11th August 1995
Harry woke up slowly, feeling so warm and comfortable that he considered dropping back off. His drowsy brain registered that Ginny was curled around him. He straightened out and tried to gently get out of bed without waking her, even though it was so inviting to go back to sleep and snuggle up to her. He was glad that they were allowed to share a room, because the few days they were apart made him feel bereft. He was so accustomed to having her beside him that he never wanted to give that up again.
Finding out that they were stuck nine years in the past with no way to return was a bit unnerving and terrifying. Harry had been expecting it, so he wasn't shocked greatly; which sadly couldn't be said for Ginny. She had taken their situation rather hard and Harry was determined to make them move past it and not to dwell too much on it. Fortunately, today was just the day for it. Today was Ginny's birthday and Harry was determined to make it the best for her. He had already decided to make breakfast for her, as he did usually in their time. He hadn't had the opportunity to spend some alone time with his wife as he would have liked, owing to the fact that they now lived in a house where everyone seemed to come and go at any given point of the day (and night).
Quickly getting ready, Harry descended down the stairs and made his way to the kitchen. The house was silent and eerie that Harry felt a bit out of sorts. It had taken the combined efforts of both Harry and Ginny to make this derelict roof and shelter into a nice home after the war. He listened for any sounds in the house, then summoned a package of bacon and a few eggs, as well as a frying pan. Lost in his pondering, Harry started making his usual meal, in just the way Ginny loved. He had missed this. Even though making breakfast had been a chore at the Dursleys, it always calmed him. As he was about to flip the bacon, he heard a sound behind him. Turning around, he saw Kreacher regarding him curiously.
"Good morning Kreacher," said Harry.
Kreacher narrowed his large tennis ball eyes, "What does Master think he is doing? What would my mistress say if she was here?" The contemptuous look he bent upon Harry showed that his attitude to his change of ownership had not altered.
Harry sighed in exasperation. He had tried to connect with Kreacher so as to bring out the house-elf he knew so well in the future. He was sure he just needed a push. That is why, both Harry and Ginny implored the other occupants to treat him with kindness, thus becoming recipient of strange looks. More than twice had Harry tried to reason with Sirius about his behaviour towards Kreacher. After that, he ordered both of them to stay away from each other.
"Look Kreacher, I know you have been a most faithful and trusted servant of the Noble House of Black until now. However, seeing that you now serve the House of Potter," Harry gave a chuckle, not knowing whether there even was such nobility bestowed upon his family name. "Things are going to be different. One thing, I forbid you to call anyone by insulting terms, no blood-traitors, no Mudbloods or half-breeds, you understand? And I will make sure everyone treats you kindly and fairly. Except, it's better you stay out of Sirius' way for the time being. Another thing, Ginny is going to ask you to help her to redecorate this house - make it more cheery. I trust that you will lend her a hand. Also, it's better you change into something more comfy and nice and freshen yourself up," said Harry, pointing to the filthy rag he was wearing.
Kreacher, after giving his new Master the occasional staring and hesitating to voice his opinions, gave a low bow and vanished with a crack.
Shaking his head, Harry went back to his cooking. It was going to take longer for Kreacher to adapt. Perhaps, once he would destroy the locket, the elf would start changing his tune. He finished plating the breakfast onto the tray. He turned and nearly ran into someone.
"Harry! What are you doing?" Molly asked. Catching sight of the tray, she asked, "Oh dear! You were hungry. You should have waited a bit dear. I would have whipped something up. I woke a bit late today, don't know why."
"It's alright, Molly. It's not for me. It's for Ginny."
"For Ginny? You made it." Harry nodded.
"You - you know how to cook?" Molly asked, startled.
"It's Ginny's birthday. I thought... well...It's... usually I cook at home. I mean in the future," Harry fought a blush coming to his face. Why was he blushing? He was doing it for his wife.
"Oh, that's nice. I am sure that she will like it," replied Molly slowly. "Well, doesn't that look delicious?" she eyed the dish. "How about I take over, okay?"
"Your kitchen, Molly," Harry said, smiling.
She smiled and went rather pink. "I take it that Ginny doesn't know how to cook."
"Well, I mean she can a bit. But between you and me, I would rather not starve," joked Harry.
"Shame. I had rather a faith in her. Perhaps, now with the baby coming, I could teach her."
Harry wondered if Ginny's pregnancy had finally been contemplated by the Weasleys, for this was the first time in his presence that the topic was talked about in a casual manner.
Not wanting to prolong the conversation, Harry trudged up the stairs. Honestly, having their married life so out in the open for his in-laws and other people to see was really odd. Not to mention, they were currently appearing as teenagers to others. Harry was atleast thankful, that both he and Ginny had some sense not to be openly affectionate infront of others. But it shouldn't be this way. Harry and Ginny were used to having an entire house to themselves, enjoying their married life. Luckily they had a room to contain themselves to.
Harry pushed open the bedroom door and saw Ginny, up and about, already rummaging through the cupboard.
"You are up!"
Ginny turned and answered, "We need to buy new clothes. Especially you! Really, Harry, how in the name of Merlin did you even grew up in your teenage years with just three articles of clothing, that too of your cousin. "
"Oh yeah. I totally had bought a new wardrobe on my eighteenth birthday. Until then, I had only few clothes."
Shaking her head, Ginny sat on the bed, "Is that for me?"
He placed the tray laden with bacon and eggs in front of her. "Happy Birthday!" he wished her cheerfully and dropped a kiss on her forehead.
"Thanks," she smiled and started eating her breakfast, praising her husband's cooking. Soon she laid her spoon down after finishing.
Harry eased up the bed and laid against the headrest and put an arm around Ginny.
"This is our first real - well, big day, I guess - to celebrate since we arrived back here," Harry said. "If we were still in our own timeline, you know I'd make this day special for you."
Ginny raised an eyebrow, to which Harry replied, "Not that!"
She shrugged and snuggled more into him. "So?" she started.
"How do you feel after yesterday?" he asked cautiously.
She waited a moment before answering, "I don't know. I had held onto a tiny hope that we could go back...anyways. It's easier not to think about it. The people are still there, albeit not the same ones, and of course, the ones that won't be there for few years - Teddy, Victoire, Dominique, Molly, Lucy,..." she finished in a small voice. "I was so excited to add our own to the lot, along with Fleur's third and Angelina's first."
The though of his godson brought a lump to Harry's throat. He was so enthusiastic about being a big brother to Harry's child. Now perhaps he could be the little brother, if things happened in the same manner.
"We are doing good ourselves, if I may say." He then continued answering Ginny's questioning gaze, "You know, seeing Sirius, Remus, Tonks and F-Fred again."
"You are right. I think at this point we are used to the unnatural," she laughed dryly.
"What are we going to do?" Ginny asked after a moment. She wasn't facing Harry as he had her pulled comfortingly and tightly against his chest though that didn't mean that she didn't feel him stiffen in worry. She rubbed her hand along one of his arms as she waited for him to speak.
"I'm not sure, Gin. So much can change or go wrong." He frowned in the darkness, his mind going over everything he remembered from his fifth year at Hogwarts. Just because they knew what was originally going to happen didn't mean that things would go exactly as they had before. Voldemort's words rang in his head. What if everything went wrong? What if for some reason, they lost control? What if they couldn't make the Ministry see the truth? What if Voldemort got hold of the prophecy? What if someone died?
"We can't keep on worrying about it, Harry," she whispered to him as she tilted her head slightly in an attempt to look at him. "If we keep on questioning everything in our heads, then we'll just drive ourselves insane."
"What can we do, though? We don't know for sure what is going to happen! What if we mess it all up?" he argued back with her, his voice slightly muffled by her hair. She sighed silently as she shifted around in his arms so she was facing him - burrowing further into him causing both of them to sigh contentedly.
"We have a rough idea of what is going to happen," she began to explain, "So I say we just go with the flow. Besides, if we plan things then it's all going to go wrong, especially with your luck!"
"Hey! It's not that bad!" he protested. She just snorted in response.
"So we just wait and see what happens?"
"Sort of. We should play it by ear," she shrugged in his arms as she stared into his worried eyes. "Things are going to change and we don't quite know what. We just need to go with it."
They cuddled a bit. Harry was deciding on how to best approach the subject, when Ginny spoke up, "I am going to miss you when you return to Hogwarts and I am stuck here."
She knew! Even after all these years, he still wondered in amazement on how she seemed to sense his thoughts. She continued speaking, "I know Harry that we are going to have to go through it again. That means going to back to Hogwarts. I clearly can't return since I am going to have a baby early next year. Because even if did, I would have to stay back at Christmas. It doesn't make any sense for me to attend Hogwarts for only four months. You, on the other hand, have to go back."
Harry could only gape at her. "I did a lot of thinking last night. It finally sank in - our time-travelling situation. Tom is still out there, waiting to take over. And whether I like it or not, you, Harry Potter, are once again going to be in the thick of it."
"Yeah, I reckon if I didn't show up at Hogwarts, Fudge and his lapdog Umbridge will come snooping around, what with Dumbledore demanding fair trial for me," Harry gave a sigh of relief, happy that his wife was already on the same page as him, "It's going to be a difficult year."
"Don't worry, love. I am sure that everything will start falling into place."
Harry stared at her for a moment before a small smile crept up on his face. "When did you become so wise?"
She grinned at him. "I was always wise- you were just too dim to notice." He laughed at her response and she hugged him closer. "Don't worry so much, Harry. We'll tackle the load together, and we'll win, just as we did before."
Harry sighed happily before he lowered his head to hers. "I love you," he murmured to her as he pressed a kiss to her nose.
"We should probably go down. Everyone must be waiting for the birthday girl," said Harry.
Before Harry could get up, Ginny pushed him back to the bed and straddled him, "Not before this birthday girl gets her traditional birthday kiss."
"How old are you today?"
Hermione's question, even though simple enough, was quite thought-provoking. Would Ginny feel like she was twenty-three in a fourteen-year old's body? Or would she feel twenty-two until the day she really turned twenty-two in this timeline? The couple turned their gaze towards one another.
"I feel no different than yesterday," Ginny said.
"Probably our minds will be frozen until our physical age catches up to it," Harry put forth.
Hermione darted her eyes between the two of them, before nodding and then joining others. Ginny's birthday party was in full swing. Molly had thrown a large party as a celebration, even if the birthday girl was merely happy with a cake and some alone time with Harry in their room (the latter of which Ron and the rest of the Weasley males were not happy with and didn't even want to think about). The Weasleys, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Tonks were mingling about, conversations overflowing along with glasses of Firewhiskey and Butterbeer.
"We should start cutting the cake," Sirius suggested, clearly hungry.
"In a minute. We must wait for Bill. Merlin knows when he's coming," Molly sighed.
"Isn't he doing some language tutoring to his new foreign colleague?" inquired Tonks. She then added to Molly's questioning gaze, "That's what he told me."
Both Harry and Ginny shared a look, knowing exactly with whom Bill must be - Fleur. It was quite the surprise at first in their original timeline when they had found out about Bill and Fleur, but both were looking forward to meeting her again.
Sirius, Remus and Arthur were huddled in one corner, while Ron, Charlie and Hermione were together at another corner, with the youngest male Weasley fiddling the buttons on the radio. The twins were suspiciously absent from the room. It wasn't long before Bill came bustling in, and was then subjected to his mother's disapproving glare.
"Aha!" exclaimed Ron. "Chudley Cannons are having their pre-season warm-up against the Montrose Magpies," he informed Hermione, who was naturally looking disinterested with the talk of Quidditch.
Charlie scoffed, "Really Ron! How can you support such a team is beyond me!"
"This is going to be our year, mark my words," thumped Ron with the usual confidence of a loyal fan.
"Is Ronniekins still going on about his misguided loyalty to the Cannons?" Fred inserted himself into the conversation, appearing out of nowhere.
"Yeah. Better grow out of it, young brother. Otherwise you will start sounding like our prat of a brother and his fanatical love of the Ministry," said George joining in.
"Yeah, mate. Even if you don't want to support Puddlemere, like a true Gryffindor you are, there are other good teams than the Cannons," piped up Fred. "Isn't that right, Harry?" drawing the black-haired teenager into the discussion.
"Don't bother asking Harry. He doesn't have a team," said Ron and then shot him a glare, "Traitor!"
Harry rolled his eyes, "Ron, mate, I don't know how to tell you this but the Cannons still don't improve in the future. And I do have a team – the Harpies."
"What! The Harpies! Since when?"
Harry simply replied, "Ever since my wife started playing for them."
"Wife!" Ron spluttered. "Ginny is a professional Quidditch player!"
Having shouted that last bit, everyone turned their attention to them. "Professional League?" Sirius asked, his eyes bulging, who was passing by to get a refill, "With Holyhead?"
"Yep," Harry said, unable to keep his pride out of his voice "She had just finished her fifth season with them."
This new information caused a complete change in the topic, as everyone started asking Ginny about her future career. The most astonishing sight was the brother's faces, who up to that point had no idea that their sister could even play the sport. When Ginny admitted that she used to break into the broom shed since she was six, caused her brother's eyebrows to vanish into their foreheads.
"I was a reserve player at first, only played a few matches. Then starting next season, I was promoted to starting Chaser," said Ginny. "And yes Ron, I had a great fun in creaming the Cannons especially."
Everyone laughed, as Ron stared blankly, "Blimey."
"Should we have known that before, we could have put that on the -"
Before George could finish the sentence, his twin had elbowed him in the guts.
"Why?" Hermione narrowed her eyes.
A shriek soon followed by Molly, who marched into the room carrying the birthday cake. "Fred! George! What have you done!"
"Hehe! Only decorated the cake mum," answered the twins innocently. "It's a cake celebrating motherhood and the all the joyful things coming into this world." They elaborated further.
Ginny's birthday cake was now adorned with a baby bottle and blanket and baby's clothes, along with blue and pink frostings. 'Happy Birthday Mummy Ginevra!' said the inscription on the cake.
Ginny cut the cake without further ado, and endured the usual singing of everyone wishing happy birthday to her. The transformed cake was sliced up and passed around, with Ron scrambling to get a piece and Hermione shaking her head at her best friend's antics. Presents were then given to her containing books, quill sets and clothes.
As she was opening her presents, Sirius remarked, "Had we known about your pregnancy in advance, we would have gotten something for the baby." She thanked everyone all the same.
Harry coughed to get his wife's attention and pulled out a small box gaily wrapped in purple paper with a gold ribbon and handed it to her.
"Uh mate, you know you have to get on your knee when doing that," said Fred.
"Yeah. Haven't you done this before?" asked George.
Harry shook his head, "It's not that!"
Ginny gasped when she opened the box. "Oh Harry! It's beautiful!" She carefully took out a silver-plated charm bracelet. Attached to it was a gold phoenix, gracefully positioned, wings drawn ready to take a flight.
"I thought it perfectly captures our ... our situation. It's like a rebirth for us, isn't it? Also, we have quite the connection to a phoenix." She understood what he talking about - hearing Fawkes cheery trill in the Chamber of Secrets and how he had saved their lives. "And more charms can be added. For example when the baby comes, we can add something that symbolises it."
She put the bracelet on her left wrist and admired it for a moment, before turning and kissing Harry soundly on the lips. He could be such a romantic and she loved him for it.
"You boys could do well to learn from Harry on how to treat girls," teased Tonks.
"He is my godson after all," boasted Sirius. Remus gave a derisive laugh from behind.
"When did you even buy it? And from where?" asked Hermione, grabbing Ginny's hand.
Harry replied, "There is a shop in Diagon Alley. I owl ordered it yesterday and Hedwig was quite happy to do it." Hedwig, on hearing her name spoken, flew across the room and perched on Harry's shoulder. Ginny petted her in appreciation.
"It looks quite expensive dear," spoke Molly. Harry turned and saw a look of dismay pass on the Weasley matriarch. All the Weasleys were sensitive about their financial situation. That was another issue with coming back in time. There were going to be times, when the young couple would have to remind the others that they were husband and wife, and not some teenagers in a passing fancy. They were of age, not physically, but of sound mind nonetheless and were allowed to indulge in things without asking for permission.
"Mum," started Ginny. She had that same tell-tale shade of red on her cheeks that Ron got, warning of a pending explosion.
Arthur caught on to the impending argument that could arise if he let it go on further so he firmly stated that Harry and Ginny were old enough to make their own decisions. Harry nodded, giving Arthur a shy smile.
"Now Ginny," said Sirius, "Tell me about the Quidditch. I must get to know my goddaughter-in-law." His jovial tone broke the tension and the atmosphere in the room cleared.
"Yeah. So, Harry my boy, tell us which teams are to watch out for in the upcoming season."
"We might as well profit from this future knowledge of yours."
Molly interjected, "No, no. Can't we have one dinner discussion that doesn't contain Quaffles, Bludgers and Snitches? And no betting boys!"
"What should we talk about then? Harry's trial? The politics? The dragons? The reserve has got two new ones," asked Charlie in jest. His suggestions were shot down with groans and yawns, indicating that they were unsuitable topics.
Molly composed herself and shot a smile towards Harry and Ginny, "I, for one, would like to know about my daughter's venture into love from my daughter herself."
It was a perfect topic, when it's idea was met with sounds of agreement from all. Ron, surprisingly, was the loudest, "Yeah. How did you two get together anyway?" Hermione too was looking curious.
"How did Gin-Gin here attract the fame boy-who-lived with eyes as green as fresh pickled toad!"
"And hair as dark as blackboard!"
Ginny fixed the twins with a glare as the others snorted heavily. Ginny then began telling of their relationship, how she became first comfortable around Harry, becoming friends with him gradually and then -
"I started fancying Ginny during the summer break before my sixth year. I didn't know it at the time, but then we grew closer, we spent time during the Quidditch practices and," Harry still was sour about the whole Dean thing, "and I caught her with someone, which is when it hit me in the face -"
"That he wished he should be the one snogging me, the jealous git!" said Ginny.
"I was not jealous. I was just intolerant," huffed Harry.
"Really," Ginny raised her eyebrows. "I distinctly remember you saying that you had a monster in your chest bursting to come out."
"Well, I couldn't say anything to you, could I? I had no idea whether you still fancied me. Nor could I talk to Ron."
"But I still caught onto you. Hermione did too," said Ginny. "I was only waiting for you to take the step."
"How did he ask you out?" asked Hermione, excitedly.
"That's the thing - he didn't! He got himself in detention for the final Quidditch match and I had to fill in for the seeker. We won obviously. We were in the common room celebrating our win when he returned and then -" Ginny pointed at Harry to continue.
Harry blushed, "She had this sort of blazing look on her face and when she ran at me to hug me, I ... well I kissed her." Whistles came from the twins and Sirius.
"In front of the whole common room," Ginny whispered dramatically. "And then he went on and looked at Ron to ask if what he did was okay," she said dejectedly, miming his actions.
Laughter echoed around the room.
"At least you asked in the future," grumbled Ron.
"And we have never looked back since then," said Ginny, clasping Harry's hand in hers.
"My advice worked then," said Hermione smugly. Ginny winked at her, "Perfectly."
To answer others, she said, "She said to be myself around Harry, and try to date others."
"Date others! How many boyfriends have you had?" asked Charlie. He still had trouble believing that the girl infront of him, his sister was now an adult women, with a past (or future) none of them knew about. He had already missed her early years because of working and living in a far off country like Romania. Here she was the same age as him, but still he had the same protective streak in him to look after her. He was certain that Bill felt the same.
Something clicked in Harry's mind, "Wait! Hang on! Aren't you going out with Michael Corner at this point in time?" he demanded.
Ginny's mind froze. How could she have forgotten? How on earth had he slipped her mind? Not that it was difficult, he was just one name of her past. After all, the last time she had gone through this year, he was a pretty large part of her life. Her previous ex-ex boyfriend who was technically still her current boyfriend even though she was now married to Harry who was her future husband and father of her child and was stuck having to act as just her boyfriend to the rest of the world.
"Corner? Isn't he in Ravenclaw?" asked Fred.
"You a-and Corner? Since when?" Ron exclaimed in shock. First she was married and pregnant, now he finds out she had boyfriends before Harry, will the revelations never cease?
"We met during the Yule Ball. He asked me out just before the year ended," groaned Ginny burying her face in her hands.
"Awkward," giggled Tonks. "What happened last time in the future?"
"I remember that we were supposed to exchange letters during the summer. Since we were stuck here, I couldn't. I had make up something. But I ditched him after the Quidditch final this year. He was a bad loser," explained Ginny. Suddenly she turned to her husband, "What about you? You are supposed to be pining after Cho Chang. Don't think I have forgotten about her."
Ignoring Ron and Hermione's surprise gasps, Harry replied, "Well, we never really went out, did we? It was only one time and it was terrible. You are going to break up with Corner, right?"
"Perhaps," Ginny said playfully.
"You know, I could show Cho a good time this time around," Harry shot back at her.
"Yeah, atleast one of you will be mature, seeing as you are now older than her," said Ginny.
The rest of the occupants kept swinging their heads back and forth between the two, their banter being the cause the amusement. Harry kept pressing on until Ginny said, "Of course, I am going to break up with him, Harry. Ugh, I can't tell him the real reason. Fortunately, we haven't yet been on a date. I just need to do it properly, so that it doesn't seem I cheated on him."
Hermione patted her arm in commiseration, "Don't worry Ginny. I will help you."
"Now Potter, what's this about Cho Chang. Are there any other affairs we should know about?" questioned George.
"After all, we should look after our dear sister," continued Fred. The other Weasley brothers nodded in agreement.
"Hey! Your sister has had twice the partners than me. And just to remind you, you all have already done the Weasley brothers inquisition in the future," answered Harry.
Sirius quipped, "What were you thinking Harry? I know you are brave but marrying a girl who has an army of brothers..." He shook his head at him.
Harry laughed and looked around and couldn't help but wonder if this was how it was supposed to be, had everyone in the room lived past the war; yet it felt as if nothing had changed, for this was how it always had been in the future, if only without the fading but still haunting memories of their missing loved ones.