer handed her to me."

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him and smirked, "so it wasn't just because we planned to keep going until we had a girl, like my parents, and that was when you knew we were done?"

"I'm not admitting if that was part of it," he said evasively. "I will admit that you are incredibly stubborn when you're pregnant, more than usual," he smirked.

Ginny loved being able to look up into his face like this and see him so relaxed. There was still something bugging him, and clearly that something was her memory loss, but it wasn't weighing him down like he had been the last few years; with the Tournament and then Voldemort's return.

"You're worried about my memory coming back?" she picked out.

He gave a great sigh and pulled her close to put his arms around her. "For a minute there I thought that I might have lost the woman I fell in love with. Seeing you unconscious in that bed for that many days had been hard enough, then knowing you didn't remember us." He heaved another sigh. "I just worried we'd have to start over, or I'd have to convince you we were right together. Right now I'm mostly worried about when you, if you, remember the bad parts of what you've forgotten." He gave a kiss to her forehead again. "And I'm really glad that you are behaving just as I know you to be, teasing and smirking. Not putting your elbows in butter dishes and blushing profusely."

Ginny scoffed and gave him a light smack to his chest.

"See. That's my Ginny, the one I fell in love with," he laughed. "And that's three memories now, one including one of our children." He pulled her hand up to his lips and gave a kiss to her fingers. "That gives me hope."

Three hours later and they'd come back from a check up at St. Mungo's, where all the tests again said that she was healthy and the Healer had been very positive about the instances she remembered, now they were back home and Ginny was pacing in their sitting room and wringing her hands together.

"What if I say the wrong thing and scare them?" she worried aloud for the umpteenth time.

"Just give them all a hug and a kiss when you see them as though nothing is wrong, then we'll sit them down and let them know you're having trouble remembering," Harry repeated again. This time it didn't sound as caring as it had the first few times.

She didn't blame him for sounding bored with this conversation. They were his kids after all.

Their kids, but they didn't feel like their kids, they felt like his kids and she was just this… this… stepmother or someone who was supposed to be filling into their mothers shoes. Like she was a fraud and they were dogs and they were going to be able to smell that she wasn't really their mother.

"Urgh. I'm glad my mum is coming with them. I need a mum hug right now," she pouted and flopped down onto the sofa.

Harry shot her a grin over that one, then turned back to his Daily Prophet.

"What do you do for work?" Ginny asked him abruptly. She needed a distraction.

Harry folded his paper closed and turned to her. "I was an Auror for a few years, was working my way up to Head Auror, but then when Lily came around and you took a step back from your career, that's when I decided I should step back too. So, now I'm head of the Auror Training Program and work a cushy 9-5 job, Monday to Friday."

"And you're happy with that?" she asked. Ginny always remembered her dad giving her mum a kiss in the morning before he headed off to work, but when he came home for dinner he always seemed bored with his job. It was when he needed to do several raids and was deployed all over the place that he seemed excited to tell the stories of his job.

"I might go back into it once all the kids are off to Hogwarts, but right now these are the moments of our kids lives that I want to be around for the most. I don't mind in the least not being part of dangerous missions that have me disappearing for a week at a time and leaving you to struggle with the lot of them on your own."

"There can't be that many dangerous missions to go on though," Ginny pointed out. "Not now with Voldemort gone."

Harry chuckled a bit, "there will always be bad people in the world. He wasn't the only lunatic, there were a rather large band of followers behind him banging their drums loudly too."

"Yeah, I suppose so," she relented. "So, you had a few of those assignments that pulled you away from home then? When we just had the two boys?"

"A few. And never during Quidditch playoff season," he grinned. "It was great having that extra excuse about childcare that meant I wouldn't miss a game."

She gave him a small smile back and then glanced once more over to the fireplace, almost willing it to burst forth with green flames so she could get this anxiety from her anticipation gone.

She didn't have any experience with kids, what if she royally bollocksed this up and they wound up being miserable with her?

Harry had said he was relieved she was still behaving the same way with him as she had before, so maybe this would come somewhat naturally for her. Simply hug them, tell them they're adorable and then they'd… play, or something. And her mum would be there, she'd know what to do and say, she'd raised several children, and apparently had plenty of experience with grandchildren now too.

It was still about ten more minutes of waiting before the first child came through the Floo. It was the oldest, James.

'Bugaboo,' Ginny reminded herself. That was what Harry had told her she called him.

His brother was next through.

'Little Mister,' she repeated in her head.

"Hey boys," Harry greeted them.

"Mum, dad!" the two of them called out and came running across the room at them to jump onto their laps, both aiming more for Ginny.

She heard the flames burst to life again but couldn't see who was coming through because her sons were blocking her view and asking questions at a mile a minute. 'Did you die and then come back again?' 'What kind of dreams did you have? Were there rainbows?' 'Did you miss us?' 'Did you bring us anything?' And on and on.

Then there was another little person climbing into her lap. Lily had shown up with her mum and nearly pushed her brothers out of the way so she could take up prime placement on her mothers lap. The little girl didn't ask any questions, she just cuddled into her chest, resting her cheek over her heart. It made tears start to spring up in Ginny's eyes.

Choking down the emotions welling up in her chest, Ginny gave each of them a kiss and as good a cuddle as she could manage having the three of them on her at once. "Sorry if I scared you all. You would think I'd figured out how to avoid Bludgers by now, wouldn't you?" she forced a smile.

"Are you okay?" James asked. "Did the Healers fix your head?"

"I heard grandma telling grandpa that you forgot things," Albus said importantly.

Ginny took that opportunity to look over at her mother. She looked exactly the same, except for that there was a bit more grey in her hair. She was even pursing her lips in that set expression of loving disapproval she had.

"Someone was supposed to have been in bed by then," her mum said to Albus.

"I got thirsty," he pouted.

"It's alright little mister," Ginny told him. "You heard right. I have forgotten a lot of things. Actually, when I woke up yesterday I thought everything was a dream." It was a split second decision to tell them what she'd experienced in a fantastical way. "I had trouble believing I'd grown up and got married to the boy I'd been falling all over myself for. And that we had three kids! And that I'd been a professional Quidditch player!"

"Really? You don't remember us?" James asked sadly.

"Her memories seem to be coming back slowly," Harry assured them. "She remembered three things this morning that are from her missing time."

"Did you?" her mum asked happily.

Ginny nodded.

"Well then, I suppose the kids will just have to help you remember by telling all their favorite memories," she beamed.

Then they all just launched into different stories, talking over each other again, this time with Lily joining in as well.

Ginny couldn't catch all of what they were saying but she found she really enjoyed having all three of the children vying for her attention and so eager to talk to their mum and help her remember every little thing she'd missed out on.

()()()

It was several months before she had remembered enough to piece together the series of events that had led to her being the woman she was now. Little things, like conversation topics and single words, would have her remembering the most unimportant things, like how a knick had gotten in the wall or a time that Ron and Hermione had been over and gotten into one of their bickering matches, the smell of the kids shampoo had her remembering a few other times she'd tucked them into bed at night.

The sad memories came back too, about the war and all those they'd lost, how hard she'd cried after Harry, Ron and Hermione had run off after Bill and Fleurs wedding and she didn't know if she'd ever see them again.

Thankfully it was mostly the happy memories, rather than the devastating ones, that came back to her. That was probably due to how happy her life was just then. Her kids were adorable and frustrating and she loved them to pieces, and her husband was still the man of her dreams, even more so now, and in a way that she hadn't anticipated. He was funny and cheeky and truly cared for her and the children.

And the sex!

Wow, was that ever fantastic.

Ginny wasn't entirely sure, but she felt like her getting that concussion hadn't changed much for them all. She was back to writing columns for the Daily Prophet, Harry was back to his usual shifts at work and the kids were back to primary school.

Life was great.

()()()